The Latest Biggest. Upset. Ever.
By WillIf you’re anything like us, you were bemused by the media hoopla surrounding Kentucky’s embarrassing loss to Gardner-Webb.
One national writer wrote it was the college basketball equivalent of Michigan/Appalachian State. The Louisville Courier-Journal seemed to agree.
We found this bizarre. An upset like Michigan/App State had simply never happened in college football. Something like Kentucky/Gardner-Webb happens every November. (Note we’re not arguing the loss wasn’t embarrassing for a program of Kentucky’s stature, we just think people went overboard with this. Maybe this is just because it was a really slow news night.) Just last November, you’ll recall, No. 3 Kansas lost at home to Oral Roberts. In 2004 eventual national champion North Carolina lost to Santa Clara. Then there’s the granddaddy of them all — the literal equivalent of Michigan/App State — No. 1 Virginia’s loss to Chaminade, then of the NAIA, in 1982.
And for further proof that something like Kentucky/Gardner-Webb happens every year, look no further than Mercer 96, Southern Cal 81. Mercer, like Gardner-Webb, plays in the much-maligned Atlantic Sun. Mercer, like Gardner-Webb, had a poor season last year. Mercer had an 8-10 conference record (Gardner-Webb was 7-11) and finished 13-17 overall (Gardner-Webb 9-21). The two schools split their games last season, each winning at home.
Southern Cal, although lacking Kentucky’s tradition, was ranked higher than Kentucky, expected to have a better season than Kentucky, and coming off a more successful season than Kentucky.
All of which begs the question: If we’re supposed to believe Kentucky/Gardner-Webb really is the basketball equivalent of Michigan/App State (and everyone not wearing Blue Goggles seems to think so), what is the football equivalent of Southern Cal/Mercer? For now we’re going with the NFL’s New England Patriots losing at home to Notre Dame, but we’ll need more time to think about it.
Onward and upward!
November 12th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Although I’m no fan of Kentucky I tend to agree. This has been overblown just a bit. It is definitely a shocking upset, likely to be one of the most highly publicized of the 2008 season, but not a shocker for the ages. In time it’ll be mostly forgotten, although not by critics of Kentucky!