Appalachian State has sparked belief in the creampuffs of the nation that
they have the power to upend any juggernaut on the top 25 slate. The
Division I-AA Mountaineers shocked the #5 Michigan Wolverines in
Ann Arbor two weeks ago leaving fans to believe that anything is possible.
The Citadel, hailing from the same conference as
Appalachian State, harbored similar aspirations entering Madison this past
weekend. The #7 Wisconsin Badgers didn?t see the Bulldogs? bite coming. A
21-21 tie at halftime had the Camp Randall crowd booing the teams off the
field.
The few fans from
Charleston, South Carolina treated the halftime deadlock like a Super Bowl
victory. Not much Southern flavor hits the Dairyland State, but by the
half, the Badgers had enough. Wisconsin began to provide some northern
hospitality in the third quarter by validating their top ten ranking. The
Badgers turned the game around and scored 24 unanswered points to put the
game out of reach. Despite a few late scores by the Citadel, Wisconsin
notched a 45-31 victory.
The baby blue Bulldogs hardly seemed daunted by the 80,000+
in Camp Randall Stadium. The naughty student section, the famous third
quarter ?jump? tradition, and the fast and slow motion wave turned heads and
caused some gaping stares, but it didn't affect their team's
performance. We sat down near the Citadel cheerleaders, who cheered with a
pronounced southern drawl. Even though their material
resembled that of a high school squad, they flung themselves into
a spasm-like frenzy with every Bulldog score. They may not have been able
to pull an Appalachian State this past weekend, but the Citadel furthered
the respect for lower echelon squads and scared the pants off of any
Division I-A team who has yet to play a Division I-AA squad on their
schedule.
