Oh, what a tangled web we weave

• Published: Aug 26, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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In folklore and in fact, it might someday be hard to separate Appalachian State’s season-opening upset of Michigan in 2007 from Appalachian State’s season-opening visit to LSU this weekend.

The Tigers, who will entertain the Mountaineers at 4 p.m. Saturday, are fully versed in the specifics of Appalachian State’s 34-32 shot heard ’round the college football world nearly a year ago.

“We see a lot of the Michigan film,” LSU coach Les Miles said Monday at a news conference to discuss his fourth season opener as coach of the Tigers.

That Miles, a Michigan man, has studied his alma mater’s stunning loss to Appalachian State is but one in a series of connect-the-dots plot lines tying this weekend’s matchup to various stops on the road map of history.

Miles, of course, played and coached at Michigan. After the Wolverines lost to Appalachian State in the Big House, Miles became the most widely discussed potential candidate to replace Lloyd Carr as Michigan coach.

Instead, Miles stayed at LSU, famously denying a report that had him taking the Michigan job as his Tigers prepared to play Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game.

Michigan eventually hired Rich Rodriguez, whose West Virginia team followed LSU’s victory against Tennessee with a shocking loss at Pittsburgh, opening the door for the Tigers to play for the national championship.

The same Rich Rodriguez long ago showed Jerry Moore the finer points of Rodriguez’s spread-formation football. Moore put his own touches to the hottest trend in the college game and coached Appalachian State to the past three national championships in the former Division I-AA.

Those are just some of the moments on history’s timeline that will echo Saturday in Tiger Stadium when LSU, the reigning national champion of the Football Bowl Subdivision, meets Appalachian State, the reigning national champion of the Football Championship Subdivision.

Here’s one you may have forgotten: LSU was supposed to open the 2007 season at home against Appalachian State, but the prospect of a Thursday night ESPN game at Mississippi State became more attractive to LSU.

Appalachian State had to find another opponent. Michigan obliged.

On Sept. 1, 2007, LSU was two days removed from its 45-0 victory at Mississippi State. Miles and his staff were in their offices preparing for Virginia Tech when word filtered down the hall of a brewing shocker in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Miles didn’t see any of it live, but he later watched highlights, including the final play of the game.