I wish I had the Big Ten Network. Sadly, it is not available on my cable system out here in Southern Nevada (and I can't have a dish in my apartment).

Why? Because I missed one of the all-time great games on Saturday afternoon as Appalachian State took down mighty Michigan 34-32.

My wife was sitting at the computer for most of the second half, and was updating me on the progress of the game.

When Appalachian State was up at the half, I thought that they had won just by taking the lead into the locker room. After all, even though they were the two time defending Division I-AA (I can't say or write "Football Championship Subdivision" without reaching for a piece of rawhide) champions, I figured that Michigan would get their butts toasted by Lloyd Carr at halftime and would come out swinging.

But apparently Mike Hart had a thigh bruise and sat out vast chunks of the game. Although he was healthy enough to finish the game with 23 carries for 188 yards and three scores, including a run of 54 yards where he cut back several times.

Meanwhile, Chad Henne continued to demonstrate that he hasn't progressed as far as he should have by now – four years after his career began.

The Michigan defense still can't defend a spread offense run by a mobile quarterback., and Carr made an extremely questionable decision to go for two with 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

As soon as my wife told me that Michigan had gone for two and had failed to convert, I had a feeling they would lose the game. Because going for two at that point in the game is a panic move.

You had the entire fourth quarter to play. Going for two at that point would pull you within three points, 31-28.

Lloyd, you're the head coach at Michigan, and you're planning on playing for a tie at home with the entire fourth quarter at your disposal? That demonstrates a lack of confidence in your offense – an offense led by three seniors (Hart, Henne and left tackle Jake Long) who explicitly came back to play for a national championship.

That dream officially died with the field goal block by Corey Lynch at the end of the game.

Here's the funny thing though… Michigan still has a chance to come back and win the Big Ten title and head off to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Not a bad second place prize in my opinion.

However, that won't happen if Big Blue doesn't fix some of their problems:

* Mike Hart is the key to their offense. If he's healthy, run him. If he's limping slightly, you still need to run him. He is the critical component to making the Michigan offense click, as he helps set up the play-action passing game and relieves some of the pressure from Chad Henne's shoulders.

* Work on protection schemes for the kicking game. This doesn't need to be clarified. Two blocked kicks is enough proof.

* Figure out how to slow down spread offenses. Appalachian State has good athletes, no question about that. But Armanti Edwards is not the only mobile quarterback in a spread offense that has given them headaches (see Smith, Troy and Young, Vince for more information). If they perform this Saturday like they did last Saturday against Edwards, Dennis Dixon and the Oregon Ducks will run all over them.

And Carr's seat will go from hot to nuclear.