The question "Who's Now?" was finally answered last week.
Appalachian State is now.
So who's next?
Who's next in line to pull off the stunner?
I can't tell you who it will be.
But I can tell you who it won?t be.
It won?t be any team invading The Swamp in the near future, and certainly not Troy.
Big whoop, you say.
Michigan fans uttered the same phrase last week, as did Florida State fans a year ago, when Troy came into Tallahassee and nearly pulled an Appalachian State.
ESPN2, looking to ruffle some feathers on its fluffy morning show BFirst Take,C brought on Troy coach Larry Blakeney earlier this week.
They asked Blakeney for the magic formula it takes to upset powerhouse teams.
Blakeney, whose team blew a 17-10 fourth-quarter lead against the Seminoles, said upsets happen when favorites are not ready to play at the start of games.
In other words, the Gators would have to come in unprepared.
Is he talking about Michigan being unprepared last week?
Or Ohio State being unprepared on Jan. 8 after over a month of, umm, preparation time?
Whatever Blakeney's talking about, he can't be referring to any team coached by Urban Meyer.
Let me hit you with some stats.
Meyer has won 21 straight home games.
The last time Meyer lost at home, his home was Salt Lake City, Utah.
His quarterback was a young sophomore named Alex Smith.
Smith would go on to play another season at Utah, and he is now entering his third year with the San Francisco 49ers.
But what about the road games?
OK, Meyer lost at Alabama, LSU and South Carolina in his first year.
He lost at Auburn in 2006.
Only a couple of those defeats can be considered upsets.
If Troy beats the Gators, it would be an embarrassment, not an upset.
And when was the last time somebody embarrassed a Meyer-coached team?
Again, go back to the Utah days.
The 24th-ranked Utes lost by 12 to a three-loss New Mexico team in 2003, though I don?t remember gasping in horror when seeing that score come across the ticker.
So Meyer doesn't lose at home, and he doesn?t get embarrassed.
He doesn't overlook teams, either.
The real start of the season comes next week as Phillip Fulmer brings his Tennessee Vols into Gainesville, looking for his first win over Meyer.
The same scenario came into play in 2006.
The Gators easily won their opener and faced a "trap" game before heading to Tennessee.
UF blanked Central Florida 42-0 - led by a 27-point second quarter - and started packing for Knoxville at halftime.
In 2005, the Gators romped 41-3 over Louisiana Tech the week before Tennessee.
The Trojans do have one thing going for them: gamblers seem to like them.
They opened as 27-point underdogs.
As of Thursday night, that number fell to 26 1/2 as everyone drinking the Appalachian State Kool-Aid put their money on the Trojans, at least to cover the spread.
Las Vegas knows something. Watch out.
