Jeff Dillman, Appalachian State strength coach 2006-09, current Florida strength coach I had a feeling—a gut feeling—the whole week of the game. I played the Michigan fight song all week long in the weight room. Just to piss them off. I said, “Guys, you’re going to hear this all day long in the freakin’ Big House.”

I used to raise hell all the time, talk smack to the players. … What people misunderstood was you had back-to-back [FCS] national champion players on that team. They believed in winning. And I was at LSU in ’05 when Appalachian State came to LSU. LSU was beating them 14-0 at halftime, and [Appalachian State] had dropped two open touchdown passes. The final score was 24-0. … So [Michigan] had their dukes down because they thought we were going to step on the field and be intimidated. It didn’t happen. … The whole offseason, I’d go through the schedule with them, week-by-week. I said, “Guys, let me tell you right now, we’re going to be more explosive than them. We’re going to be a lot stronger than them. And we’re going to be faster than them. They may be bigger. They may be bigger than a house. But you’re going to be surprised how much stronger you are and how much more explosive you are than them.”

Dexter Jackson, Appalachian State receiver 2004-07 We were tired of it. We just wanted to hear our band playing.

Kerry Brown, Appalachian State offensive guard 2004-07 On Thursday nights, we always had position-specific meals. At least the offensive line and tight ends did. I’m not going to name the restaurant, but it was a Brazilian steakhouse deal. We had the whole O-line there, all the tight ends there. It was a good stout number of guys. You had a green card and a red card. Green means “Bring me more meat.” We were thinking, Heck man, this is what we want right here. They had been open probably a week. They keep bringing this food out, and we were like, “More! More! Keep bringing us food.” They’re bringing out these big skewers, and we’re eating it all up. It kept coming out a little bit pinker each time. Then it got a point where it was bloody and cold. I was like, “Man, this is some of the worst meat.” But I had that macho I’m-a-lineman-I’m-going-to-eat-whatever thing. I asked the lady, and she said, “Oh yeah, it’s raw. But y’all kept eating it, so we kept bringing it out.” I was sitting there going, “Oh my God. No.” She said, “We couldn’t cook it as fast as y’all were eating it.”

Armanti Edwards, Appalachian State quarterback 2006-09, current Chicago Bears receiver That was my first time on a plane. When we went up, my stomach dropped. But I had to overcome my fears.

Moore On Thursday, we got rained out here [in Boone]. We didn’t have our typical Thursday practice. So when we got up there, I just let them walk around and look at the stadium and locker rooms. Then we started practice. With the intensity level of that Thursday practice—really it was a Friday practice now —you could tell not that we were going to win, but that we were going to be ready to play.

Jackson We went there and just looked around. Coach Moore told everybody to walk around and look at the stands, so that come tomorrow you won’t have to look up there anymore. At the end of the day, it’s 11-on-11.

Pierre Banks, Appalachian State linebacker 2005-08, current academic counselor for South Carolina’s football team I remember coming out of the locker room and seeing this little guy sitting on a little Gator [utility vehicle], just looking at us. I didn’t know who he was or who he was looking at. It was [Michigan tailback] Mike Hart. He was looking at me kind of screw-faced. Then, right before we left the field, one of our offensive linemen, John Holt, told us to look at the stands, look around, look at the seats. Then he told us, “That’s the last time you look around there. We’re going to play ball tomorrow.”

Kerry Brown It hit me after that little walkthrough practice. That food poisoning hit me, and it hit me hard. I lost like 15 pounds. … My roommate on the road was John Holt. He said the room stunk. I was asleep with my eyes open. It was creeping him out. He had to call people to come help me. My eyes were wide open, but I was asleep. That’s how sick I was. … I’m glad that food poisoning didn’t affect the whole offensive line the way it did just a handful of us. We probably wouldn’t have won that game. Everybody thinks we must have been so prepared mentally. Man, I was throwing up out of both ends before that game.

Banks This is no bull. We always did special teams the night before the game. [Defensive coordinator John] Wiley was behind me when we were watching their field goal unit. We see the wing man go straight out for the outside person and leave the second man free. At the same time, me and Coach Wiley said, “Oh, we can get that.”

John Holt, Appalachian State offensive guard 2003-07, current Western Carolina offensive line coach I wake up, and it’s probably 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning. I look over at Kerry, and Kerry’s just laying there with his eyes open. I was like, Oh my God. So I just got up and watched the sun rise. Then we went to beat Michigan.

Kerry Brown You walk in there the day before the game, and it doesn’t look like much. It’s an old stadium, and it doesn’t look that big. You walk in there on game day, and wow that place changes. It’s nothing but a sea of maize and blue. Wow, it’s a lot of people. Don’t stare in the stands too much. … But LSU [in 2005] kind of set us up for Michigan. Glenn Dorsey was young then. Jamarcus Russell was bigger than anybody on our defense. Even their punter was huge. They had a darn tiger out there. LSU kind of set us up. We were a young team in ’05, but we were basically the same team in ’07. It wasn’t our first rodeo going to Michigan.