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Bacon: WMU one of two unbeatens left after Michigan's loss, bringing College Gameday to Kalamazoo

ESPN's College Gameday is coming to Kalamazoo this weekend as Western Michigan is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the country.
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ESPN's College Gameday is coming to Kalamazoo this weekend as Western Michigan is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the country.

Our conversation with John U. Bacon, Michigan Radio's sports commentator.

It was a stunning weekend at the top of the College Football Playoff Rankings as the teams ranked second, third and fourth (the top four qualify for the playoff) were all upset.

One of those teams was the University of Michigan who fell to Iowa on the road by the score of 14-13. The last time the teams ranked second, third and fourth all lost on the same day was in 1985.

In a crazy coincidence, on that day in 1985, the Wolverines, led by quarterback Jim Harbaugh, came into Iowa City undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country in the AP Poll. The Hawkeyes won the game 12-10 on a field goal as time expired.

This year? The exact same result, only a slightly different score. 

(Watch video below.)

Michigan now sits in a three-way tie with Ohio State and Penn State for first place in the Big Ten East Division. Michigan State, who snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 49-0 win over Rutgers, plays both Ohio State and Penn State in their final two games of the season. This puts Wolverine fans in a tough spot because it would be in their best interests to root for the Spartans. But can their fans bring themselves to root for the Green and White? 

As Michigan, Clemson and Washington all fell from the ranks of the unbeatens, that left just two teams with perfect records in the country. Perennial power Alabama and the Western Michigan Broncos. After a 37-21 win over Kent State last Tuesday, the Broncos improved to 10-0 on the season and will put their unbeaten record on the line Saturday when they face Buffalo. With the Broncos a few wins away from clinching a New Years Day bowl game, ESPN's College Gameday announced they will broadcast live from Kalamazoo for the first time.

John U. B aconMichigan Radio's sports commentator, joined Stateside for his weekly roundup in the week in sports and calls the national attention for Western Michigan a big deal for head coach P.J. Fleck and his program.

Listen to the full interview above as Bacon talks about the Wolverines playing their "worst game" of the season, the Spartans opportunity to play spoiler and how the Detroit Lions managed to jump into first place without playing a game this weekend. 

(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunesGoogle Play, or with this RSS link)

Watch an unbeaten No. 2-ranked Michigan lose to Iowa in 2016 just like they did in 1985

Copyright 2021 Michigan Radio. To see more, visit Michigan Radio.

Josh Hakala, a lifelong Michigander (East Lansing & Edwardsburg), comes to Michigan Radio after nearly two decades of working in a variety of fields within broadcasting and digital media. Most recently, he worked for Advance Digital where he managed newspaper websites from across the country, including MLive.com. While his resume is filled with sports broadcasting experience (Big Ten Network, 97.1FM The Ticket, 610AM WIP etc.), radio reporting (90.1FM WRTI) and odd jobs (Editor for the FIFA video game series for EA Sports), he brings a passion for news and storytelling to the Stateside staff.