Boone, N.C. ? A summer Saturday night on a holiday weekend, a college campus and the impending return of the conquering heroes in the greatest upset in college football history.

In the words of noted philosopher Jeff Spicoli: “Hey, Bud, let’s party!”

Forget West Virginia, Ole Miss and Texas. Appalachian State was the nation’s top party school Saturday night. Soon after the Mountaineers Tasered fifth-ranked Michigan 34-32, the screams could be heard echoing through this town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina.

“This is bigger than winning two national championships,” said Bradley Wall as he threw a football with fellow student Kerry Dunlap. “We weren’t expected to do this.”

Dunlap said, “They looked at us like, ‘Appalachian Who?’ “

By the way, it’s App-a-latch-in, not App-a-lay-chin. Everybody should learn to pronounce it. No one expected The Game of the opening weekend to be in Ann Arbor.

The Game became The Upset. You can have your Douglas-Tyson, your Fleck-Hogan, your Jets-Colts. In college football, there’s been nothing like it. In sports, only the U.S. hockey team’s victory over Russia in the 1980 Olympics rates higher.

After the game, students tore down one of the goal posts at Kidd Brewer Stadium and marched a mile through town bearing their trophy.

Soon, there was yellow crime-scene tape closing the driveway at chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock’s house. That was the goal post’s new home.

The local economy prospered. A T-shirt store printed up shirts that said, “Michigan Who? 34-32.”

Eric Mullinax made the three-hour drive from Charlotte and was proudly wearing one of the shirts.

“I had to be here for this,” he said. “I went to UNC-Charlotte; no football team. This has always been my team.”

The team flew home from Michigan, landing in Johnson City, Tenn., about 55 miles west of Boone. It arrived on campus about an hour later than expected.

Nobody seemed to care. A few adult beverages helped with the mood. The crowd passed the time with body surfing and some cheering. When a satellite truck arrived to transmit interviews to ESPN, the crowd cheered.

During ESPN’s “College “GameDay”, analyst Kirk Herbstreit handed out cupcakes and chided schools like Michigan for scheduling cupcakes.

“We’re sending a dozen cupcakes to Bristol,” graduate student Cassidy McCorkle said.

When Jerry Moore was fired at Texas Tech in 1985, he wondered if he would ever get another chance to be a head coach. In his 19th season at Appalachian State, he has two Division I-AA national championships and the sudden fame of coaching the team that did the impossible.

After the team’s three buses parted the welcoming throng-covering the 200-yard stretch of street took about six minutes-the 68-year-old Texan was interviewed in a mosh pit of adoring fans.

“The game is for the college students,” Moore said as his first name was chanted. “I’ve been doing this a long time, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Was this the greatest upset in college football history?

“It was today,” he said with a grin.

One homemade sign said, “Who’s next?”

Appalachian State faces Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday. And next season? The Mountaineers open at Florida.

Wouldn’t “that” be a party?