Ohio State fans are celebrating Michigan's loss by buying NJIT stuff

When Michigan's football team was famously upset by FCS Appalachian State, many fans in Columbus suddenly picked up a new second favorite team. Appalachian State's bookstore was swamped with orders from Columbus, and many vendors around campus memorably started to stock Mountaineer-themed apparel. You can probably still see people wearing App State stuff around campus today.

Well, Michigan just experienced another historic upset at the hands of a tiny program. Michigan basketball, a 24.5 point favorite, just lost to the conference-less New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders. And wouldn't you know it, demand for Highlander apparel is picking up.

From today's NYT profile on the plucky upstarts in Newark, NJ:

A man named Jeremy Bronson had posted, "@NJITBookstore, heads-up - you're gonna be mailing a LOT of t-shirts to a city called East Lansing this week."

Maranzano, who manages the N.J.I.T. bookstore inside the campus center, thought it was just a good line from an acerbic Michigan State fan. Then he arrived at work Monday morning and found six pages of online orders for the school's red-and-black T-shirts and sweatshirts.

"On a typical Monday, there's usually orders for two or three shirts," said Maranzano, 36.

Oh, he added, an overwhelming majority of them happened to come from Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. N.J.I.T., which was a 24 ½-point underdog going into the game in Ann Arbor, would seem to have established itself as a fashion statement for gleeful Wolverine rivals.

If you're looking to add some NJIT apparel to your wardrobe, or for the Buckeye fan in your life this holiday season, NJIT's online bookstore is here.