USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll - App #48

[SpeedkingATL]

CCU and UL both have returning QB's that are of proven quality within their systems; at this point App does not. That in and of itself is a huge ranking factor...and the kid at CCU is for real.

[AppSt94]

CCU and UL both have returning QB's that are of proven quality within their systems; at this point App does not. That in and of itself is a huge ranking factor...and the kid at CCU is for real.

And that is all fair. Both are replacing reliable running backs. So we will see how they handle that dynamic.

[AtlAppMan]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

[VNova]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

My question is how will Brice do that with only a limited amount of time (1 or 2 years?) at App? For that to be the case, he's going to have to blow minds away after his time at Duke.

[hapapp]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

'94 had addressed previously but I think is in reference to the frosh QBs since Huesman has been out.

[AppSt94]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

My question is how will Brice do that with only a limited amount of time (1 or 2 years?) at App? For that to be the case, he's going to have to blow minds away after his time at Duke.

Can you qualify what you would need to see in order to be blown away? I think that your statement is fair and most probably feel the same way. For me, I think that Brice has the potential to make guys better. In particular, Virgil and one of the Christians. I can’t remember if it is Horn or Wells, but one of them is as fast as Virgil. I think Brice has great ball placement skills and being able to hit either one of them in stride really creates a great open field advantage.

[Black Saturday]

CCU and UL both have returning QB's that are of proven quality within their systems; at this point App does not. That in and of itself is a huge ranking factor...and the kid at CCU is for real.

That kid should have been in the Black & Gold

[Black Saturday]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

If so, he'll be the best with his arm.

[VNova]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

My question is how will Brice do that with only a limited amount of time (1 or 2 years?) at App? For that to be the case, he's going to have to blow minds away after his time at Duke.

Can you qualify what you would need to see in order to be blown away? I think that your statement is fair and most probably feel the same way. For me, I think that Brice has the potential to make guys better. In particular, Virgil and one of the Christians. I can’t remember if it is Horn or Wells, but one of them is as fast as Virgil. I think Brice has great ball placement skills and being able to hit either one of them in stride really creates a great open field advantage.

That comment was more for the analysts than me. If App comes away with a close loss against Miami and minimal INTs, I think that's going to turn heads, but what do I know about football (that's rhetorical, it's very little beyond the rules and knowing some plays )?

My barometer for if he's doing a good job is: Is he a visible leader that has the trust of his team and the coaches? Everything else falls into place if he does. I think with App's OLine, he's going to be a lot more comfortable making throws and we'll get to see what Clark sees in him.

[AppSt94]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

My question is how will Brice do that with only a limited amount of time (1 or 2 years?) at App? For that to be the case, he's going to have to blow minds away after his time at Duke.

Can you qualify what you would need to see in order to be blown away? I think that your statement is fair and most probably feel the same way. For me, I think that Brice has the potential to make guys better. In particular, Virgil and one of the Christians. I can’t remember if it is Horn or Wells, but one of them is as fast as Virgil. I think Brice has great ball placement skills and being able to hit either one of them in stride really creates a great open field advantage.

That comment was more for the analysts than me. If App comes away with a close loss against Miami and minimal INTs, I think that's going to turn heads, but what do I know about football (that's rhetorical, it's very little beyond the rules and knowing some plays )?

My barometer for if he's doing a good job is: Is he a visible leader that has the trust of his team and the coaches? Everything else falls into place if he does. I think with App's OLine, he's going to be a lot more comfortable making throws and we'll get to see what Clark sees in him.

Honestly. That’s probably the best answer that can be given.

[AtlAppMan]

According to Clark's comments, he sounds high on Brice but also said there is a big drop off after that. That is a concern but reading between the tea leaves (knowing what we know about Huesman) could mean Brice may be the best we have had at App (excluding Armanti as he was a different type of guy and I am not starting a debate on who is best of best), but rather saying Brice may be an improvement over Lamb and Thomas and thus take us the to next rung of the FBS ladder.

My question is how will Brice do that with only a limited amount of time (1 or 2 years?) at App? For that to be the case, he's going to have to blow minds away after his time at Duke.

Can you qualify what you would need to see in order to be blown away? I think that your statement is fair and most probably feel the same way. For me, I think that Brice has the potential to make guys better. In particular, Virgil and one of the Christians. I can’t remember if it is Horn or Wells, but one of them is as fast as Virgil. I think Brice has great ball placement skills and being able to hit either one of them in stride really creates a great open field advantage.

This is along the lines of what I am thinking. If Brice can thread the needle in traffic, hit guys in stride on deep passes and accurately dump off to RBs when pressure gets heavy, he better leverages the skill players around him. We know if we get some of these other guys the ball in space they can do damage. Consistently moving the ball down the field and converting possessions into TDs (not FG) results in more wins and larger margin wins. This is what makes good teams great.

I think of Joe Burrow as a possible example. He was a good QB that didn't get time on field at Ohio State. He transferred to LSU, did some good things in 2018 but was on fire in 2019. If you watched him in 2019, he was deadly accurate. He would place the ball in places defenders just couldn't defend, and receivers made plays. We all know the results. I am not saying Brice is that good but some are saying his accuracy is much better than we have seen with the last two QBs and that is not a knock on Taylor/Zac. We saw a glimpse of top tier accuracy with Zac at Penn State and it was impossible for the defenders to stop him. He just didn't always play that way but you saw what it can do against top tier competition. Can Brice play that way all the time?

[bigdaddyg]

I have always been one who has never worried or given much thought about any preseason poll for football or basketball. Of course for App football polls are obviously the ones where we are most likely to land at some point. After seeing the AP poll a question strikes me- Are we as App fans crazy or delusional? After seeing a few of the schools who received votes over us (UAB, Ball State, Army and even Boston College) I just can’t help but wonder. Are we not loaded this year? Does that lack of ranking have anything to do with our schedule? Again, I personally don’t care because if we just win we will get votes and a ranking but what am I not seeing?

[appgrad95&97]

I have always been one who has never worried or given much thought about any preseason poll for football or basketball. Of course for App football polls are obviously the ones where we are most likely to land at some point. After seeing the AP poll a question strikes me- Are we as App fans crazy or delusional? After seeing a few of the schools who received votes over us (UAB, Ball State, Army and even Boston College) I just can’t help but wonder. Are we not loaded this year? Does that lack of ranking have anything to do with our schedule? Again, I personally don’t care because if we just win we will get votes and a ranking but what am I not seeing?

These polls, particularly this one is ridiculous. So Miami is an 18.5 dog v. Alabama. 18.5 is the gap between #1 and #14? That said, we clearly have less of a brand than most of our fanbase believes. We're never going to be in "the mix", that's pretty clear. We are good and can be very good. But again, if a game between top 15 teams isn't expected to be competitive...

[AppSt94]

I have always been one who has never worried or given much thought about any preseason poll for football or basketball. Of course for App football polls are obviously the ones where we are most likely to land at some point. After seeing the AP poll a question strikes me- Are we as App fans crazy or delusional? After seeing a few of the schools who received votes over us (UAB, Ball State, Army and even Boston College) I just can’t help but wonder. Are we not loaded this year? Does that lack of ranking have anything to do with our schedule? Again, I personally don’t care because if we just win we will get votes and a ranking but what am I not seeing?

These polls, particularly this one is ridiculous. So Miami is an 18.5 dog v. Alabama. 18.5 is the gap between #1 and #14? That said, we clearly have less of a brand than most of our fanbase believes. We're never going to be in "the mix", that's pretty clear. We are good and can be very good. But again, if a game between top 15 teams isn't expected to be competitive...

I disagree with the brand comment. If you listen to Doug Gillin’s interview from last week, you will hear him speak to our brand influence. ESPN has a “valuation” for every team that is used to determine media rights. APP has one of the highest valuation amounts of any G5 school. Hence the reason that we are on TV so many weeknights. Unfortunately, that doesn’t translate into respect from voters, but honestly, should it?

Your point about the spread in a head to head between Top 20 teams is a great example of the disparity between a handful of teams and the rest.

[spacemonkey]

I have always been one who has never worried or given much thought about any preseason poll for football or basketball. Of course for App football polls are obviously the ones where we are most likely to land at some point. After seeing the AP poll a question strikes me- Are we as App fans crazy or delusional? After seeing a few of the schools who received votes over us (UAB, Ball State, Army and even Boston College) I just can’t help but wonder. Are we not loaded this year? Does that lack of ranking have anything to do with our schedule? Again, I personally don’t care because if we just win we will get votes and a ranking but what am I not seeing?

You are not looking at the names below us. There are some big names lower than us; Florida State, California to name two. I think our name helps a lot. If you get a chance look at the CBS 126 list. We are above some great names.(BYU, Standford, Nebraska, MichSt. and my favorite Louisville)

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... s-ranking/

[MAD Doctor]

Coastal and LaLa beat us for the first time in history in a pandemic year and they are catapulted into another universe.
How soon they forget. How soon we will remind them.

[1ASU78]

Coastal and LaLa beat us for the first time in history in a pandemic year and they are catapulted into another universe.
How soon they forget. How soon we will remind them.

That truck load of sand paper will make them remember.
If not for a fake COVID LaLa would have had BBQ chicken for championship dinner.

[BeauFoster]

My assumption is that, based solely on last year’s results, there are many voters who are not sold on Coach Clark. They looked at the record and the losses and decided they aren’t sure if he can get it done. If he doesn’t get it done this season, there’s a chance they’re right (depending on a multitude of factors).

[AppFan11]

As someone said earlier, the polls that matter are the polls at the end of the season. That's where you have earned the respect. This team, these S-Srs., Chase Brice are all carrying the chip this season. I like being in that position.

[AppSt94]

My assumption is that, based solely on last year’s results, there are many voters who are not sold on Coach Clark. They looked at the record and the losses and decided they aren’t sure if he can get it done. If he doesn’t get it done this season, there’s a chance they’re right (depending on a multitude of factors).

I really hope that we don’t become a fan base that loses their spit over a couple of 9-3 seasons.