GSU @ App St. Game Thread

[Apptiger]

The referees did not help us at all tonight but they are not the reason we lost. We didn't show up until it was too late. As bad as we played, we still had chances to tie or win.
I must say they physically beat us up tonight and totally dominated both the O and D lines until late in the game.

We were not prepared, not ready and they wanted it more. A lot more. Players share some responsibility but the bulk of this is on the coaching staff. Hard to pass in high wind but that doesn't explain why the defense got manhandled for three quarters.

We lost a lot more than our ranking tonight. We don't control our own destiny any longer and need help to get to the conference championship game. We were as unprepared as I have ever seen an App State team.

The only bright spot, if there is one...is that the kids didn't quit.

[WataugaMan]

Agreed, the refs didn't cause us to lose this game, it was a total team effort!

[diehardapp18]

Ceiling for the rest of the year now is the New Orleans Bowl. Which is fine but damn what a bummer. We had gone just far enough to make me believe the Cotton Bowl was possible, this is so deflating

I think now, given the performance tonight, we weren’t as good as our ranking suggested.

I know I, like many others, loved to ride high on the ranking wave, but I also know we all had our doubts given some pretty suspect performances at Southern Alabama, home against Charlotte and in Lafayette. Obviously we won all those and the scores eventually looked good, but anyone that watched probably had suspicions. I knew I did but I hoped we’d just sort them out and keep winning.

I had hopes we were a great team and hell im sure the coaches and players did too. Nothing wrong with being a pretty good team. Which would mean the New Orleans Bowl is a very suitable destination.



I’ll also say I thought last year the Ga Southern game was an anomaly due to Zac’s injury. Clearly not. They have our number, destroyed us on the interior and will continue to until we figure out shit out. Very disappointed.

Great post man, hard to disagree with any of it. While being #20 was freaking awesome, there’s no way there were only 19 other teams better than us lol. I think we all probably knew that regardless. As you said, our team had already played some poor games this year. Especially against UNCC and SoBama. Keep playing bad games and eventually you’ll lose, that’s basically what happened tonight. Southern wanted the game worse than us tonight, full stop. Still think we’re the best team in the conference. Despite everything that went wrong we still easily could have won. Will be very interesting to see how we respond now

[ah59396]

The referees did not help us at all tonight but they are not the reason we lost. We didn't show up until it was too late. As bad as we played, we still had chances to tie or win.
I must say they physically beat us up tonight and totally dominated both the O and D lines until late in the game.

We were not prepared, not ready and they wanted it more. A lot more. Players share some responsibility but the bulk of this is on the coaching staff. Hard to pass in high wind but that doesn't explain why the defense got manhandled for three quarters.

We lost a lot more than our ranking tonight. We don't control our own destiny any longer and need help to get to the conference championship game. We were as unprepared as I have ever seen an App State team.

The only bright spot, if there is one...is that the kids didn't quit.

I suspect our brand took a hit tonight as well. We were all raving about the spotlight on us this morning with the ESPN and 538 articles. Well, that means everyone watched that. App State, the pretenders. Definitely sucks.

This loss will set us back quite a bit. Unfortunately.

[Apptiger]

Ceiling for the rest of the year now is the New Orleans Bowl. Which is fine but damn what a bummer. We had gone just far enough to make me believe the Cotton Bowl was possible, this is so deflating

Iggles have to lose and we have to win out to make it. NOLA bowl is the ceiling but it's a reach. Only game we can lose the rest of the year is SC. Otherwise, it's Bama bound again. Course we lose one more we could go to Cure bowl in Orlando instead.

[appbio91]

You talk about dropping like a rock never to sniff the polls again this year.

We won't hit the polls for a few years.

People said that last year, we need to close out (even if we lose to USC) and we will be fine. Lots of teams pop in and out of the bottom 5. It’s true we probably don’t get back in this year though.

[biggie]

What a perfectly good way to hurt my bday.

[MAD Doctor]

The team did not look like they were out to avenge last year’s loss at all and that was very disappointing. We lost on all three phases of the game and definitely ecoaching. I thought the students were great and deserved better. Now we once again hope for someone else to help us by doing what we couldn’t do.

[App91]

The refs didn't lose the game but definitely missed some calls. They were a mediocre group. I don't think they wanted to be there. My big take away from this game was a lack of preparation.

You do not get dpi calls when the Qi has shown himself to be wildly inaccurate. This has to be the worst game of his career which is saying a lot from the last game. Totally reminded me of Todd Payton in the lat 80’s

[App91]

The referees did not help us at all tonight but they are not the reason we lost. We didn't show up until it was too late. As bad as we played, we still had chances to tie or win.
I must say they physically beat us up tonight and totally dominated both the O and D lines until late in the game.

We were not prepared, not ready and they wanted it more. A lot more. Players share some responsibility but the bulk of this is on the coaching staff. Hard to pass in high wind but that doesn't explain why the defense got manhandled for three quarters.

We lost a lot more than our ranking tonight. We don't control our own destiny any longer and need help to get to the conference championship game. We were as unprepared as I have ever seen an App State team.

The only bright spot, if there is one...is that the kids didn't quit.

I suspect our brand took a hit tonight as well. We were all raving about the spotlight on us this morning with the ESPN and 538 articles. Well, that means everyone watched that. App State, the pretenders. Definitely sucks.

This loss will set us back quite a bit. Unfortunately.

Most definitely the case. Hurt our opportunities due to piss poor performance. Where was the hate and prep from last year. At some point it is leadership

[Apptrain]

2 penalties all night against GSU. BS refs pushed that game out of our reach.

The team pushed it out of reach. The refs didn't help, but they aren't the cause of putting the team in such a deficit for most of the game.

Time to go 1-0 next week.

The teams at fault, but there were several suspect no calls that changed much of the shape of that game.

Correct me if I’m wrong. This was a Sunbelt officiating crew. The Sunbelt has enjoyed the publicity of having a team ranked in the top 25. So, if the refs were going to be influenced to influence the game wouldn’t they have been looking to help the #20 ranked team to keep them ranked. I don’t buy the theory they wanted GS to win, unless you believe GS padded their pockets. I believe the refs, like us, were not on top of their game or maybe just not a talented bunch, but to say they intentionally helped GS is a crock. We got manhandled 3/4 of that game. It’s on us. GS did what they do and we struggled most of the game to stop it and the offense was inhibited by the conditions. But we, if truly the 20th ranked team, should have been good enough to overcome it. We aren’t.

[mgsouth]

You can bet that after last night Georgia State is really licking their chops. From what I have seen of them on T.V. they are for real this year and are better than GS for sure. That game officially has me greatly concerned.

[AppStFan1]

You can bet that after last night Georgia State is really licking their chops. From what I have seen of them on T.V. they are for real this year and are better than GS for sure. That game officially has me greatly concerned.

I think that game should have been feared regardless. If we beat SC then it would be a trap game. If we lose to SC we are coming off a 2-game losing streak and GSU would definitely be chomping at the bit. That game is not a guaranteed win but if we are a top 25 caliber team it should be. I mean they beat Tennessee who beat the crap out of SC. if we can't beat SC I would expect to lose to Georgia State.

[canes_mj]

Still bummed about the loss...not just the loss but how it happened and how quickly and radically our situation has changed, from talk about the Cotton Bowl to now needing help to even get to our own conference championship game. This stretch has worried me all year....our rival on a short week, South Carolina, and then a major trap game against a good team in GaState. I never really thought Cotton Bowl would happen, but it was fun to go along with it. Everything that happens this year is a learning experience for a first year head coach...so far he's handled most things well. We'll see how he does with some adversity.

We need help...and hopefully we get it. We needed help last year, and it was unlikely to happen but it did. So I'm going to put this one behind me and get ready for a trip to Columbia.

[WASU 93]

GaSo dictated the game and was more up for the game than we were. However, even with that said, I think the weather was a bigger factor than most are allowing it to be. Both teams had to play in it, but the weather played perfectly into GaSo's hands.
1. Their triple option was unaffected by the wind.
2. Our balanced offense was affected. Hence, they could load the box against the run in the first half and we really struggled with inaccuracy and drops in the first half. Three and outs really kept our defense on the field more in the first half.
3. The velocity on their kickoffs into the South (scoreboard) end of the stadium was amazing. Passing the ball in the wind, with swirling conditions, was tough.

I'm sure our brand took a bit of a hit, but I don't know that we were embarrassed. We lost by 3 points in a game that was played in very tough conditions. They made three big plays (the two long TD's runs and the 49-Yard FG in those conditions).

However, we still have the distinction of being the first ranked Sun Belt team to win a game and the highest ranked Sun Belt team. We will certainly be re-ranked if we win out and probably will be if we go 4-1 or 5-1 over the remainder of the season.

Other teams in the Top 30 are going to lose games in which they are favored. Some of them multiple times.