St. Petersburg Bowl vs. Houston

[ASUTodd]

If you want to go to a bowl game and have your butt handed to you...... then wish for this. You guys thought Miami whipped us bad? Having watched a few of the Houston and Miami games....Houston is the better team. I know we say anyone and anywhere, but do you really want to risk national humiliation twice in one year? Lets take some baby steps before we think we can run up the mountain.

[AppSt94]

It is probably unlikely that this game happens. However, if it does, is it a "must win" game? Don't like that term but it is time for us to win a game against a
"name" opponent. Especially since the Cougars did not finish strong and have the coaching thing going on.
Also, how do you think they would see us as a bowl opponent?

I get what your saying but I don't necessarily agree with this being a "must win". Houston is less of a name opponent and more like the flavor of the month. I don't think that this would be a win that we could ride up the ladder of G5 relevance. Houston is good, but they haven't had the long term success that Boise or BYU have had. Beating an average Boise team would carry more weight than beating a good Houston team. It's sad that this is the case, but it's true.

To answer your question, I don't know that Houston would be motivated by this game, regardless of the opponent.

[AppSt94]

If you want to go to a bowl game and have your butt handed to you...... then wish for this. You guys thought Miami whipped us bad? Having watched a few of the Houston and Miami games....Houston is the better team. I know we say anyone and anywhere, but do you really want to risk national humiliation twice in one year? Lets take some baby steps before we think we can run up the mountain.

Not sure that I agree with you on this. Houston is good and talented but they have the same record as us and they have played 6 games against opponents with a .500 record or better. Same as us. Yes they beat two P5s but they also lost to SMU. Besides, after playing in a NY6 bowl last year with National Championship pipe dreams that came crashing down, I don't think they would play inspired football in a lower tier bowl.

[WVAPPeer]

Yes, if we were able to play Houston we would most likely catch them at the most opportune time - Their head coach is leaving and the articles I have seen say he will be taking many of the Houston staff with him - the players have to be down with playing a lower tier bowl after their early season expectations and last years Orange Bowl and yes, APP would be considered an inferior opponent after beating Florida State last year and beating Oklahoma and Louisville this season ---

[Rick83]

If you want to go to a bowl game and have your butt handed to you...... then wish for this. You guys thought Miami whipped us bad? Having watched a few of the Houston and Miami games....Houston is the better team. I know we say anyone and anywhere, but do you really want to risk national humiliation twice in one year? Lets take some baby steps before we think we can run up the mountain.

Miami lost 3 close games this year, their only bad loss was to VT who's playing for the ACC Championship. If just a few plays had gone differently they could very well be 10-2 or even 11-1... if they had lost 4 games by 2 or more scores I would agree that they weren't that good but there were those 3 very close losses...sooo i think Miami is better than their 8-4 record reflects. Also, and I've said this before on this board, that the Miami game was so hyped up and The Rock was such a mad house that day (yes our home field but it's never been like that before with the crowd, ESPN and all that) that our guys were a little like deer caught in the headlights so I don't think they were at their peak performance level. I think if we were to play them again it'd be a much closer competitive contest. As for playing Houston...I say no guts-->no glory. Let's go for it.

[sixtoes9134]

I think it would be great to play Houston. They probably would win, but the places where Miami hurt us, I feel have improved dramatically as the season has gone on. Also, playing Houston might mean that 6 Belt teams got bowl bids. That, also, is good for our conference when you look around see the conferences who don't have enough teams to fill tie-ins.

[boonetown1]

It would be a tough game, but we cannot use the Miami game as a measuring stick. College football is a crazy thing. You win big one week and lose big the next and the team who beat you looses to an inferior opponent. E.g. We loose a close one to Troy, who then is smashed by ArkState, who is then beat by a team we smashed...

[hotrod2001]

It is probably unlikely that this game happens. However, if it does, is it a "must win" game? Don't like that term but it is time for us to win a game against a
"name" opponent. Especially since the Cougars did not finish strong and have the coaching thing going on.
Also, how do you think they would see us as a bowl opponent?

Whoever we play is at least going to have some fans on message board/Twitter who make the typical "What? Why are we playing a D2 team?" comments. Just go ahead and get ready for it now.

That or they'll undercut the matchup saying that Houston isn't all that now that Texas poached their head coach. Still it'd be a big win if we were to knock off an AAC team. That would def. turn some heads, especially if we took out the darling token underdog.

[bigdaddyg]

It would be a tough yet exciting game to play. Having read all of the responses on this and other threads I have to ask- who exactly does everyone want to play? Do we want to play a 6-6 crap team so that we are favored? Do we want a decent P5 or do we want a team that is at the level we aspire to be?

[moonshine]

Also, and I've said this before on this board, that the Miami game was so hyped up and The Rock was such a mad house that day (yes our home field but it's never been like that before with the crowd, ESPN and all that) that our guys were a little like deer caught in the headlights so I don't think they were at their peak performance level. I think if we were to play them again it'd be a much closer competitive contest. As for playing Houston...I say no guts-->no glory. Let's go for it.

I'd say our coaching staff were the ones who looked like a deer in headlights. Like you, I think they have corrected the issues we saw in that game and if we played the Hurricanes again, it would be much more competitive.

No guts, no glory...anyone, anytime, anywhere!!! Forget all the non-sense of being scared to play any team, especially in the G5. One of the main reasons for moving up was to play more competitive programs. Houston is probably the most significant name App has been paired with in these bowl predictions but the Las Vegas bowl against a ranked SDSU team (still to play WYO) is the best match-up to date as far as rankings are concerned.

[SpeedkingATL]

Love the matchup, love the location, hate the date and time. It is the only eligible bowl date that I can't make but would certainly be great for the program....especially if we get the W!

[EastHallApp]

San Diego State isn't ranked, but playing the MWC champion, whether it's them or Wyoming, would be a nice matchup. That's supposed to be their matchup with the Pac-12 so landing it would be a coup in some respects.

[moonshine]

Good catch East. I meant to say possibly ranked, assuming they beat WYO.

[hapapp]

DG last night thought it would either be NO or Orlando depending on Louisiana's result.

[AppSt94]

It would be a tough yet exciting game to play. Having read all of the responses on this and other threads I have to ask- who exactly does everyone want to play? Do we want to play a 6-6 crap team so that we are favored? Do we want a decent P5 or do we want a team that is at the level we aspire to be?

If the 6-6 crap team is from the AAC then I am OK with that. 6-6 from any other conference, no thanks.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

This would be the best game I could make given how school schedules are this year.

[Cro-Magnon App]

The greater the conflict the more glorious the triumph!

[Yosef10]

Two ways to look at this:

1. If you actually want this program to continue to grow and be seen nationally there is almost no better bowl game we can play.

2. If you just want to be able to attend he game and not miss Christmas with the family then there may not be a worse bowl game for you.

I personally look at this through lens number 1. If we want to thump our chest we need to play (and beat) the better G5 teams in the country and not the Sun Belt schools of the world. Could not have a better measuring stick game.

Both are valid viewpoints. I am typically all about growing the program's profile, so I do see the value there. But let's not oversell the impact. Houston got lots of pub this year for two reasons: 1) They were beating big-name teams and were briefly a playoff contender, and 2) their coach was going to basically have his pick of any P5 opening in the country.

Tom Herman won't be there, and Houston isn't ranked anymore (at least by the CFP). Houston vs. App State won't generate the same hype as Houston vs. Oklahoma or Louisville. And 11 a.m. on a Monday isn't exactly a primetime TV spot.

So yeah, it would be a higher-profile win than whoever we might play in Montgomery or Orlando. But I'm not sure it would move the needle much outside our fanbase. To me, it wouldn't be worth the negative effect it would have on our attendance.

Oh, and we'd be more likely to lose this game than others. That matters too.

Yeah I get where you're coming from. But I'm getting tired of having 9&10 win seasons only to have AAC/ECU fans say "well, who did you *really* beat". And it's a completely valid point they make. A win vs. UH and that argument goes out the window. No, obviously it's not going to generate buzz like UH-UO but App-UH will generate buzz more so than say App-Tulsa. They don't make money from the G5 really so I don't expect them to hype the game up regardless. But it would be perhaps the best G5 matchup of the year I believe.

No, they don't have Tom Herman but they do have Greg Ward Jr., Ed Oliver, a slew of really good receivers and the 36th nationally ranked 2016 recruiting class. Gotta beat the best at some point to be the best.

A win vs arguably the most talented G5 school and perhaps best G5 program overall would be a statement for this App State program especially considering this is our second year of bowl eligibility. Plus....Always Be 'Crutin.

[Goapps15]

Playing a good team is what we need. It's a good measuring stick for our program. It would be very disappointing to face a 6-6 MAC or CUSA team in a bowl when we are 9-3. I want to know how we stack up with peer upper echelon G5 programs.

[Seattleapp]

We don't want Houston. Lamb would throw for 30 yards in that game. That is a terrible matchup for us. They beat Oklahoma soundly. They played with Louisville before blowing them out. They are where hopefully we can get to. I think we should temper our expectations just a tad. Obviously if we play them, everyone will jump on board and cheer for us, myself included. But I don't know that we can throw the ball well enough to keep up with them. And they have a big, fast defense to go along with some pretty world class speed on offense.