ESPN 2023 projection

[Saint3333]

People will not overlook us and would love the chance to run it in given the chance.

[AppStFan1]

People will not overlook us and would love the chance to run it in given the chance.

Agreed. There is no chance any team will overlook us. Due to our prior success just about every Sun Belt team will run it up on us if they can.

[AtlAppMan]

I have no problem with folks predicting us to land in the middle of the pack. Most preseason predictions are a lot about reputation/recent performance of staff and players along with who is returning.

I HOPE we get our act together and get back to the top of the SBC and G5. However, based on the following there is a lot of reason for uncertainty.
1. HC has not shown he is able to consistently finish at top of SBC.
2. We have a lot of flux in coaching staff.
3. We don't have a returning QB and have a lot of flux in many positions.
4. We finished .500 last year and less against FBS opponents.
5. We are on a downward trend.

Who knows what this team will do but there is NO tangible reason to predict us to finish high.

Last year, I said to a friend before the season, I don't know what we will do. Then we came out and put up big offensive numbers against Carolina and then upset A&M. I thought maybe we were going to make it happen. Then we started showing all our weaknesses from that point forward. And we never
seemed to effectively correct or improve as the season progressed.

I fully support SC so I hope we do well but I will believe when I see it on the field.

[AppSt94]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

[AtlAppMan]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

Hey, I agree with all you are saying. I do feel optimistic. I like all the offseason moves by SC. BUT, if someone, from a neutral point of view, is making a prediction, they are going to give those limited weighting in their overall assessment.

Here is my counterpoint, if our HC was a tried and proven success, then all those things are examples of his skills of architecting a great program and folks would rely on his experience and trust his judgement. Until SC proves himself, all of the above are just a bunch of unknown moves in an attempt to yield success.

[AppSt94]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

Hey, I agree with all you are saying. I do feel optimistic. I like all the offseason moves by SC. BUT, if someone, from a neutral point of view, is making a prediction, they are going to give those limited weighting in their overall assessment.

Here is my counterpoint, if our HC was a tried and proven success, then all those things are examples of his skills of architecting a great program and folks would rely on his experience and trust his judgement. Until SC proves himself, all of the above are just a bunch of unknown moves in an attempt to yield success.

Totally with you. But here is my counterpoint. JMU is going in the season having to replace a QB, RB and a bunch of their WRs. Yet they picked them higher. So while I agree with their assessment of App, it didn’t appear that the same rationale was applied to a similar situation elsewhere.

[AtlAppMan]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

Hey, I agree with all you are saying. I do feel optimistic. I like all the offseason moves by SC. BUT, if someone, from a neutral point of view, is making a prediction, they are going to give those limited weighting in their overall assessment.

Here is my counterpoint, if our HC was a tried and proven success, then all those things are examples of his skills of architecting a great program and folks would rely on his experience and trust his judgement. Until SC proves himself, all of the above are just a bunch of unknown moves in an attempt to yield success.

Totally with you. But here is my counterpoint. JMU is going in the season having to replace a QB, RB and a bunch of their WRs. Yet they picked them higher. So while I agree with their assessment of App, it didn’t appear that the same rationale was applied to a similar situation elsewhere.

Pure speculation but I would bet that they have more faith in Cignetti than SC.

Here is another related point (maybe fair/accurate or not):
In last several years I believe App tends to get a consistently better shot from our opponents than most other conference mates BECAUSE we were at top of SBC for several years. For example, we had not lost to Texas State and they wanted us bad. In contrast, JMU was a newbie and probably didn't get the respect (mental and physical) that they should have from their opponents and it worked to their advantage. I am not complaining as we got that benefit early in SBC. But it is a factor that contributes to their final record and it should be considered how a team navigates their full season.

[mike87]

or it might just be that JMU beat us.

[MrCraig]

This discussion is exhibit A of why I love and hate this message board. We got folks arguing about whether or not App will be good, and whether or not ESPN is right in their assessment, when the article literally says that, although they are picking App to finish 4th, they could just as easily finish anywhere from 1st through 5th. So basically, ESPN has the same opinion of App as most of the people on this board. BUT LET'S ARGUE ABOUT IT!!

[AppSt94]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

Hey, I agree with all you are saying. I do feel optimistic. I like all the offseason moves by SC. BUT, if someone, from a neutral point of view, is making a prediction, they are going to give those limited weighting in their overall assessment.

Here is my counterpoint, if our HC was a tried and proven success, then all those things are examples of his skills of architecting a great program and folks would rely on his experience and trust his judgement. Until SC proves himself, all of the above are just a bunch of unknown moves in an attempt to yield success.

Totally with you. But here is my counterpoint. JMU is going in the season having to replace a QB, RB and a bunch of their WRs. Yet they picked them higher. So while I agree with their assessment of App, it didn’t appear that the same rationale was applied to a similar situation elsewhere.

Pure speculation but I would bet that they have more faith in Cignetti than SC.

Here is another related point (maybe fair/accurate or not):
In last several years I believe App tends to get a consistently better shot from our opponents than most other conference mates BECAUSE we were at top of SBC for several years. For example, we had not lost to Texas State and they wanted us bad. In contrast, JMU was a newbie and probably didn't get the respect (mental and physical) that they should have from their opponents and it worked to their advantage. I am not complaining as we got that benefit early in SBC. But it is a factor that contributes to their final record and it should be considered how a team navigates their full season.

All fair.

[AtlAppMan]

This discussion is exhibit A of why I love and hate this message board. We got folks arguing about whether or not App will be good, and whether or not ESPN is right in their assessment, when the article literally says that, although they are picking App to finish 4th, they could just as easily finish anywhere from 1st through 5th. So basically, ESPN has the same opinion of App as most of the people on this board. BUT LET'S ARGUE ABOUT IT!!

I am not arguing with ‘94. We are merely discussing the factors contributing to peoples assessment of our upcoming season. Much like we would if sitting at the bar over a brew.

Isn’t that the fun of a board?

[AppDub]

Took a sabbatical for a while, but popped back in just in time to see everything remains the same. Man I'm ready for some football.

[AppStFan1]

This discussion is exhibit A of why I love and hate this message board. We got folks arguing about whether or not App will be good, and whether or not ESPN is right in their assessment, when the article literally says that, although they are picking App to finish 4th, they could just as easily finish anywhere from 1st through 5th. So basically, ESPN has the same opinion of App as most of the people on this board. BUT LET'S ARGUE ABOUT IT!!

I am with you on the fact it does not matter. ESPN does not truly know. They have a right to their opinion and are justified in their reasons why they have us lower. I hope they are wrong but we have a lot of questions that have to be answered in a good way or else they could be right.

[Black Saturday]

I think the projector is being generous based on our last 20 years, we have a lot to prove to turn our program around.

[pop5app]

The good news: presuming the world does not end: we will find out.

The bad news: we have to wait.

[bigdaddyg]

We would love to believe that App and the Sunbelt as a whole gets the same national love and attention as Alabama and the SEC but the realists here know better. Is a writer or even a staff of writers really digging into the App roster and team as a whole in April to really assess our team and then making a realistic and detailed prognostication? I think not. As a few pointed out they did quick look, considered our record last year, noticed some coaching changes and saw that we are replacing a QB. How hard is that research and then just picking us around 5th- but also saying we could be in first?

Is it remotely possible that some of our younger guys are really and just waited for their chance?

[Saint3333]

This discussion is exhibit A of why I love and hate this message board. We got folks arguing about whether or not App will be good, and whether or not ESPN is right in their assessment, when the article literally says that, although they are picking App to finish 4th, they could just as easily finish anywhere from 1st through 5th. So basically, ESPN has the same opinion of App as most of the people on this board. BUT LET'S ARGUE ABOUT IT!!

I am not arguing with ‘94. We are merely discussing the factors contributing to peoples assessment of our upcoming season. Much like we would if sitting at the bar over a brew.

Isn’t that the fun of a board?

Some people in today’s society often view two opposing rational thoughts as arguing.

That’s unfortunate, I enjoyed both perspectives and welcome that type of discussion, in the off-season even more so.

[AppDub]

This discussion is exhibit A of why I love and hate this message board. We got folks arguing about whether or not App will be good, and whether or not ESPN is right in their assessment, when the article literally says that, although they are picking App to finish 4th, they could just as easily finish anywhere from 1st through 5th. So basically, ESPN has the same opinion of App as most of the people on this board. BUT LET'S ARGUE ABOUT IT!!

I am not arguing with ‘94. We are merely discussing the factors contributing to peoples assessment of our upcoming season. Much like we would if sitting at the bar over a brew.

Isn’t that the fun of a board?

Some people in today’s society often view two opposing rational thoughts as arguing.

That’s unfortunate, I enjoyed both perspectives and welcome that type of discussion, in the off-season even more so.

Agreed

[AppStFan1]

I know certain participants here don’t like people being positive but here goes. Reasons to be optimistic about next year:

1. Yes we have to break in a new QB but we have two good ones that are more inline with the style of play that we want.
2. Frank is back and working with two guys that he really likes at QB.
3. We have a lot of young talent returning in defense that gained some valuable experience last year stepping in for injured contributors.
4. A new voice in the DC role.

There is a lot of reasons to be optimistic for an improvement over last year.

Most on here have only brought up one side because of the fact ESPN has us middle of the pack and we are stating why they likely did so. There are definitely some things to be optimistic about. For me it is:

1. Ponce is back with 2 QBs he really wanted, which you said.
2. Sloan at DC is cause for optimism.
3. We brought in a lot of transfers that should fill the holes.
4. New strength coach and assistant coaches in areas we needed.

The very good news is with the portal and current rules overall it is much easier for a 6-6 team to bounce back and we have made enough changes that we have a chance to improve. However, It is 1000% fair for the media to put us in the middle of the pack because even the positives we both list are questions because we don’t know for sure.

[AppStFan1]

In the past some on here and 247 have brought up coach turnover as a reason for there to be a lot of player attrition and not seeing some pan out. Well, most of our positives are about changes and we have made a lot of them. I have never prescribed to that being the reason for struggles. I think we had coaches who did a bad job of evaluating and developing talent. I also think we had major issues with the strength and conditioning department that I hope we figured out.

With that said, someone brought up the stats on another board about 247 being so off on our top OL and how most of those starts have really been from 2-star and lower rated OL. Troy Everett is the only high rated one who has given us starts and he is now gone.

I feel like it should be mentioned that not only did 247 Miss but our staff missed as well. Ratings don’t matter but how our staff has done does and they have done poorly with OL and a few other position evals. It is fair to bring that up. The good news is that we have a portal that allows us to plug and replace much faster. If this was pre-portal era this turn around would take us at least 2-3 years and now it can happen in less than 1.

I’m glad Shawn realized the problems in our staff and made changes because I want him to succeed. Unfortunately, if changes didn’t happen now then the next would be him.