Coastal Game on ESPN

[WASU 93]

Last time App wore that helmet decal, Coastal kept on intercepting Zac Thomas and he decided to not come back the next year.

Yes, but he had also been knocked out of the previous game due to an injury and gutted it out to be on the field. Peoples ran for 170+ yards in the first half, but ran out of gas.

To this day, still bewildered on the "running out of gas" concept

Agree to a point. But, last night when Marshall took an extra hit on the sideline in the 4th Quarter, you could tell from his body language that the hits and the carries had taken a toll. And, that’s in no way being critical. It’s a physical game and Coastal was getting their licks in, in the 4th quarter.

[Mjohn1988]

Last time App wore that helmet decal, Coastal kept on intercepting Zac Thomas and he decided to not come back the next year.

Yes, but he had also been knocked out of the previous game due to an injury and gutted it out to be on the field. Peoples ran for 170+ yards in the first half, but ran out of gas.

To this day, still bewildered on the "running out of gas" concept

Agree to a point. But, last night when Marshall took an extra hit on the sideline in the 4th Quarter, you could tell from his body language that the hits and the carries had taken a toll. And, that’s in no way being critical. It’s a physical game and Coastal was getting their licks in, in the 4th quarter.

For the last 3 to 4 years everybody has gotten their licks in on us. We have become the least physical team in the Belt. It’s been particularly bad this season.

[BambooRdApp]

Last time App wore that helmet decal, Coastal kept on intercepting Zac Thomas and he decided to not come back the next year.

Yes, but he had also been knocked out of the previous game due to an injury and gutted it out to be on the field. Peoples ran for 170+ yards in the first half, but ran out of gas.

To this day, still bewildered on the "running out of gas" concept

Agree to a point. But, last night when Marshall took an extra hit on the sideline in the 4th Quarter, you could tell from his body language that the hits and the carries had taken a toll. And, that’s in no way being critical. It’s a physical game and Coastal was getting their licks in, in the 4th quarter.

For the last 3 to 4 years everybody has gotten their licks in on us. We have become the least physical team in the Belt. It’s been particularly bad this season.

But the running back during that game was barely touched in the first half.....if there was an injury, I missed as I was at the game.

[Stonewall]

Joey is going to win the game. For one team or the other. Just kidding. We don’t block and can’t tackle. Most of the turnovers are on him though.

[Bootsy]

Here's my question: if our defense was merely average this season, what would our record look like?

I'm not saying we would've beaten Marshall, ULL or Coastal. But losing key defensive starters to injury so early in the season has definitely had an impact. We've seen this in other personnel groups over the years (OL immediately comes to mind), but had other pieces of the puzzle (i.e., a mobile QB like Thomas) that mitigated the weakness.

What concerns me is hearing people spout the "he's not ready" philosophy when it comes to 2's and some 3's. Is Sloan's scheme so complex that the 1's struggle with it and the depth players can't grasp it...even after 9-10 games? Or is there some other reason? The reason I ask, there are still a lot of heads on swivels, repeatedly looking to the sideline for the defensive call as opposing offenses prepare to snap the ball.

And for the life of me, I can't understand the poor tackling. Greenhalgh is a solid S&C coach and an improvement over others we've had in the recent past. And yes, it was a short week, but that's not a great excuse. Maybe it's the practice regimen on short weeks? I don't know. But we've had two horrific showings on short week games, to the point where you could produce a "worst practices" video masterclass on poor tackling technique...courtesy of the 2024 App State defense.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

We made the mistake of entering the wrong side of the stadium. We should have walked around the outside, but decided to walk through the interior, but we didn’t realize that took us through the student section. We had several student come up to us and yell “F*ck App State”. It was as awesome. We stopped at a gas station on the way out Dick Pond Rd and a female student did the same to my buddy as he was walking out the door.

[T-Dog]

The defense versus ODU in the first half was horrible and bailed out by ODU turnovers by a freshman QB. It was more than just tackling and not being in position. It was scheme. ODU had several runs where they quickly got into wide open spaces. GSU at times ran it up the middle on the defense.

IMO it's more than key injuries.

Looking at the 5 losses, only Louisiana has a moment I can point to and say "we win if that doesn't happen," that being the phantom Kanye fumble.

In our 3 FBS wins, I can point to one bad Joey throw in each where if he's not bailed out, we lose each of those games. The underthrown throwaway attempt vs ECU where Makai adjusted and made it a touchdown. The late pick overturned by an unnecessary (but rightly called) DPI versus GSU. The underarmed throw while being sacked vs ODU that the defender dropped.

Additionally, I think trailing for essentially 75% of the snaps this season is having a bigger mental effect than what is realized. When you're in survival mode most of the time, nerrves get frayed and decisions impacted.

[MrCraig]

Here's my question: if our defense was merely average this season, what would our record look like?

I'm not saying we would've beaten Marshall, ULL or Coastal. But losing key defensive starters to injury so early in the season has definitely had an impact. We've seen this in other personnel groups over the years (OL immediately comes to mind), but had other pieces of the puzzle (i.e., a mobile QB like Thomas) that mitigated the weakness.

What concerns me is hearing people spout the "he's not ready" philosophy when it comes to 2's and some 3's. Is Sloan's scheme so complex that the 1's struggle with it and the depth players can't grasp it...even after 9-10 games? Or is there some other reason? The reason I ask, there are still a lot of heads on swivels, repeatedly looking to the sideline for the defensive call as opposing offenses prepare to snap the ball.

And for the life of me, I can't understand the poor tackling. Greenhalgh is a solid S&C coach and an improvement over others we've had in the recent past. And yes, it was a short week, but that's not a great excuse. Maybe it's the practice regimen on short weeks? I don't know. But we've had two horrific showings on short week games, to the point where you could produce a "worst practices" video masterclass on poor tackling technique...courtesy of the 2024 App State defense.

If App's defense was just average, I think the record is 6-3 with wins over ULL and Coastal. Then, South Alabama looks like one bad game and Marshall looks like a hard fought loss.

For tackling, I think you get to it in your last sentence. It's poor technique. Bad angles, too many arm tackles. It doesn't matter what your S&C program is if you don't tackle correctly.

To Stonewall's comment about Joey- yes, he's reckless with the ball, but a lot of his bad throws that have become INTs are because the O-line is terrible in pass protection.

[AppinVA]

Here's my question: if our defense was merely average this season, what would our record look like?

I'm not saying we would've beaten Marshall, ULL or Coastal. But losing key defensive starters to injury so early in the season has definitely had an impact. We've seen this in other personnel groups over the years (OL immediately comes to mind), but had other pieces of the puzzle (i.e., a mobile QB like Thomas) that mitigated the weakness.

What concerns me is hearing people spout the "he's not ready" philosophy when it comes to 2's and some 3's. Is Sloan's scheme so complex that the 1's struggle with it and the depth players can't grasp it...even after 9-10 games? Or is there some other reason? The reason I ask, there are still a lot of heads on swivels, repeatedly looking to the sideline for the defensive call as opposing offenses prepare to snap the ball.

And for the life of me, I can't understand the poor tackling. Greenhalgh is a solid S&C coach and an improvement over others we've had in the recent past. And yes, it was a short week, but that's not a great excuse. Maybe it's the practice regimen on short weeks? I don't know. But we've had two horrific showings on short week games, to the point where you could produce a "worst practices" video masterclass on poor tackling technique...courtesy of the 2024 App State defense.

If App's defense was just average, I think the record is 6-3 with wins over ULL and Coastal. Then, South Alabama looks like one bad game and Marshall looks like a hard fought loss.

For tackling, I think you get to it in your last sentence. It's poor technique. Bad angles, too many arm tackles. It doesn't matter what your S&C program is if you don't tackle correctly.

To Stonewall's comment about Joey- yes, he's reckless with the ball, but a lot of his bad throws that have become INTs are because the O-line is terrible in pass protection.

It’s impossible to make a good decision when a different color helmet reaches Joey before the snap does.

[Mjohn1988]

Here's my question: if our defense was merely average this season, what would our record look like?

I'm not saying we would've beaten Marshall, ULL or Coastal. But losing key defensive starters to injury so early in the season has definitely had an impact. We've seen this in other personnel groups over the years (OL immediately comes to mind), but had other pieces of the puzzle (i.e., a mobile QB like Thomas) that mitigated the weakness.

What concerns me is hearing people spout the "he's not ready" philosophy when it comes to 2's and some 3's. Is Sloan's scheme so complex that the 1's struggle with it and the depth players can't grasp it...even after 9-10 games? Or is there some other reason? The reason I ask, there are still a lot of heads on swivels, repeatedly looking to the sideline for the defensive call as opposing offenses prepare to snap the ball.

And for the life of me, I can't understand the poor tackling. Greenhalgh is a solid S&C coach and an improvement over others we've had in the recent past. And yes, it was a short week, but that's not a great excuse. Maybe it's the practice regimen on short weeks? I don't know. But we've had two horrific showings on short week games, to the point where you could produce a "worst practices" video masterclass on poor tackling technique...courtesy of the 2024 App State defense.

If App's defense was just average, I think the record is 6-3 with wins over ULL and Coastal. Then, South Alabama looks like one bad game and Marshall looks like a hard fought loss.

For tackling, I think you get to it in your last sentence. It's poor technique. Bad angles, too many arm tackles. It doesn't matter what your S&C program is if you don't tackle correctly.

To Stonewall's comment about Joey- yes, he's reckless with the ball, but a lot of his bad throws that have become INTs are because the O-line is terrible in pass protection.

I agree with everything you’ve said except the strength and conditioning part. Our guys can’t even get themselves in the right position to make a tackle and when they do they get run over. We don’t have the athletes. I honestly think our FCS teams of 05,06,07 and 08 would physically dominate our current team.

[Stonewall]

Former player and coach has told me for years that this staff doesn’t work hard on the recruiting trail. I defer to him as he still has a lot of contacts in that world.

[t4pizza]

It isn't just the defense that has let us down. How many games would we have won if we just didn't turn the ball over excessively. Marshall we have 2 interceptions and a fumble, Ull we had 4 interceptions and a phantom fumble, last night we have 2 interceptions and a fumble. In all of those games, those turnovers produce more point swings were greater than the margin we lost by. Sure, the defense is a porous as a net but if we don't give the other guys the ball so often, we have at least 2 more wins (and 2 less losses) and maybe 3. It has been a demoralizing season.

[Saint3333]

We were #120 in turnover margin at -8, we are now -11, over one per game.

JMU is #1 @ +17.

We lack fundamentals as a team and it is glaring.

[Mjohn1988]

Former player and coach has told me for years that this staff doesn’t work hard on the recruiting trail. I defer to him as he still has a lot of contacts in that world.

Right now out of 22 starters I would say we have about 8 to 10 that should be starters.

[311neers]

Former player and coach has told me for years that this staff doesn’t work hard on the recruiting trail. I defer to him as he still has a lot of contacts in that world.

I texted 3 pretty recent former players (group chat) last night asking if they were watching the game. One responded “yes, Lamar is very good”. I said “no, the App game”.
None of them even knew we were playing last night… and that’s where we are.

[Stonewall]

Ouch

[Bigdaddyg1]

I have never played nor coached but if I try to break down aspects of football that could either be easy or hard to accomplish based on a lack of talent the one (to me) that seems “easiest” to do is tackling. I liken it to a playing defense in basketball. A team might be deficient at shooting or have a lack of height but they can all play defense. Same in football. If you make contact with runners no reason not wrap up.

[T-Dog]

Former player and coach has told me for years that this staff doesn’t work hard on the recruiting trail. I defer to him as he still has a lot of contacts in that world.

I've heard that the prospect camps App runs have seriously been lackluster and actually dissuaded potential recruits.

[Pikapp79]

Pretty sad when you are bottom of the barrel in a so so league. Been a long time since I’ve witnessed an App team this soft.

[AppSt WxGuy]

with all this said who would be your top 3 replacements:
Our course Steve Wilks would be at the top of the wish list. I saw he is working as a volunteer at UNCC which was suprising. I'm guessing he is waiting for an NFL DC job to open up.

Beyond that I haven't been in tune with coaching to know who else might be a good fit.

Andy Capone (played baseball at App) is doing some big things at Weddington HS, but that would obviously be a big leap.