Top 25 Watch (real thread)

[ericsaid]

UL with the 30th most votes in the Coaches Poll with 18. Doubt they can make it to top 25 before our game with them, but with a 53-3 win over Troy, they probably should be.

Does anyone think La has surpassed APP now based on comparing recent scores? They just beat Troy by 48 points and Vegas thinks APP is a 10.5 point favorite?

If both teams are playing to their potential, App is better overall. If yesterday’s App plays yesterday’s UL, we are in trouble.

Fortunately that's not how football works.

[Rekdiver]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

I’m 68...I had to live thru getting beat by Lenoir Rhyne and Bluefield State.....I’m pretty happy.

[appstatealum]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

I think Virg and Watson will step it up. I've heard guys say Watson is special, I'm just thinking he hasn't had his chance to get into the flow of the offense. Virg has struggled this year, but he is a great kid and hard worker, he may take the Sutton loss as a chance to step up in a big way for this team.

[HighPointApp]

The team will rally and be motivated for the next three games. One person does not define App State. Next man up. Finish the season for your brothers in black and gold!!

[JMappfan5]

Any word on C Reed? This would be another major loss.

[Black Saturday]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

For a while, the way the game was unfolding, I really had the thought yesterday was going to have VMI implications. Lou Holtz said you get a different team every week. Our backups should have gotten some good time yesterday against a 3-7 Sun Belt team and we are supposed to be a top 25.

[AppAlum1]

To appdiesel: for the record, it was 2004 where we were winless on the road and lossless at home. Got hammered by WCU even tho we scored 54 on the kitties. I think 2003 was Joe Burchette at QB and the last year of the power I. 2004 was Richie Williams and the first year of the spread option which confused everyone, including me. We got it figured out in 2005. !!!

[General Moore]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

You had a good post going but then you totally discredited yourself by saying Cinci is the only top 25 g5 team.

[NavyApp]

You had a good post going but then you totally discredited yourself by saying Cinci is the only top 25 g5 team.

I think they were saying that only Cinci deserves to be ranked in the top 25 because their loss is a mud stomping handed to them by Ohio State. I take exception to this for a couple of reasons 1) they got drilled at home, don't care who it was you got drilled at home that should mean something. 2). I have gone out of my way to watch their last 3 games because I keep hearing this Cinci hype. I don't see it. They are very undisciplined (led the country in penalties and penalty yards), their offense is not good. In my eyes they are clearly the worst of the ranked G5 schools. For me it's Memphis, Us, Boise, Cinci. This week Memphis and Cinci play what could be the first of back to back games for those two. We still have a shot but it's very slim. Regardless of all that we are having a historic season and I be damned if I'm not going to enjoy the hell out of it. Rose tinted glasses are on and not coming off!

[hapapp]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

I’m 68...I had to live thru getting beat by Lenoir Rhyne and Bluefield State.....I’m pretty happy.

I apparently was sitting in the same stands that you were.

[appstate77]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

I’m 68...I had to live thru getting beat by Lenoir Rhyne and Bluefield State.....I’m pretty happy.

I apparently was sitting in the same stands that you were.

I was in the Band of Distinction in 1974 when we lost to LR at THEIR place.

[hapapp]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

I’m 68...I had to live thru getting beat by Lenoir Rhyne and Bluefield State.....I’m pretty happy.

I apparently was sitting in the same stands that you were.

I was in the Band of Distinction in 1974 when we lost to LR at THEIR place.

We lost to L-R in Boone my freshman year in 1969. The "Who's that trying to beat L-RC?" cheer still resonates in my brain.

[AppStFan1]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

I think Virg and Watson will step it up. I've heard guys say Watson is special, I'm just thinking he hasn't had his chance to get into the flow of the offense. Virg has struggled this year, but he is a great kid and hard worker, he may take the Sutton loss as a chance to step up in a big way for this team.

When Watson is in the game he indeed does look better than you would expect. Hope both of them will step up. I am not saying we can't but I fully understand and would not be mad if the committee took us out of the rankings until they saw how we do.

My guess is we stay at 24 or drop to 25 but they will look to see how we play against Troy and whether we win against ULL to keep us ranked and move us up. I do think if we can make it to 13-1 that we finish in the top 20. There are going to be a lot of teams in the 15-30 range who lose over the next 2 weeks so there will be opportunity to move up for sure.

[AppStFan1]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

For a while, the way the game was unfolding, I really had the thought yesterday was going to have VMI implications. Lou Holtz said you get a different team every week. Our backups should have gotten some good time yesterday against a 3-7 Sun Belt team and we are supposed to be a top 25.

I still have nightmares of that loss. I will never forget people laughing at Jerry Moore talking them up. We were suppose to be the #1 seed and host throughout the playoffs but they kicked our butts and ruined what was suppose to be a perfect season.

The way Troy is playing you would expect we get time from the backups but I don't expect it with the Sutton loss and the fact this is a road game. We truly have to come be prepared to play well. Troy should be a tough game and they want revenge. If we play our A game they can't beat us but we have not played our best week to week.

[AppStFan1]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That season was brutal. I think you and I graduated same class

I'm older than both of you guys by a few years. I have seen us get beat by an 0-10 VMI, upset at home by ETSU (who was bad at the time), I went to those road games when we were a low seed and beat Troy down there after losing to them at home, I went to Boise State loss, UNH loss, and have seen the Sparky Woods era.

That 2003 season was very brutal. We were so up and down. The FBS transition years were tough times but yes we have seen rough and great years prior to that time period.

I'm trying not to be looked at as bias towards us when I talk to people. I look at teams and try to measure could we beat them or not. I feel like to truly be a top 25 team in the SBC you need to be a level above them all and really can't lose games to unranked G5 teams. That's why I'm not sure anyone but Cincy is a top 25 team from G5 level this year. I do feel like when healthy it would be 50/50 for us against just about every team from 19-35 range right now. I could see us beating ULL by 2 TDs at home or lose to them by 2 TDs.

We are about to go through a really tough stretch without Sutton and I am hopeful that we can overcome it and still look good. If we can win the next two and destroy CUSA in our bowl game then I will feel like we are still top 25 caliber without our best player. I'm just hesitant that losing Sutton will effect us more than people think. There are many times when a big time player goes down and teams then stop shifting focus to one, which gives others chances. I'm hopeful we can spread the ball out and really keep teams guessing.

This stretch without Sutton will tell us a lot about the heart of this group and the ability of our coaches. My guess is that if we do finish 13-1 we will be around 17-20 in the polls but these next 3 games are going to be super tough. One bit of good news is that we get Harrington back and hopefully Vic Johnson and others will be 100% for the bowl game.

You had a good post going but then you totally discredited yourself by saying Cinci is the only top 25 g5 team.

I did not say they are the only one. I said I'm not sure if there is anyone else I would put there. I have 2 others besides us and Cincy but I feel like the next 2 weeks will confirm or drop them for good for me. Memphis has a chance to answer the question along with Boise State and Navy down the stretch. Outside of Cincy I have not seen anyone go undefeated against G5 teams.

If I had to vote for the top 25 today here is how mine would look. I'm not as kind to the G5 level as many writers. Just being 9-2 or 10-1 does not impress me. There are 6-5 and even a 5-6 team from P5 level that would beat 90% of the G5 teams IMO.

I have Boise State hanging by a thread because I don't really think they would beat us. If they lose or don't look very good in their next 2 games I'm going to drop them out for sure. It would be nice to see Boise, App, Cincy, and Memphis all face one of these 7-4 or 8-3 P5 teams if they aren't in the NY6. I would love to see how 2-4 on that list stack up with those P5s in the 18-28 range.

My top 25 with my top 10 teams just outside of it below.

1. LSU 11-0
2. Ohio State 11-0
3. Clemson 11-0
4. Georgia 10-1
5. Alabama 10-1
6. Oklahoma 10-1
7. Florida 9-2
8. Utah 10-1
9. Minnesota 10-1
10. Wisconsin 9-2
11. Auburn 8-3
12. Penn State 9-2
13. Michigan 9-2
14. Baylor 10-1
15. Oregon 9-2
16. Iowa 8-3
17. Notre Dame 9-2
18. Oklahoma State 8-3
19. Virginia Tech 8-3
20. Cincinnati 10-1
21. Boise State 10-1
22. Iowa State 7-4
23. Southern California 8-4
24. Appalachian State 10-1
25. Memphis 10-1

My top 10 teams just outside of the top 25 for me.

Texas A&M 7-4
Virginia 8-3
Wake Forest 8-3
Navy 8-2
SMU 9-2
TCU 5-6
Pittsburgh 7-4
Texas 6-5
Kansas State 7-4
Louisville 7-4

[appstatealum]

I think it’ll look like this.... or should. I think we pick up some SMU votes....

1. LSU 11-0
2. Ohio State 11-0
3. Clemson 11-0
4. Georgia 10-1
5. Alabama 10-1
6. Oklahoma 10-1
7. Florida 9-2
8. Utah 10-1
9. Minnesota 10-1
10. Wisconsin 9-2
11. Auburn 8-3
12. Penn State 9-2
13. Michigan 9-2
14. Baylor 10-1
15. Oregon 9-2
16. Iowa 8-3
17. Notre Dame 9-2
18. Memphis 10-1
19. Cincinnati 10-1
20. Oklahoma State 8-3
21. Boise State 10-1
22. Iowa State 7-4
23. Appalachian State 10-1
24. Southern California 8-4
25. Virginia Tech 8-3

[bigdaddyg]

Is the committee really putting that much time and effort into sorting out who is ranked from say, 16-25? Are they REALLY analyzing App State and debating how good or bad we are and how worthy we are after losing a wide receiver? I just have a hard time imagining much discussion. I think they spend 99% of their energy deciding who is in the top 10 or so. To think we will rise or fall because we lost Sutton is kind of ridiculous.

[Yosef84]

The negativity is coming from new fans who've never experienced the adversity. I'm 35 and realistically I've only experienced 2 or 3 bad seasons in my App State fandom. The 2003 (?) season - we went undefeated at home but winless on the road - and the FBS transition years. Others around here have endured uh-LOT more tough times.

Best way to deal with it is to explain it to them, not rip them apart for having lofty expectations. Turn those fair weather fans into all-terrain fans.

That was actually the 2004 season. That was painful. We started two freshmen at the CB position and teams figured out that we couldn't stop a deep pass. Those last two games at UTC and WCU were track meets, especially the UTC game. We scored 56 points and LOST.

Interesting trivia points (well sort of): That was the last year that WCU beat App. Also, that season featured a win against Texas State.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Though we may not win the NY6 race, there is a chance we could be the top ranked G5 at the end of the season if we win the NO Bowl. 13-1 with two P5 wins, two wins over UL, and a win over which conference USA team that's not afraid to play us should put us close to the 15-18 range.

[ericsaid]

Any word on C Reed? This would be another major loss.

I think Reed would be a bigger loss to the offense than Sutton, honestly. Reed is essentially another offensive lineman who can still run routes.