SunBelt is a JOKE

[appbio91]

If we don't choke vs our rival, we are in the Cotton Bowl. If Boise and WM can do it, so can we. Lets continue to get better and support this program.

This sucks a lot less than 12-1 Memphis getting Cotton over 13-0 App, and I’m not convinced that would not have happened. The OP is right....

[yikas1]

Who cares if we play UAB? We had two games this year that no bowl game could match. We beat both Carolinas!!! Come on everyone... the season is what matters!!!

[Apptiger]

I am not disappointed in our bowl destination. NOLA is one of the top bowl destinations in the country.
I am not disappointed with the ranking we have.
I love what our team, coaches and players have accomplished.
I am bitterly disappointed in our opponent.
We are handling the Sun Belt easier than we handled the SOCon and the FBS playoffs
We are getting more respect but we should have more respect than we do. The P5 have all the better bowls locked up and will not let G5's in without being forced.
We have to keep beating people and style points matter.
Throttle UAB, skull drag them up and down Poydras and Bourbon Street.

[mountaineerman]

This much be the general feeling in the FBS. And you know what, I am in agreement at this point in time. A team goes 12-1 and beats two P5s on the road and gets nothing "extra". I honestly believe we could have gone 13-0 and still been going to NOLA again. We would not have passed Memphis at 12-1. The AAC is the chosen one and I don't think that will change unless their highest ranked team has at least 2 losses and maybe not then dependent upon who else has a better record - and it will have to be a much better record.

Look, I am too old and too poor to go any bowl game so the location makes no difference to me. I have been to NOLA a few times years ago and it is a great place for fans to go.

My point is that this conference has a team ranked in the top 20 at 12-1 and UAB is the best they could do - THAT IS A JOKE - I have absolutely no disrespect for UAB - the coach, players and staff have done a miracle job to be so good after dropping football completely just a couple of years ago.

I don't want to hear some of you say stuff like "you want to go back to the SoCon, etc." because this is not about that. It is about the respect APP STATE deserves at this point in time.

Remember what C.Cobb said a number of years ago about the SunBelt - "It is a glorified FCS conference" - He was not wrong. We have dominated the SB much more than we did the SoCon.
NO, I don't want to go back!!! - What I want is a conference with a commissioner who goes to the wall for its elite program - WE DON'T HAVE THAT !!!

This is a shame and sad! I don’t care what part of Gillin butt everyone’s up ..but I haven’t heard a word from him on our push. Why? This team is special and the ones that could be a platform for promoting us haven’t. Yes sunbelt is a joke.

[97grad]

I say we need to find a way to get Memphis, Cincinnati, Navy and UCF on the schedule. So I’ll ask this, how would our fans accept playing any of those teams in place of say ECU or Wake?

This sounds like skating to where the puck is instead of where it's going to be. These games get scheduled so far out, it's hard to know what they will do for SoS by the time they are played. I mean, who would have thought that wins over UNC and USC in the same season would not be enough? That said, I'll take a win at Wake over those schools. It's true that playing the ECU of late doesn't do much for us.

[appstatealum]

Doug Gillian does a lot of his work in the shadows. It’s just his style, trust me, he does a lot to promote this program.

The reality is, with all of these perceived achievements, we would’ve been in a much better spot had we not lost to GaS, at home, again, we would also be looked at better if we had not blown leads playing prevent defense that prevented nothing. Playing in the SunBelt gives us a lower floor, our schedule against P5s helped, but they both wet the bed to close the year, and Drink did us no favors by going in super conservative mode in games this year and letting teams tighten the spreads on Us. We MANHANDLED UNC, SC, ULL (Championship game), But the games ended within one score. Add in the games against a Charlotte and Coastal, we dominated them and let both score to hang around. If you are the committee, we had a bad loss to GaS and no definitive wins outside of Troy, S Alabama, Texas St and ULM. Nobody is impressed by us spanking those 4 teams.

[Mjohn1988]

I say we need to find a way to get Memphis, Cincinnati, Navy and UCF on the schedule. So I’ll ask this, how would our fans accept playing any of those teams in place of say ECU or Wake?

This sounds like skating to where the puck is instead of where it's going to be. These games get scheduled so far out, it's hard to know what they will do for SoS by the time they are played. I mean, who would have thought that wins over UNC and USC in the same season would not be enough? That said, I'll take a win at Wake over those schools. It's true that playing the ECU of late doesn't do much for us.

I completely understand your point, especially the part about beating UNC and SC. But I still want to play some AAC teams.

[yosef95]

Bowl tie-ins are dumb for all involved. No team/conference wants to the same bowl & conf matchups for glorified exhibitions. Make it fun, interesting. Make it regional, so teams' fans can go. I bet App could get more fans to Charlotte for the Belk game that Miss St fans coming from Miss.

[Saint3333]

This thread is a joke, WV shame on you for starting it.

Keep building the brand and we’ll get there.

This is year number six, come in guys.

Amazing year, thanks you coaches and players!

[S.Lewis15]

Some entitled people on this board.
What our team has accomplished this season is unreal, but we are still building a brand.

Scraping by mediocre P5 teams doesn't move the needle for the rest of the country. We need to beat Ranked teams consistently before people take us seriously.

Here's is the google traffic, from Google Trends, comparing us to Boise State, the premiere G5 team in the country. They are twice as popular as us because they have built a brand. We are on the rise, but aren't there yet. Even taking Penn State to OT last year got us more national interest than 2 P5 wins this season.

That being said, it's hard to build a brand when you aren't given those Post-Season Opportunities to beat good P5 teams.

[ericsaid]

If we don't choke vs our rival, we are in the Cotton Bowl. If Boise and WM can do it, so can we. Lets continue to get better and support this program.

This sucks a lot less than 12-1 Memphis getting Cotton over 13-0 App, and I’m not convinced that would not have happened. The OP is right....

Memphis had something like three 8 win threes between 1970 and 2013. Then they join the American, hire Fuente, and now they are at the Cotton Bowl.

Can't tell me conference affiliation, specifically with the AAC, doesn't help programs. What could App look like with a TV deal that pays even $5 million per year?

Speaking of, are ratings for yesterday's games out?

[AppfaninCAALand]

The Sun Belt is the ONLY conference with no bowl game against a P5 conference this bowl season. Eastern Michigan and Louisiana Tech are playing an ACC school. Let that sink in.

[yosef69]

This thread is hilarious because all of you holier than thou folks know OP is right.

[HighPointApp]

Patience is a virtue

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

We are only 6 years old from a FBS perspective. Dues need to paid. If we keep doing what we're doing we get there.

If we don't choke vs our rival, we are in the Cotton Bowl. If Boise and WM can do it, so can we. Lets continue to get better and support this program.

12-1 Memphis would still get the nod over 13-0 App.

[Yosefus]

This thread is a joke, WV shame on you for starting it.

Keep building the brand and we’ll get there.

This is year number six, come in guys.

Amazing year, thanks you coaches and players!

+1

[asu7]

The Sun Belt is the ONLY conference with no bowl game against a P5 conference this bowl season. Eastern Michigan and Louisiana Tech are playing an ACC school. Let that sink in.

This is where I am right now.

[WVAPPeer]

This thread is a joke, WV shame on you for starting it.

Keep building the brand and we’ll get there.

This is year number six, come in guys.

Amazing year, thanks you coaches and players!

I understand that you are going to be negative about anything I say - it has been that way for over 10 years - but you are WRONG -- I said nothing demeaning about the great job our players and coaches did this year - How do you in all your wisdom see APP building a brand in a conference which has no respect??? - We are already the BRAND of the SunBelt - We are already the most widely known football program in the SunBelt. 13-0 in the SunBelt and we would still be in NOLA.
If you don't see all of this then it is just your dislike for me that is driving your posts. Wake up man!!!

[AppStFan1]

This much be the general feeling in the FBS. And you know what, I am in agreement at this point in time. A team goes 12-1 and beats two P5s on the road and gets nothing "extra". I honestly believe we could have gone 13-0 and still been going to NOLA again. We would not have passed Memphis at 12-1. The AAC is the chosen one and I don't think that will change unless their highest ranked team has at least 2 losses and maybe not then dependent upon who else has a better record - and it will have to be a much better record.

Look, I am too old and too poor to go any bowl game so the location makes no difference to me. I have been to NOLA a few times years ago and it is a great place for fans to go.

My point is that this conference has a team ranked in the top 20 at 12-1 and UAB is the best they could do - THAT IS A JOKE - I have absolutely no disrespect for UAB - the coach, players and staff have done a miracle job to be so good after dropping football completely just a couple of years ago.

I don't want to hear some of you say stuff like "you want to go back to the SoCon, etc." because this is not about that. It is about the respect APP STATE deserves at this point in time.

Remember what C.Cobb said a number of years ago about the SunBelt - "It is a glorified FCS conference" - He was not wrong. We have dominated the SB much more than we did the SoCon.
NO, I don't want to go back!!! - What I want is a conference with a commissioner who goes to the wall for its elite program - WE DON'T HAVE THAT !!!

I have been saying a lot of this and tried to tell everyone for this year. We had to go undefeated and Memphis and Boise had to have 2 losses each for us to have a shot. The AAC is a much stronger league. The GSU loss completely closed the door and prior to that we had about a 30% chance anyway.

We have not been here long. We just have to keep building our brand and the AAC will come calling one day. This was really our first year on the national stage for most of the year. Last year we peaked in for a minute and this year we have spent half the year in the rankings. Next year if we go 13-0 we actually have a real shot. Look at who the other G5 teams play. We could have quite the resume if Wisconsin and Wake Forest are top 4 teams in their leagues like they should be.

[hotrod2001]

You all knew what the deal was going into the season.

Conference champion goes to the NO Bowl, everyone else goes to the Cure/Camelia/Mobile/Arizona And in the unlikely event a team was the best G5, the Cotton Bowl.

This is what it is until the AAC or CUSA decides to offer us a seat at the table.

We didn't get the job done with GaSo, and even then I'm not sure if we could have trumped an AAC school's perspective to the CFP committee. So here we are. The Sun Belt is not going to convince Conference USA to pull their conference champion out of a head-to-head with a AAC or ACC/SEC tie-in to play the top Sun Belt school.

So lets make the best of it, take UAB and bend them over a barrel and run the score up to make a point and try to end the year in the teens of the rankings.