SunBelt is a JOKE

[JMappfan5]

You guys are entitled to your opinions but this Conference gave us a chance when no one else would. Two years ago some were complaining that no matter how good our record, we would never go to NOLA. Now that's an HONOR for our Conference Champion!!! This Conference is growing and developing. Hopefully, our Bowl tie-ins will improve. Belk Bowl and Liberty Bowl chose other teams over us! We are building our BRAND and certainly haven't arrived nationally yet. Respect has to be earned. This year's team has certainly accomplished that in the eyes of pollsters, but we still have a long way to go! I also wish we could have a better opponent but we need to take care of business and curb stomp UAB!!! As a fanbase, we have a long way to go. Let's do our part and show these larger bowls how well we travel and let's sell out our allotment of bowl tickets. I get being frustrated but I'm choosing not to disparage a Conference that we are currently residing in!!! No one else is knocking our door down or salivating to invite us!!! As Rick Neuheisel would say, "C'mon Man"!!!

[ASUTodd]

#sunbeltisajoke period...end of story. Wv nailed it with this post.

[Cro-Magnon App]

"Building a brand." I can't stand the phrase. What is a brand? Get a hot iron and burn it on the mountain? We need to be known for one thing: when you play Appalachian State you are going to have a hard time winning.

I don't buy in to the beat 'em as bad as you can to impress the bowl and rankings people. Just win, baby (Al).

That should be our so-called "brand" - beating people. Like we beat MTSU last bowl game.

I'll watch on TV and pull for our boys with all I've got. But I won't go to NO. Except for the WWII museum, it's a pit of degradation. Was down there four times 5-6 years ago and vowed to never return.

And if anybody wants to claim the Sun Belt is week (and it is) I give you the ACC.

[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!

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!!!

I’m not negative about your posts, I’m once again giving you perspective you continue to lack.

You were wrong about the FBS, the move to it, the upside App has, and now what it takes to change perception.

The SBC has tie ins to bowl games, during the next reshuffle there will be more flexibility to pull from various bowl games and conference.

I’m awake and paying attention. It has certainly played out closer to my prediction from many years ago don’t you think...

[EastHallApp]

For those who are disappointed with our bowl destination, opponent, etc., I get it. Take a day or two to vent, lament the bowl system, gripe about the Sun Belt, whatever’s on your mind.

Then I hope we’ll all get on board and get excited for one more game. I’m not going to do the whole “real fans have no excuse” thing about attending the game. I know not everyone can make it. But if you have the resources and the schedule to do so, I encourage you to go. It’s a great time in a great city, and you’ll get to watch a great team play in a great stadium.

And in the end, as long as App takes care of business (and I think we will), it won’t really matter much who we beat. We’ll collect bowl trophy #5 and final top 20 ranking #1, and come home with a bunch of great memories.

[appstatealum]

Bright side.... UAB at least appears to be a better opponent than MTSU.

[WVAPPeer]

For those who are disappointed with our bowl destination, opponent, etc., I get it. Take a day or two to vent, lament the bowl system, gripe about the Sun Belt, whatever’s on your mind.

Then I hope we’ll all get on board and get excited for one more game. I’m not going to do the whole “real fans have no excuse” thing about attending the game. I know not everyone can make it. But if you have the resources and the schedule to do so, I encourage you to go. It’s a great time in a great city, and you’ll get to watch a great team play in a great stadium.

And in the end, as long as App takes care of business (and I think we will), it won’t really matter much who we beat. We’ll collect bowl trophy #5 and final top 20 ranking #1, and come home with a bunch of great memories.

I don't think anyone on here has disputed what you just said - you are correct in what you say - some seem to be conflating APP Football comments and comments about the SunBelt. We will all be pulling as hard as we can for win #13. My problem is the SunBelt not APP

[shortfatoldapp]

I’ve heard all this before, be happy you are the champs, accept the bowl, know your place blah blah blah. Great year fantastic kids so proud but as long as we accept, nothing will ever change. 30 years of fcs taught me that! We had to make fbs happen. I don’t know how many games we have to win to “build our brand”!As long as we bend over and take it, nothing will change! Where has the Conference Commissioner and our Athletic Director been? Years like this come along maybe once in A lifetime so patience is out the window. I’ve been working for 55 years and one thing I’ve learned is that when someone tells me “it can’t be done” or “we can’t do that” , all that means is that they either don’t want to do it or don’t want to put the effort into it. When Aresco ran his mouth about the Sun Belt not being as strong as the AAC the Sunbelt Commissioner should have exploded!! Then he took it further and made it personal by pointing out APP STATE . Once we were mentioned our athletic director should have kicked his ass. Nobody seems to be working for us. Great Bowl, Great venue but no reward in our opponent!

[WVAPPeer]

Saint you have been told by the GURU on here - FireMoose - that you were wrong about me and the FBS/FCS but you still keep beating that dead horse because you ignore what you don't want to believe - Still waiting on your ideas about building our brand in a disrespected conference ---

[NewApp]

Two years running the Sun Belt has had at least two 10 win teams. Last year there were 3. That would be 20% and 30% of Sun Belt teams won 10 games.

The Sun Belt needs to leverage some of this into better tie-ins. Sure it comes down to money but if you put App in the AAC and they are getting $6.5 million more per year from TV alone, what does that do to the program?

Inject money into a place like App, Georgia Southern, or Louisiana and see what can happen.

What did it do for EZU?

[ericsaid]

Two years running the Sun Belt has had at least two 10 win teams. Last year there were 3. That would be 20% and 30% of Sun Belt teams won 10 games.

The Sun Belt needs to leverage some of this into better tie-ins. Sure it comes down to money but if you put App in the AAC and they are getting $6.5 million more per year from TV alone, what does that do to the program?

Inject money into a place like App, Georgia Southern, or Louisiana and see what can happen.

What did it do for EZU?

ECU, once again, is an example of what poor leadership can do to an athletic department in a short amount of time. It had nothing to do with money. They hired Jeff Compher who didn't see eye to eye with Ruffin, so one bad" season by a coach who had a winning record against P5 schools was fired and Montgomery was hired.

We see how Montgomery turned out. Turns out that the board at ECU thought so highly of Compher that he and his head coach were fired at the same time.

[csbarfield88]

I have to say, I don't post often. But I will say it's frustrating to see all of the "Focus on 1-0" or "We should be happy to be here" style posts. We are ALL thrilled to be here, however anyone paying attention knows we have no chance of improving our brand consistently playing C-USA teams that didn't win the conference. It's a legitimate argument and frustration to want more and we as a program should demand more, so how do we get there?

[BTK2000]

Yeah we need to be out of the sunbelt as soon as possible. This has been a horrible day for Appalachian. We should just rename the Sunday after the championship game Bloody Sunday

[ericsaid]

"Building a brand." I can't stand the phrase. What is a brand? Get a hot iron and burn it on the mountain? We need to be known for one thing: when you play Appalachian State you are going to have a hard time winning.

I don't buy in to the beat 'em as bad as you can to impress the bowl and rankings people. Just win, baby (Al).

That should be our so-called "brand" - beating people. Like we beat MTSU last bowl game.

I'll watch on TV and pull for our boys with all I've got. But I won't go to NO. Except for the WWII museum, it's a pit of degradation. Was down there four times 5-6 years ago and vowed to never return.

And if anybody wants to claim the Sun Belt is week (and it is) I give you the ACC.

The NFL is not college football. Margin of victory matters.

And beating MTSU 45-13 was beating them nearly as bad as you can. If App wins 52-10 this time around, what more do they have to prove? There is a ceiling in the Sun Belt.

That is regardless of 4 double-digit winning seasons out of 5 tries.

[ericsaid]

I have to say, I don't post often. But I will say it's frustrating to see all of the "Focus on 1-0" or "We should be happy to be here" style posts. We are ALL thrilled to be here, however anyone paying attention knows we have no chance of improving our brand consistently playing C-USA teams that didn't win the conference. It's a legitimate argument and frustration to want more and we as a program should demand more, so how do we get there?

It reinforces this false perception that the Sun Belt is beneath C-USA and even the MAC in football. That isn't the case any longer yet there is nothing that can be done to fix it.

I will be interested to see what the tie-in for New Orleans is opposite the Sun Belt from 2020-2025. Myrtle Beach has the MAC, AAC and Sun Belt. Cure has Sun Belt and AAC.

Do we get a P5 tie-in or are the Alabama bowls stuck on MAC mode?

[AppfaninCAALand]

Yeah we need to be out of the sunbelt as soon as possible. This has been a horrible day for Appalachian. We should just rename the Sunday after the championship game Bloody Sunday

I ran out to the local Kroger to het a few things for the kids' lunches this week. Sitting in my car in Kroger parking lot and reading about losing our coach gave me quite a chuckle. I specifically remember sitting in that same parking lot (and having gone there for the same reason) last year reading about Satt leaving.

Note to self, don't go to Kroger for lunch supplies the Sunday after the championship game ever again. Bloody Sunday indeed.

[Saint3333]

Saint you have been told by the GURU on here - FireMoose - that you were wrong about me and the FBS/FCS but you still keep beating that dead horse because you ignore what you don't want to believe - Still waiting on your ideas about building our brand in a disrespected conference ---

Yikes, here we go again. I don’t know Moose on a personal level, weird comment.

You were wrong the entire time on the FBS/FCS debate everyone has seen that play out. Newer posters may not remember the angst you approached anyone who was pro-FBS. I’ve enjoyed watched App succeed and prove the naysayers like yourself wrong.

We built upon our brand this year. For the first time in 12 years we beat a P5. Continue doing that. Start the season in the top 25, it’s much easier to climb up the rankings if you start on second base. Watch the bowl system play out over the next two years, things will get better for the SBC.

Just a few years ago the SBC only had two bowl ties ins and was consistently ranked 5th of the G5 conferences, today 5 and 3rd.

Perspective, sleep on it, you’ll come around just like your fandom as an FBS program.

[WVAPPeer]

Not surprising you have forgotten the facts again - just to refresh your memory from Dec 2015 -

<r><QUOTE author="firemoose" post_id="101826" time="1451096672" user_id="283"><s>

</s>
Good grief. I haven't been reading most threads outside of the recruiting threads lately simply because things seem to have a way of spinning completely out of control these days. Worse than I can remember in a while. And I'm not going to read all of this one. I will say one thing though. As far as I know WV is not pro FCS/anti FBS from those times I have discussed it with him. He had some reservations when the move was first announced (as did a lot of people I talked with) but he asked me about it and I told him that, based on most experts opinions, that we were heading towards another full break and the FCS division would more than likely be the new D-II with around 50 ships, with the G5 being more of the second level, but a level that we fit more since it contained schools closer to our size than where we were at. Each time realignment has started in the past 3-4 years something has cropped up that has stopped it but they will eventually run out of or solve the issues and the "final" moves will begin again. It's all up to the P5's when it will happen and what form it will take. And the G5's, especially when C-USA's TV contract expires this coming year (and they're in for a shock when they try and get the new deal done), will have to make moves to save money. We moved where we did, when we did, simply to get on the dance floor. <br/>
<br/>
I don't know where this thread started but from the last couple of posts I can see where it's at. There are several people on here that are anti FBS, and we all know who they are. But nothing I've heard from WVAPP in the past couple of years has said he's one of them.

[ericsaid]

Not surprising you have forgotten the facts again - just to refresh your memory from Dec 2015 -

<r><QUOTE author="firemoose" post_id="101826" time="1451096672" user_id="283"><s>

</s>
Good grief. I haven't been reading most threads outside of the recruiting threads lately simply because things seem to have a way of spinning completely out of control these days. Worse than I can remember in a while. And I'm not going to read all of this one. I will say one thing though. As far as I know WV is not pro FCS/anti FBS from those times I have discussed it with him. He had some reservations when the move was first announced (as did a lot of people I talked with) but he asked me about it and I told him that, based on most experts opinions, that we were heading towards another full break and the FCS division would more than likely be the new D-II with around 50 ships, with the G5 being more of the second level, but a level that we fit more since it contained schools closer to our size than where we were at. Each time realignment has started in the past 3-4 years something has cropped up that has stopped it but they will eventually run out of or solve the issues and the "final" moves will begin again. It's all up to the P5's when it will happen and what form it will take. And the G5's, especially when C-USA's TV contract expires this coming year (and they're in for a shock when they try and get the new deal done), will have to make moves to save money. We moved where we did, when we did, simply to get on the dance floor. <br/>
<br/>
I don't know where this thread started but from the last couple of posts I can see where it's at. There are several people on here that are anti FBS, and we all know who they are. But nothing I've heard from WVAPP in the past couple of years has said he's one of them.

"Solid burn Branch, solid burn." - Trolls

[BeauFoster]

"Solid burn Branch, solid burn." - Trolls

“Solid burn returned”

Jesus I’ve seen that movie too many times.