No Sunbelt Championship in 2020

[Stonewall]

Coastal and LaLa will play for the title .I thought we had one more in us this year. Such is 2020.

[MAD Doctor]

App State football is alive and well. If we win out, there’s a possibility we end the crazy COVID season with our only losses coming against Top 20 teams on the road (wonder when is the last time that happened?)
Throw in 1) 3rd coaching staff in 3 years, 2) Sutton opting out 3) Hennigan playing hurt, 4) depleted RB and WR corps
We are losing some great seniors but we have some great young talent coming in, along with coaching continuity and (hopefully) the return of our 12th man.
Also, Coastal and UL will get to see what losing your successful head coach feels like.
Let’s finish strong by maintaining our dominance against UL, curb stomping the Stink, and keeping our bowl streak alive.
We won’t win the conference every year, but even when we don’t, it’s great to be a Mountaineer!

[ncman071]

I agree completely friend. Hard to complain about 7-2 esp with the injuries and coaching turnover. We are going to be fine....still have a chance at another 1 loss conference season and a possible 10 win season with a bowl victory

[CheckYosef94]

It sucks right now because it's current but 2020 will always have an asterisk next to it. In the long run not playing for the conference championship in 2020 wont be that big of a deal. 2020 is a weird year. Weird things happen in a weird year.

[booneboy92]

As much as I hate to miss out on a SBC championship, I’ve thought since early in the season how bad it would suck to have that game in Boone (with just 2000 people), and me (more than likely) not getting to be a part of it!.... Not to sound selfish or anything! But seriously, let’s just beat ULL!

[Mjohn1988]

I’m glad I found out how to enjoy App. Football without having to win ever game. Don’t get me wrong it still hurts when we lose but not nearly as much as it use to. I love App football, it’s the thing I look most forward to all year. Then one year it just wasn’t fun anymore. I agonized over the thought of losing a game and not being the champion. My family didn’t won’t to be around me after a loss and most of them stopped going to games with me. I knew I needed to change something. It was about that time that I realized how crazy the whole FBS championship thing is. I saw pundits, coaches, fans and even the players agonizing over how a one loss season might not get you to the playoffs and all would be lost. The whole season a bust because of one loss. Striving to win championships is great and it’s what we should do. But even if we don’t win that championship there is much to be gained and enjoyed in the striving itself.

[AtlAppMan]

I grew up on Duke basketball since my dad was an alum. I learned a long time ago that even successful programs need some good fortune to win and some years it just doesn’t happen regardless of what the team does.

This year has been especially challenging with coaching changes and injuries. Regardless we are still tracking fairly well overall and still one of the best G5 programs. That is a huge achievement.

The key is that we are on the right course for the long haul. Even though I have been one to say I thought we could do better at times this year I am still a strong believer that our program is on the right course.

[AppStFan1]

App State football is alive and well. If we win out, there’s a possibility we end the crazy COVID season with our only losses coming against Top 20 teams on the road (wonder when is the last time that happened?)
Throw in 1) 3rd coaching staff in 3 years, 2) Sutton opting out 3) Hennigan playing hurt, 4) depleted RB and WR corps
We are losing some great seniors but we have some great young talent coming in, along with coaching continuity and (hopefully) the return of our 12th man.
Also, Coastal and UL will get to see what losing your successful head coach feels like.
Let’s finish strong by maintaining our dominance against UL, curb stomping the Stink, and keeping our bowl streak alive.
We won’t win the conference every year, but even when we don’t, it’s great to be a Mountaineer!

What is crazy is that with all of those opt-outs, coaching change, COVID, injuries, etc we are 7-2 mainly because of poor execution. A fumble or dropped pick, stupid throws that become INTs, etc type things that we still should not have let happen are the cause of the losses. We are definitely not playing like a top 25 team this year but we have a lot of talent and if we can get certain seniors back for 2021 then I like our chances to take the league title back.
We just need to go 1-0 every week to close the year.

I want to see ULL and CCU have to deal with losing their coaching staffs. They don't have the depth and overall talent we have so they will definitely take a huge step back once they lose their coaches.

[Yosef84]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought the SBC had cancelled the CCG in order to accommodate the bowl schedule. Honestly, there cold be worse decisions but it would definitely suck from the perspective of Louisiana. If App beats Louisiana this week, there isn't much of an upside to having the game other than giving CCU a chance to win again. If UL were to win, it really muddies the water. Anyway....it does suck that App won't be playing in the CCG this year but the future looks very bright for App and the SBC.

[Appstrong]

I grew up on Duke basketball since my dad was an alum. I learned a long time ago that even successful programs need some good fortune to win and some years it just doesn’t happen regardless of what the team does.

This year has been especially challenging with coaching changes and injuries. Regardless we are still tracking fairly well overall and still one of the best G5 programs. That is a huge achievement.

The key is that we are on the right course for the long haul. Even though I have been one to say I thought we could do better at times this year I am still a strong believer that our program is on the right course.

I agree with you about the best team not always winning it all. There have been many years that the NCAA tournament in basketball probably did not crown the best team, rather a good team that had a few things fall their way. If you are a NASCAR fan, even the best car doesn’t always win the particular race for various reasons. Silver lining is we will be hungry next year after missing out this year, and we will not take for granted every opportunity to compete and win.

[Yosef84]

There's no doubt that playoffs sometimes crown a team that isn't the "best" team. Any time a championship is based on results of a single game (or single elimination) there is a good chance that a better team (for the season) will stumble and be eliminated. It's still a better system than crowning the team based on votes (in my opinion).

In a year like this one, where there is a single team that emerges, it does seem the CCG could serve to muddy the water and ultimately hurt the SBC. Given that CCU and UL have already played, if UL were to win they would be crowned despite having split the games and with that being Coastal's only loss. That's not really a problem if it is also UL's only loss, but if App beats UL this Friday, it would seem to work against the conference as a whole.

There's really no perfect system, and given the options, I definitely prefer settling the championship on the field.

[BambooRdApp]

It sucks right now because it's current but 2020 will always have an asterisk next to it. In the long run not playing for the conference championship in 2020 wont be that big of a deal. 2020 is a weird year. Weird things happen in a weird year.

I am not sure why there is an asterisk to this year. We lost to Marshall and Coastal. Two undefeated teams. We played a full conference slate and lost to an undefeated team. Congrats to Coastal. I get tired of the idea that there is an "asterisk" to the year. We have injuries.. Every team has to deal with injuries. We deal with injuries and next man up. For Coastal Game, did we have substantial number of players out due to covid? Not sure how this year is an asterisk as it relates to conference and conference championship. Hopefully, we go undefeated for next two games and win a bowl game for a 10 win season. I do not believe that does not deserve an asterisk. I will take that tally most years.

[WVAPPeer]

Just a little perspective on Conference Titles - Do you know how long it has been since UNC (I don't like them either) has Won the ACC Football Title???
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forty (40) years and NC State in not far behind at 41 - During that time the ACC title has been won by Duke, Wake, GA Tech, VA Tech, UVA and Maryland ---

[MountaineerMafia]

It sucks right now because it's current but 2020 will always have an asterisk next to it. In the long run not playing for the conference championship in 2020 wont be that big of a deal. 2020 is a weird year. Weird things happen in a weird year.

I am not sure why there is an asterisk to this year. We lost to Marshall and Coastal. Two undefeated teams. We played a full conference slate and lost to an undefeated team. Congrats to Coastal. I get tired of the idea that there is an "asterisk" to the year. We have injuries.. Every team has to deal with injuries. We deal with injuries and next man up. For Coastal Game, did we have substantial number of players out due to covid? Not sure how this year is an asterisk as it relates to conference and conference championship. Hopefully, we go undefeated for next two games and win a bowl game for a 10 win season. I do not believe that does not deserve an asterisk. I will take that tally most years.

I think the reference to the asterisk was for sports as a whole in 2020, not just for App. It would likely just denote that it was a strange season, certainly doesn't mean it was easier to win this year (actually much more difficult). Variables like injuries always happen but things like teams not playing until midway through other teams seasons, teams not playing for 3-4 weeks at a time, and coaches or players seemingly healthy but not able to participate because of close contact to other players that tested positive are certainly not the norm on a regular year.

[WVAPPeer]

I think the * refers to this entire $!&%^#@ year

[bigdaddyg]

I hate that some people still harp on the missed opportunities in the losses. No matter what topic someone creates it still goes south with the negative comments. There are plenty of games during the year for lots of teams that go either way due to a play here or there. Stuff happens. Troy, Arky and Stink all have worse records than App and have all shared huge amounts of success. I have been one to speak of how “loaded” we were coming into this season. Maybe we are who we are, which isn’t bad at all.

I’m a huge Panthers fan and for the history of the franchise they are below .500. This year so far they have a 2,3 and 4 point loss. In each game a play here or there decided the outcome. I expected the team to tank for Trevor but I’m glad they are competitive and on the right track.

I agree about the title game that would have been played in Boone with virtually no fans. Kind of depressing if you ask me. I looked at the standings in college football and there might be 10 teams with a shot at 9 regular season wins. We are one.

[ncman071]

i think a lot of the negativity stems from fans over the last 15 years who have gotten spoiled with success. There's not many programs in the nation that can win 8 or 9 games and fans look at it as dissapointing.....we have something special here at App and have done nothing but win. This year we are seeing some of the side effects with installing a brand new coaching staff for the third consecutive year...yet we are still 7-2...

also, i've seen a few posters giving Zac such a hard time talking about how bad his throws are...his receiving corps has been riddled with injury and people dont realize how that affects the timing of his passes...whose to say that the receivers are cutting their routes off a few yards short or long....i dont know...just something to think about..

one last thing...people need to temper their expectations...we are in a very good conference...coastal is playing great, LLU has been very good with Napier...Georgia Southern is always competitive...its not gonna be a given that we will win a Sunbelt title every freaking year...or win every single bowl game...eventually we will lose...I mean i grew up an NCSU fan and I dont believe they've won an ACC title since 1979 ..a year before i was born...We already have multple sunbelt titles and 5-0 in bowls....might make it 6-0 this year....just enjoy the ride folks

[AppAlum1]

SP+ this week ranks App St at 21, Marshall at 23, Coastal at 25, Louisiana at 31 and Liberty at 32.

App is 3rd best G5, behind Cinci & BYU.

As a predictor, SP+ is pretty good. And, I think they got this week's rankings right.

I hate we lost those 2 games, and this season is just plain weird. But, yesterday we made a good team look really bad; like they did not want to be there after the first five minutes.

That was App. State football!

I think we beat La. & we beat GaSo in an epic smackdown! As to Bowl games, I'm tired of playing MAC teams or Conf. USA teams. A nice opponent from the 'Merkan conf. would be GREAT! Especially if I can go to the game. Just sayin!

[JMappfan5]

Cure Bowl vs UCF
Camellia Bowl vs San Diego St
Myrtle Beach Bowl vs Memphis

Bowl Projections that are just fodder for fans, but all 3 of those match-ups would be fun and exciting games!

[Deliverance_People]

SP+ this week ranks App St at 21, Marshall at 23, Coastal at 25, Louisiana at 31 and Liberty at 32.

App is 3rd best G5, behind Cinci & BYU.

As a predictor, SP+ is pretty good.

I think we beat La. & we beat GaSo in an epic smackdown! As to Bowl games, I'm tired of playing MAC teams or Conf. USA teams. A nice opponent from the 'Merkan conf. would be GREAT! Especially if I can go to the game. Just sayin!

Is that what we are about now? Some other rankings other than the AP or Coaches Poll?

It’s going to be tough to beat Louisiana this year. At least we are playing in December!
We owe Southern a smack