Key to understanding this season

[Saint3333]

The biggest question I have is the why has Zac regressed so much from the first three years?

Three coaches in three years?

Fatigue?

Coaching QB/OC?

The true answer to that question will be the key for this off-season.

Broke my heart to watch him miss throws last night. Not how I want one of the best QBs we’ve had go out.

Good luck to him next week we’re going to need him to win against what we all know Sloans gameplan will be.

[Yosefus]

Not blaming Zac for the season though he is not the same level as past years.
.Coaching.
.Conditioning.
Are my thoughts for issues of the season.

[BeauFoster]

No idea why he has looked less lethal this season. His accuracy has been off - underthrows some balls, air mails others - all in the same game. That leads me to think he’s not comfortable in some aspect of the game. Is it play calling? Line play? Injuries? Could be a combination of factors.

Also, one of his top targets is not playing this season. He doesn’t have one of his “security blankets”. That probably impacts his play mentally, as well as play calling. There’s very little threat to stretch the field, and teams know it. That’s hurt play calling as well, and probably execution.

All it all, it’s likely a litany of factors that are making his performances look worse this season. I’m not sure that putting anyone else out there would be fair to either player or the team.

[MAD Doctor]

I wonder how we’ll view this season five years from now. There were so many variables- COVID, 3rd new coaching staff, Sutton’s departure and Hennigan’s injury, etc... The thing that gives me hope is that I know our history, foundation, and culture, and we WILL continue to be a solid football program of which to be proud. We are no flash in the pan, overnight sensation that will crash and burn. We are App State and we will be fine. The fact that many of us are disappointed in a winning, bowl eligible FBS season shows how far we have come.

[WVAPPeer]

The biggest question I have is the why has Zac regressed so much from the first three years?

Three coaches in three years?

Fatigue?

Coaching QB/OC?

The true answer to that question will be the key for this off-season.

Broke my heart to watch him miss throws last night. Not how I want one of the best QBs we’ve had go out.

Good luck to him next week we’re going to need him to win against what we all know Sloans gameplan will be.

This is an excellent question - I am sure there are numerous reasons - My first question is this - and I am not sure what the answer is - We had, what, a 26 day layoff - did CCU or ULL have to quarantine during the season?
I have this under consideration -

[AppStFan1]

I wonder how we’ll view this season five years from now. There were so many variables- COVID, 3rd new coaching staff, Sutton’s departure and Hennigan’s injury, etc... The thing that gives me hope is that I know our history, foundation, and culture, and we WILL continue to be a solid football program of which to be proud. We are no flash in the pan, overnight sensation that will crash and burn. We are App State and we will be fine. The fact that many of us are disappointed in a winning, bowl eligible FBS season shows how far we have come.

Everyone has to deal with this stuff and CCU is undefeated. I would be more likely to use COVID as an excuse if the champion was a 2-3 loss team and there were upsets all the time. I know this year has been hard but it has been hard on everyone. We aren't dealing with anything that the rest of the league is not dealing with.

There are years where a season like we have had should not be a disappointment but this was not suppose o be one of those. With all the stuff going on, you would think a veteran team bringing back so much talent would be really good. A lot of our mistakes have been bad coaching (play calls and clock management), dropping easy picks, a ton of TE and RB injuries, missing what should be a chip shot FG, Zac just making really bad decisions or constantly overthrowing targets. Zac looks like he is overthinking way too much and just not playing ball like he use to.

[AppStFan1]

The biggest question I have is the why has Zac regressed so much from the first three years?

Three coaches in three years?

Fatigue?

Coaching QB/OC?

The true answer to that question will be the key for this off-season.

Broke my heart to watch him miss throws last night. Not how I want one of the best QBs we’ve had go out.

Good luck to him next week we’re going to need him to win against what we all know Sloans gameplan will be.

This is an excellent question - I am sure there are numerous reasons - My first question is this - and I am not sure what the answer is - We had, what, a 26 day layoff - did CCU or ULL have to quarantine during the season?
I have this under consideration -

With our injuries, I think having a layoff helps to get healthy. That stuff did not cause us to abandon the quick slant, Zac to overthrow people, Jolly to drop that easy pick at CCU, our kickers to miss some easy field goals, RB injuries and injuries overall, poor clock management last night, Evans fumble against Marshall, etc. My question is why has Zac not looked himself and why has an experienced team like ours made so many mistakes. People were worried about ADG and Evans being gone but I think Harrington and Noel showed they can be big time players along with B Harrington and others at LB like Cobb who have impressed.

[AppStateNews]

Zac is second guessing every throw he makes. Our last two drives were indicative of how Zac should be playing. And it was a hurry up -- he didn't have time to think -- he just played football. You could see he wanted to keep the hurry up.

The second guessing is on the coaching staff. I don't know if Petersen isn't a good QB coach and Zac isn't able to process what he wants or what.

But, a player doesn't regress from what he was to what he is now without something going on. Not getting better is one thing -- but to actually be getting worse is completely different.

My guess is Petersen is wanting to run his offense instead of our offense and the entire offense is extremely out of sync.

[BambooRdApp]

To a large faction of the fan base, including me I suppose, believe we are Alabama of the G5 or Sunbelt. Year in and year out, we schedule one or two P5 teams. With exception of last year, we often lose those games even if competitive. Although disappointed with losing to P5, we live with it due to the recruiting and facility budget shortfalls. They typically get better talent. So, we get over those losses more easily. At least I do. However, given our historical success in conference, we have high expectations in conference play. And we should. We believe we should win the East every year. Alabama fan base feels the same. Not winning their side of SEC and going to SEC championship game is a big disappointment. And it should be. Same for App St. Not winning east for us is big disappointment. And it should be. Especially when I feel we had better talent on offense this year given returning players on offense. Finishing 2nd or 3rd in East and not beating a team with a winning record (I believe) is disappointment. I hope we do not ever have lower expectations. If we do, our football team will have had diminished performances for a period of time. This does mean we do not cherish the coaches, players and overall team.Lets go App St. Let's continue to play like Champions!!

[yosef69]

I hate that a segment of our fan base can’t accept criticism. We are not a good football team this year. But we have good players.

I’m afraid our OC is in wayyyyy over his head. He’s not good. Our red zone scoring is abysmal. We should have blown ULL out last night with the gifts they were handing us. We move the ball until about their 35 and then it’s like we forget what to do. Tony Petersen is the main reason we have regressed. In my mind, there is no question about it.

Regarding the kicking, our kicker is only the leading scorer due to the sheer volume of kicks he has attempted. I am not sure of it, but his accuracy has to be one of the worst in the sun belt. He has also never made a clutch kick. I think we all knew that kick was going to be a miss last night. Hell, so did billy Napier.

Also, we went 0-3 against ranked G5 teams this season. That’s disgusting and disappointing.

All in all, I love this team. But if something doesn’t change we will be ECU.

[WVAPPeer]

"With our injuries, I think having a layoff helps to get healthy."

Sorry, but this is just not accurate - You ask all 123 (?) FBS Head Coaches if they would want a 26 day break from all activity within the season and your response would be 123-0 NO -

[Appstrong]

I hate that a segment of our fan base can’t accept criticism. We are not a good football team this year. But we have good players.

I’m afraid our OC is in wayyyyy over his head. He’s not good. Our red zone scoring is abysmal. We should have blown ULL out last night with the gifts they were handing us. We move the ball until about their 35 and then it’s like we forget what to do. Tony Petersen is the main reason we have regressed. In my mind, there is no question about it.

Regarding the kicking, our kicker is only the leading scorer due to the sheer volume of kicks he has attempted. I am not sure of it, but his accuracy has to be one of the worst in the sun belt. He has also never made a clutch kick. I think we all knew that kick was going to be a miss last night. Hell, so did billy Napier.

Also, we went 0-3 against ranked G5 teams this season. That’s disgusting and disappointing.

All in all, I love this team. But if something doesn’t change we will be ECU.

I tried to point out last week that criticism is appropriate when constructive, so, given the laundry list of things that you have pointed out, I would like to hear what you think should have been done or needs to be done moving forward to address these things. Keep in mind I realize you cannot know all the factors that contributed to them, but, knowing what you know, where do we go from here to address these things?

[yosef69]

I hate that a segment of our fan base can’t accept criticism. We are not a good football team this year. But we have good players.

I’m afraid our OC is in wayyyyy over his head. He’s not good. Our red zone scoring is abysmal. We should have blown ULL out last night with the gifts they were handing us. We move the ball until about their 35 and then it’s like we forget what to do. Tony Petersen is the main reason we have regressed. In my mind, there is no question about it.

Regarding the kicking, our kicker is only the leading scorer due to the sheer volume of kicks he has attempted. I am not sure of it, but his accuracy has to be one of the worst in the sun belt. He has also never made a clutch kick. I think we all knew that kick was going to be a miss last night. Hell, so did billy Napier.

Also, we went 0-3 against ranked G5 teams this season. That’s disgusting and disappointing.

All in all, I love this team. But if something doesn’t change we will be ECU.

I tried to point out last week that criticism is appropriate when constructive, so, given the laundry list of things that you have pointed out, I would like to hear what you think should have been done or needs to be done moving forward to address these things. Keep in mind I realize you cannot know all the factors that contributed to them, but, knowing what you know, where do we go from here to address these things?

Well, I don’t have time for this right now. But my main suggestion would be to look at tony petersens track record before us. It was not good. His offenses have always been bad.

He was going to be an analyst at mizzou. An analyst. And then we made him OC.

[Appstrong]

I looked into the kicking stats for you Yosef69 and Staton is 6th in the Sunbelt this season. His FG % has decreased with each year, but surprisingly his accuracy near the end of his range is better than closer attempts over his career. Critcher was 70% in his lone season attempting field goals prior to Staton coming on, and Staton is career 72%. I wonder if not having a dedicated coach for special teams might not benefit him. Who knows? I do know the accuracy of many kickers would have been challenged in the kicks he attempted in last night’s conditions, so I personally would not hold the results against him.

[Boroneer10]

I looked into the kicking stats for you Yosef69 and Staton is 6th in the Sunbelt this season. His FG % has decreased with each year, but surprisingly his accuracy near the end of his range is better than closer attempts over his career. Critcher was 70% in his lone season attempting field goals prior to Staton coming on, and Staton is career 72%. I wonder if not having a dedicated coach for special teams might not benefit him. Who knows? I do know the accuracy of many kickers would have been challenged in the kicks he attempted in last night’s conditions, so I personally would not hold the results against him.

I’ve never seen a kicker miss so many gimmes.

[Appstrong]

It is rather weird when looking at the stats. I wonder if far hash kicks in close are a weakness for him since the farther back he is the better his FG %.

[JPatH3292]

It boils down to missed opportunities and mistakes. Yes we’ve had injuries and players sit out but in years past, we found ways to grind it out and come out with the W. This year hasn’t been the case minus GaSt.

Dumb penalties with some negating positive plays (ex/ right before Zac's 2nd INT @coastal)
Dropped ints (jolly@coastal)
Costly Interceptions and missed throws from our senior QB.
Costly Fumbles (TE @marshal, RBs throughout the year)
Clock management
Missed field goals (Heard this one before)

We just about made all the plays last year and in past years that enabled us to come out with W’s. Just didn’t happen this year. It’s tough pill to swallow when you are regularly the top dog but it just wasn’t our year.
Let’s Close out with a win over our rival next week, maybe a bowl game (i doubt many games are played tbh) and put this season behind us. We have our best recruiting class coming in next year and plenty of opportunities to make waves again. We play every team we lost to this year again next year with two of them at home. We shall see how we respond.

[BambooRdApp]

Two observations from 1st Q of games today
1. Western's offense looks more complex than ours. Just made FG. If freshman catches pass. Drive would still going. I realize the will be out manned by heels as game progresses.
2. Maybe Drink utilized our offense from previous years. I do not know. However, that offense is moving the ball against Arkansas. Both teams are lower level SEC teams with new coaches. So I guess talent somewhat similar. Better faking the run on read pass option even if they pass 100% of the time.

Both offenses look better at the actual execution than ours

[AppStateMtneer]

I hate that a segment of our fan base can’t accept criticism. We are not a good football team this year. But we have good players.

I’m afraid our OC is in wayyyyy over his head. He’s not good. Our red zone scoring is abysmal. We should have blown ULL out last night with the gifts they were handing us. We move the ball until about their 35 and then it’s like we forget what to do. Tony Petersen is the main reason we have regressed. In my mind, there is no question about it.

Regarding the kicking, our kicker is only the leading scorer due to the sheer volume of kicks he has attempted. I am not sure of it, but his accuracy has to be one of the worst in the sun belt. He has also never made a clutch kick. I think we all knew that kick was going to be a miss last night. Hell, so did billy Napier.

Also, we went 0-3 against ranked G5 teams this season. That’s disgusting and disappointing.

All in all, I love this team. But if something doesn’t change we will be ECU.

Toilet Paper Peterson was a big part of the reason EZU went down the slope as well

[RunawayJM]

Random thoughts mostly related to poor coaching:

-Zac is not reading defenses well and making bad decisions
-Zac’s fundamentals are really messed up. He’s constantly throwing off his back foot or being asked to throw across his body while on the move, and just not getting his feet set and throwing
-Our OC seems to have no idea how to get Zac into a rythm.