Athlon mag out, Lindys PDF out

[AppStFan1]

Shawn Clark needs to use these mags as fuel and bulletin board material. Athlon has us going 8-4 with 3 losses in the Sun Belt. Lindy's has us as 3rd best in the SBC and definitely losing at least 3 games. How will this message board look come December if we finish 8-4 and play a 6-6 type team in a bowl game?

[appdaze]

How will this message board look come December if we finish 8-4 and play a 6-6 type team in a bowl game?

[ah59396]

Shawn Clark needs to use these mags as fuel and bulletin board material. Athlon has us going 8-4 with 3 losses in the Sun Belt. Lindy's has us as 3rd best in the SBC and definitely losing at least 3 games. How will this message board look come December if we finish 8-4 and play a 6-6 type team in a bowl game?

It’ll be a meltdown but it’s not outrageous to imagine.

We have 6 very lose-able games on our schedule:

ECU
Miami
Marshall
Louisiana
Coastal
Georgia Southern

We have 3 tougher opponents we should beat:

Ga State
Arkansas State
Troy

We have 3 gimmes:

Elon
ULM
South Alabama

Even if we win all of the last 6 and split the top 6, that’s 9-3. We are going to have to play some damn good football this year.

[AppFan11]

Yea got the Athlon book a week ago. They do have us 8-4, 5-3...... anything can happen but SO unlikely. The time for us to go 8-4 was last season when we had 3 position groups on offense decimated by injuries..... and it did not happen then. Our defense is going to be as good or better than last season, so for that reason alone, we’ll go no worse than 9-3. It will be hard to score on us. This is why we’ll be ok against Miami. The D will keep us in games till the offense get its legs and timing. Back to Athlon, they rate the position groups (Qb,Rb,Wr/TE, OL,DL,Lb, DB) so every year I add up all the numbers and the team with the lowest overall number has the team.... with me? This is their ranking. It doesn’t mean we can’t lose but a general overall ranking of personnel...... who has the lowest? Apps at 15...ULL 17 and CC at 18. I’d say that matches up with how I think about our talent man-to-man..... we have the most athletic team in the conference with ULL second and CC third. But it is curious that Athlon rates our Wr/TE number 1 but when selecting All Sunbelt wrs we have no one in the top 2. But ultimately, they hinge their analysis on Brice’s production. I know this is long but bear with me. In their final analysis section “Apps has defense capable of making it to the nation’s top Group of 5 team. The offense possess the kind of playmakers led by Peoples and Sutton to score on anybody on its schedule. The question comes at Qb. Will Brice be the type of qb he was at Clemson coming off the bench in relief to lead the Tigers to a win in’18 championship season? Or will he be a turnover machine he was at Duke. If Brice is good, Apps could compete for a New Year's Six bowl.” In my opinion, Brice does not have to play great for us to win lots of games. Because of our talent level if Brice just plays “good” (I know it should be well grammatically) we will win lots of games. This is all assuming we don’t have debilitating injuries in several position groups.

[AppSt94]

Do Coaches actually use bulletin boards for this stuff?

[Yosef10]

Yea got the Athlon book a week ago. They do have us 8-4, 5-3...... anything can happen but SO unlikely. The time for us to go 8-4 was last season when we had 3 position groups on offense decimated by injuries..... and it did not happen then. Our defense is going to be as good or better than last season, so for that reason alone, we’ll go no worse than 9-3. It will be hard to score on us. This is why we’ll be ok against Miami. The D will keep us in games till the offense get its legs and timing. Back to Athlon, they rate the position groups (Qb,Rb,Wr/TE, OL,DL,Lb, DB) so every year I add up all the numbers and the team with the lowest overall number has the team.... with me? This is their ranking. It doesn’t mean we can’t lose but a general overall ranking of personnel...... who has the lowest? Apps at 15...ULL 17 and CC at 18. I’d say that matches up with how I think about our talent man-to-man..... we have the most athletic team in the conference with ULL second and CC third. But it is curious that Athlon rates our Wr/TE number 1 but when selecting All Sunbelt wrs we have no one in the top 2. But ultimately, they hinge their analysis on Brice’s production. I know this is long but bear with me. In their final analysis section “Apps has defense capable of making it to the nation’s top Group of 5 team. The offense possess the kind of playmakers led by Peoples and Sutton to score on anybody on its schedule. The question comes at Qb. Will Brice be the type of qb he was at Clemson coming off the bench in relief to lead the Tigers to a win in’18 championship season? Or will he be a turnover machine he was at Duke. If Brice is good, Apps could compete for a New Year's Six bowl.” In my opinion, Brice does not have to play great for us to win lots of games. Because of our talent level if Brice just plays “good” (I know it should be well grammatically) we will win lots of games. This is all assuming we don’t have debilitating injuries in several position groups.

I don’t disagree with anything you said really, but i would quibble with Brice not needing to be special. As long as CCU has McCall and ULL has Lewis then yes IMO we will need more than adequate play from the QB position. It’s the most important position in sports and with the talent level stepping up in the SBC i think the days of us being able to pound the ball and play defense are gone. We will have to go win games rather than simply not lose them.

[AppSt94]

Brice doesn’t need to be special. He needs to read the defense and make the correct decisions. Which I don’t see a problem with him doing. It’s unfair to look at what he did at Duke and draw a conclusion on his effectiveness. A great deal of the play from him last year was indicative of factors that were out of his control. He has a firm grasp with of the playbook and has looked the part of a QB1 in spring ball. Recent news from the QB room has me feeling better about the position as a whole. Moose will fill you in.

[Yosef10]

Brice doesn’t need to be special. He needs to read the defense and make the correct decisions. Which I don’t see a problem with him doing. It’s unfair to look at what he did at Duke and draw a conclusion on his effectiveness. A great deal of the play from him last year was dictated of factors that were out of his control. He has a firm grasp with of the playbook and has looked the part of a QB1 in spring ball. Recent news from the QB room has me feeling better about the position as a whole. Moose will fill you in.

Not sure what your definition of special is, but I’m basically saying he can’t just be a game manager we run out there. Last years entire philosophy, due to multiple reasons, was game management and you see where that got us against any team with a pulse. Sorry, but we’re not gonna go out and beat ECU, CCU, UM, and ULL by going out and running the ball and playing defense. Brice is going to have to go win a few games. And yeah youve said the rest plenty of times now i think we get your point lol.

[Rick83]

To be honest, we seem to thrive in the under-dog position, so I'm not hating this. When people underestimate our guys they tend to get punished where it counts...on the field.

[bigdaddyg]

Does someone with that magazine really take the time to do in depth analysis of every team, especially G5’s and especially App? We were not bad last year and aren’t we bringing back a load of extra year guys? If Zac had played QB for Duke last year does he elevate them higher than Brice did? I can’t recall too many examples of really good or great QB’s who put up solid numbers on bad teams. We certainly have a great schedule this year and I for one would rather see how we match up with these opponents over cupcakes. While I want us to go undefeated and play in the NY6 or go 12-1 and win the Belt (and then play a MAC team in New Orleans), if we do go 9-3 that will still be strong.

[AppSt94]

Brice doesn’t need to be special. He needs to read the defense and make the correct decisions. Which I don’t see a problem with him doing. It’s unfair to look at what he did at Duke and draw a conclusion on his effectiveness. A great deal of the play from him last year was dictated of factors that were out of his control. He has a firm grasp with of the playbook and has looked the part of a QB1 in spring ball. Recent news from the QB room has me feeling better about the position as a whole. Moose will fill you in.

Not sure what your definition of special is, but I’m basically saying he can’t just be a game manager we run out there. Last years entire philosophy, due to multiple reasons, was game management and you see where that got us against any team with a pulse. Sorry, but we’re not gonna go out and beat ECU, CCU, UM, and ULL by going out and running the ball and playing defense. Brice is going to have to go win a few games. And yeah youve said the rest plenty of times now i think we get your point lol.

If you don’t want me to explain to you what you either can’t, or refuse to grasp, then there is no need to quote me. Just put me on ignore and move on with your day.

[SpeedkingATL]

Not sure if these predictions take into account the change at Offensive Coordinator. I think the offense will be much more effective and opened up a lot from last year with the new leadership, but time will tell. I assume Brice still has to win the QB competition...McCall was pretty damn good at CCU as a frosh last year and App has some real talent in those young guns.

[BallantyneApp]

Brice doesn’t need to be special. He needs to read the defense and make the correct decisions. Which I don’t see a problem with him doing. It’s unfair to look at what he did at Duke and draw a conclusion on his effectiveness. A great deal of the play from him last year was indicative of factors that were out of his control. He has a firm grasp with of the playbook and has looked the part of a QB1 in spring ball. Recent news from the QB room has me feeling better about the position as a whole. Moose will fill you in.

excited to hear about this.

[T-Dog]

Do Coaches actually use bulletin boards for this stuff?

Maybe not a bulletin board in the classical sense but coaches absolutely use any kind of motivation they can get their hands on, even if it's made up. Taping copies of articles to each locker, sending links via group text, etc.

Of course, unless its Love Week.

[EastHallApp]

Not sure if these predictions take into account the change at Offensive Coordinator. I think the offense will be much more effective and opened up a lot from last year with the new leadership, but time will tell. I assume Brice still has to win the QB competition...McCall was pretty damn good at CCU as a frosh last year and App has some real talent in those young guns.

By all accounts, the QB1 race is effectively over.

[EastHallApp]

I don't know why we'd need to draw motivation from some magazine picking us third in the Sun Belt when that's actually what happened last year. Reality is the best motivator.

[EastHallApp]

Brice doesn’t need to be special. He needs to read the defense and make the correct decisions. Which I don’t see a problem with him doing. It’s unfair to look at what he did at Duke and draw a conclusion on his effectiveness. A great deal of the play from him last year was indicative of factors that were out of his control. He has a firm grasp with of the playbook and has looked the part of a QB1 in spring ball. Recent news from the QB room has me feeling better about the position as a whole. Moose will fill you in.

On the flip side, this idea that he was this savior at Clemson is fairy tale stuff. He came in for part of one game against an inferior opponent and completed a few passes but was largely ineffective. They won because Etienne ran for 200. The legend of that game is the kind of Disney stuff that happens when a team goes on to win a title.

[AppFan11]

Thanks ‘94. Why we went 9-3 last season was primarily due to significant injuries in 3 position groups on offense.... absent of those ..... we would have had another 10 win season. Do any of you think it likely that G. Mcall has that same season this year? I’d say no. I also think it likely that it will be hard for him to run for another 600 yd without getting hurt. Never mind the fact that if we are reasonably healthy, we’ll beat them by 2 tds.

[booneboy92]

Am I being unreasonably confident/comfortable in thinking that a guy who was appointed “next man up” behind Trevor Lawrence, and then welcomed in as the starter by Dave Cutcliffe is probably a damn good QB? We’ll see how he does on the mountain (with plenty of weapons to draw!), but at first glance I feel pretty good.

[AtlAppMan]

Here is another angle on the QB situation. Before I go further I state for the record Zac has done a great job for our school and taken us to another level during his years here. He fully deserves to be credited for many great games. That being said let me make my point.

Last year Zac wasn't great. In the Ark St game he looked really good. In most every other game he was not. There are many factors to consider (OC, surrounding personnel or lack there of) and were likely contributors, but we saw what we saw. Zac, in 3 yrs has shown greatness and weaknesses. More of the former rather than the latter. Now if he were returning would you get Zac yr 1/2 or Zac yr 3? Don't know. How would you project our chances? Now we have another guy that "theoretically" should be at least as good coming in. We don't know what he will do, play like Zac Yr 1/2 or Zac in year last year.

For me, we need a QB to play better than last year to achieve our optimal goals. This also ASSUMES we get Ponce clicking and all the surrounding offensive playmakers (RBs, WRs, TE and line) are delivering. If the above don't happen we lose many games.