The Morning After

[BambooRdApp]

Not sure I get the idea of pulling 7 for 8 when down by more than 2 TDs. We are going to trade a Superior arm for a average to less than average arm...The defense knew we had to put more emphasis on the passing game when down by that many. Really believe 8 would have faired any differently. Not sure I see that.
I am sure 8 is a great kid and glad he came back to support program and that App allowed him to come back. Personally, he is an insurance policy if 7 gets injured or mop up duty especially when we play good teams like LaLa and The Community College. Could he come in against the rest of Sunbelt competition and win us some games... probably..but he is not a game changer when playing the other two elites in the conference. Just my opinion

[Stonewall]

I hope y'all don't mind an outsiders view of your upcoming game with the Covid Chickens. As a UL fan here is how I see things in two brief parts. Part One: McCall is the real deal, I believe that. He is, hands down, the best QB in the league and maybe one of the best in the country. Coastal's defense is good as well. They are, no doubt, a good team.

Part Two: Having said that, CC has not been challenged in, what, ten months? They have not been punched in the mouth to start a game. They have not been bloodied this year; they have not had to fight to win a game. They have not had to come from behind. They have not had to make adjustments to win. Their opponents combined recored this year is 9-24. They have not played this year a team with more than two wins. On top of this, I believe they will run into a proud, frustrated, and angry program next week that is out to prove that last Tuesday was an anomaly.

The boys in Myrtle Beach may not see it this way, but Tuesday night was the worst possible outcome for Coastal.

I appreciate your perspective,much of which I agree with.We should be angry , hopefully also focused.As to McCall he has the stats and the swagger certainly , we will see what the future holds.Best to you...

[App91]

48hr rule-i can now allow myself to comment. We looked bad, as bad as i can remember. Worse than the last Gumroot game in the wind.
Both Lines got slapped and had no answer. Backs not hitting what little holes there were. Defense made Lewis look like an all american. He has struggled all year and we make him look great. Broke containment and had time to throw.
Chase does not like pressure, when he feels it he panics a bit which causes bad decisions, poor play, which is back to the OL. Receivers did not get separation, dropped balls. Very poor play calling, ran the ball on 3rd and 8 down 20-3 after 3 straight scores. That was a must make 3rd down. put the defense back out on the field. We gotta figure out how to keep Peoples on the field, he is great but does us no good on the sidelines.

Main concern is the Coaches had no answer for the obvious funk we were in. I am not sure how you stop that, but that is what Coaching is all about. No doubt this staff is learning how, but that is the difference.

[PhillyApp1]

App91
Great evaluation

I would also say Napier has broken the App State code.... he has recruited a P5 team .... in the past 25 years the games App State has lost, we were beat by better blocking, no separation by the wide receivers, and our offense that was to conservative and predictable.... Drink changed App and we beat the Carolinas

[Yosef84]

Clark has recruited some bigger bodies for the OL but they are true freshmen. We have good athletes. We are capable of beating anyone in the SunBelt if we play our game. If we don't execute and make mistakes, we get Tuesday night. I think we've beat this to death. The Apps are still alive and kicking. We lost a battle, but the war continues. Beat Coastal!

[WVAPPeer]

Well Old Buddy (91) I am going to pretty much agree with you - I know, you just got weak in the knees ---
Their defensive line did control our OL ---
However to the best of my accounting in the first half LA rushed 15 times for 23 yards (now that does not include the 36yd run when they called the perfect play catching us in an all-out blitz) - they did not dominate our DL - also I have watched several LA games over the years and have never seen Lewis throw the ball downfield anywhere near as well as what he did this week - we pretty much contained his running but his passing beat us --

-I think Chase hangs in the pocket well - I haven't seen any real panic but I agree with you that that starts with the OL. The one sack he took he had no chance - Nate dove at the rushers legs and the guy completely hurdled him and was right on Chase ---

Now where I am in total agreement with you is that I was disappointed in our WRs - they are all better than what they showed on Tue - and the 3rd down and long runs were a real head-scratcher - especially when we never fooled them once with the run - for our pound and grind offense to be successful we have to have a healthy Cam back -

Look, every coach who has coached young people has faced this situation - sometimes everything planned goes haywire and plan B and plan C don't work either - Even the best coaches can't stop that freight train - Look at Coach Saban last week - his defense had no clue how to stop a 2-3 team with a QB/Offense who only scored 34 against our old SBC New Mexico and a total of 32 combined against Ark and Miss St - AND SCORED 41 against the #1 team???

We will beat Coastal and play for the SBC Championship

[AppGrad78]

Here’s my take:

I like Chase Brice … a lot. He played better Tuesday night than people are giving him credit. Two or three misfires and one stinker of a pass to Hennigan. Otherwise, not a horrible game. Nate Noel made a mess of that third-down pitch, not Brice. Catch the pitch and run to daylight. Drop the pitch and fall on it. It’s as simple as that. But here’s the thing about Brice: He’s not a runner. Never has been. Never will be. It’s been 20 years since App State had an immobile quarterback. We’ve kinda gotten spoiled that way. But it’s an inescapable reality. Opponents know that, too. They also know they have just one running threat to worry about in our backfield. That’s why we’re seeing more rushing performances like the one we had Tuesday night.

So what do we do?

What I’m guessing we do is we stubbornly continue to try to run. We’ll see some success because we have good blockers and good running backs. It is in our DNA. But there will be more games like Tuesday night. And they won’t be pretty. We have a non-running quarterback in a system that flourishes with one who can.

So what I would do? Play to Brice’s strength, not his weakness. The dude can spin it. Focus on passing, at least for the rest of this season. Use only the best-blocking running backs and tight ends, because inevitably we’ll see more blitzes. And for Pete’s sake, put the word “fake” back into a play-fake. (Our execution in that area during the past couple of seasons has been embarrassing.)

A radical change for our offense? You bet. One that’s brought out of necessity.

[spacemonkey]

Here’s my take:

I like Chase Brice … a lot. He played better Tuesday night than people are giving him credit. Two or three misfires and one stinker of a pass to Hennigan. Otherwise, not a horrible game. Nate Noel made a mess of that third-down pitch, not Brice. Catch the pitch and run to daylight. Drop the pitch and fall on it. It’s as simple as that. But here’s the thing about Brice: He’s not a runner. Never has been. Never will be. It’s been 20 years since App State had an immobile quarterback. We’ve kinda gotten spoiled that way. But it’s an inescapable reality. Opponents know that, too. They also know they have just one running threat to worry about in our backfield. That’s why we’re seeing more rushing performances like the one we had Tuesday night.

So what do we do?

What I’m guessing we do is we stubbornly continue to try to run. We’ll see some success because we have good blockers and good running backs. It is in our DNA. But there will be more games like Tuesday night. And they won’t be pretty. We have a non-running quarterback in a system that flourishes with one who can.

So what I would do? Play to Brice’s strength, not his weakness. The dude can spin it. Focus on passing, at least for the rest of this season. Use only the best-blocking running backs and tight ends, because inevitably we’ll see more blitzes. And for Pete’s sake, put the word “fake” back into a play-fake. (Our execution in that area during the past couple of seasons has been embarrassing.)

A radical change for our offense? You bet. One that’s brought out of necessity.

Everything above is correct. We better throw it because there is no fake with Brice. Teams know two things are going to happen a pass or a run to the ONE running back in the back field. Zero trickery or more importantly miss direction. Not faulting Brice...he seems to be a great hardworking kid. We either need to line up and throw it. I would have two backs and one would stay in to block and the other would leak out somewhere. Take the run completely off the table except for short yardage.

[Yosef84]

And yet, Brice scored our only TD Tuesday on a gutsy run...using his size to take a defender into the endzone. I know he isn't AE, or Zac, or even Lamb, but I think he's being under-sold a bit.

[mike87]

Dude runs like an old man. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I like him too and think his running is more effective than advertised but the eye appeal just isn't there.

[WVAPPeer]

Dude runs like an old man. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I like him too and think his running is more effective than advertised but the eye appeal just isn't there.

ELDER F-ING ABUSE!!!

[Yosef84]

Dude runs like an old man. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I like him too and think his running is more effective than advertised but the eye appeal just isn't there.

I resemble that remark!

It doesn't have to be pretty. Just has to get him there! Look up Emil Zatopek. Yes, that's a very old reference from the distance running world. Point is, his style was awkward and looked terrible, but he won.

[BambooRdApp]

I agree and disagree to some respect. I believe the read-option can be effective within the run game even if Brice always hands off to the running. Brice may run a couple of times early. It may not yield many yards, however, the rest of the game, it may keep a DL or LB a half second off the mark as they hesitate to see if he is going to keep it. The whole idea of just turning around and handing off to a back makes it easier for the DB. On the option TD against LaLa, that was a great play, the defense was so focused or expecting him to pitch it that he had room to run. Although it would be nice if Brice could pick up 10 to 15 yards on his runs, it is probably not going to happen often. I would be happy if he got 3 or 4 and we move the chains. I believe there is value in that from the perspective that the defense would believe he may run versus believing he is not going to run. Also, with the reach option...it gives option to a quick pass after fake to the RB. I am not a believer that we just give up on the idea or presentation that we will run because our QB is not a running QB..

[WVAPPeer]

I agree if Cam is back - if not, I go with 78's strategy

[AppSt94]

Coastal is not the same as Louisiana. The matchup of offense and defense is different.

[Rekdiver]

No comparison between Brice and Huseman. Pulling Brice before recognizing the need to change plays and situational running backs is a panic move.

[AppStateNews]

I don't know what game you guys were watching, but our WRs had separation -- especially on the deep shots. The fade to Corey on the first drive was just a bad pass. The other 2-3 deep shots Brice barely missed or there was PI.

Difference is Brice hit those the week before. Our guys were just as open in both games. If Brice hits one or two of those 4-5 deep shots, it's a different game. At that point, they can't stack the box and our run game becomes effective.

Editing to say I'm not putting the blame on Brice. If it were that easy, we'd all be college QBs. Not hitting those allowed LaLa to stack the box. They did the same thing to us. Hit deep shots early, made us change to more of a zone scheme instead of the man we were playing to start, and killed us with the run.

[AppSt94]

I don't know what game you guys were watching, but our WRs had separation -- especially on the deep shots. The fade to Corey on the first drive was just a bad pass. The other 2-3 deep shots Brice barely missed or there was PI.

Difference is Brice hit those the week before. Our guys were just as open in both games. If Brice hits one or two of those 4-5 deep shots, it's a different game. At that point, they can't stack the box and our run game becomes effective.

Editing to say I'm not putting the blame on Brice. If it were that easy, we'd all be college QBs. Not hitting those allowed LaLa to stack the box. They did the same thing to us. Hit deep shots early, made us change to more of a zone scheme instead of the man we were playing to start, and killed us with the run.

It was very similar to Ga. Southern in 2019. Weather was horrible. Once they figured out that we couldn’t throw in the elements, they stacked the box. It happens.