Game week in Boca

[appstatealum]

Smh

It's crazy that so many fans here are OK with a mediocre season. I'm not saying we are a big pile of sh*t and everyone should be fired. But I do want to see promise and progression, and all I saw was regression. If some of you don't understand how big of a problem regression can be with a program, I can't help you. We aren't Alabama or Georgia, or Ohio State or Oklahoma where Kids are dying to come play for us. We have to produce on the field year in a year out and show promise, or we will progressively lose recruits and disappear from relevance. As has been noted, it doesn't happen all of a sudden, but over time. I'm not saying it's happening, but there are certainly some flags going up.

This has already been implied, but I will definitely ask it again...since when is a ten win season mediocre?

Glad you asked. Dont focus on the record as much as we beat the teams we should've and our only "signature win" was Coastal. That, for App State, is mediocre. Losing to our conference rival, twice, is mediocre. Again I'm not saying to blow it all up but if the water isn't being churned, it's getting stagnant. Stagnant water breeds bacteria that can quickly pollute the whole pool. We can all say what we want about Drink and I was by no means a huge supporter, but he came in and churned the water and produced some highlight moments for the program. I felt like we could've done more, but he didn't regress.

[bigdaddyg]

How about this season scenario. Let’s say we had beaten Miami, ECU, lost to Marshall and La (twice) but won today? Assume the Coastal win as well. Would you negative guys have felt any better? Obviously we go out with a win but we would have had a road P5 win. I don’t like “coach speak” per se but I do agree with one thing Clark says all the time- “It’s hard to win a college football game “.

Someone earlier made a great point that can’t be overlooked. Pretty much every school in the country had a bunch of experienced Super Seniors return. We ran into a couple of teams who also loaded up on transfers. There is some great assumption going on that we were just loaded with the most talent ever and that we should have rolled everyone. It’s just not that easy.

[appstatealum]

It's not about the record as much as the overall look and vibe of this team. Maybe I'm on an island with this thought, but I was underwhelmed quite a bit this year in many of our wins. I went to all the home games and traveled to a few, just never had a good vibe about this team. I think we are also missing those "hype men" type coaches and SnC guys to get this team going at times when it's clear we need it. An example is the first half against Elon.....or throw in the first half of majority of our games.

[mountaineerman]

How about this season scenario. Let’s say we had beaten Miami, ECU, lost to Marshall and La (twice) but won today? Assume the Coastal win as well. Would you negative guys have felt any better? Obviously we go out with a win but we would have had a road P5 win. I don’t like “coach speak” per se but I do agree with one thing Clark says all the time- “It’s hard to win a college football game “.

Someone earlier made a great point that can’t be overlooked. Pretty much every school in the country had a bunch of experienced Super Seniors return. We ran into a couple of teams who also loaded up on transfers. There is some great assumption going on that we were just loaded with the most talent ever and that we should have rolled everyone. It’s just not that easy.

We’ll we did start behind the chains in almost every game this year.

[Apptrain]

It's not about the record as much as the overall look and vibe of this team. Maybe I'm on an island with this thought, but I was underwhelmed quite a bit this year in many of our wins. I went to all the home games and traveled to a few, just never had a good vibe about this team. I think we are also missing those "hype men" type coaches and SnC guys to get this team going at times when it's clear we need it. An example is the first half against Elon.....or throw in the first half of majority of our games.

I had this exact feeling. Thought maybe we were coming on after the win against Coastal but as I suspected they weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

[Seattleapp]

It's not about the record as much as the overall look and vibe of this team. Maybe I'm on an island with this thought, but I was underwhelmed quite a bit this year in many of our wins. I went to all the home games and traveled to a few, just never had a good vibe about this team. I think we are also missing those "hype men" type coaches and SnC guys to get this team going at times when it's clear we need it. An example is the first half against Elon.....or throw in the first half of majority of our games.

I had this exact feeling. Thought maybe we were coming on after the win against Coastal but as I suspected they weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

You mean mean when we won 6 games in a row and were giving up single digit points on defense?

[Rekdiver]

T U R N O V E R MARGIN..............

[NewApp]

How about this season scenario. Let’s say we had beaten Miami, ECU, lost to Marshall and La (twice) but won today? Assume the Coastal win as well. Would you negative guys have felt any better? Obviously we go out with a win but we would have had a road P5 win. I don’t like “coach speak” per se but I do agree with one thing Clark says all the time- “It’s hard to win a college football game “.

Someone earlier made a great point that can’t be overlooked. Pretty much every school in the country had a bunch of experienced Super Seniors return. We ran into a couple of teams who also loaded up on transfers. There is some great assumption going on that we were just loaded with the most talent ever and that we should have rolled everyone. It’s just not that easy.

We’ll we did start behind the chains in almost every game this year.

Yep, you are right. But we still won 10 out of 14 with a relatively new coach. Just trying to salvage a little silver lining to a dark cloud (first loss in a bowl game in modern times). My season was partially made when we beat the Pirates.

[JohnnyBurrito]

Gotta say I’m not going to miss many of you on this board this off season. We’ve won 10 games and had 4 turnovers today and were in this track meet the whole time. Utilizing a pocket passer in a system that basically leans on a mobile qb. You’d think we were Bama with some of these bs takes. Maybe just maybe we weren’t as good this year as some thought. Maybe we actually over performed. I don’t know about that but I do know y’all don’t know either. But the incessant wining has made visiting this board so unenjoyable. Merry Christmas you filthy animals.

Why would we bring in a pocket passer for a system that relies on mobility? Either we brought in the wrong guy or didn’t run the best offense for his skill set.

Do ya’ll realize that if we didn’t get Brice to Boone, we were going my get a kid from a D2 school? Oh how this board would have imploded. Come to think of it, I think some of you like to be pissed off.

We had 558 yards of offense today but the offense was the problem?

You misunderstood what I was replying to, but ok.

My bad JB. You’re right. That came off as if I was replying to you. I’m sorry. I meant to reply because I felt some relevance to your question about getting the wrong QB. Sorry.

All good brother.

[Apptrain]

It's not about the record as much as the overall look and vibe of this team. Maybe I'm on an island with this thought, but I was underwhelmed quite a bit this year in many of our wins. I went to all the home games and traveled to a few, just never had a good vibe about this team. I think we are also missing those "hype men" type coaches and SnC guys to get this team going at times when it's clear we need it. An example is the first half against Elon.....or throw in the first half of majority of our games.

I had this exact feeling. Thought maybe we were coming on after the win against Coastal but as I suspected they weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

You mean mean when we won 6 games in a row and were giving up single digit points on defense?

Look at the records of who we beat. That matters, just like it did for Coastal.

[Rekdiver]

I will beat this drum all offseason.... We can beat poor teams and have turnovers. Every team we lost to, we had more fumbles and interceptions and penalty yards. Im disappointed but not more than the coaches and players. Don’t be a Karen. I am anxiously awaiting next season to see what it brings. Merry Christmas

[Bootsy]

Allow me to make a couple of points-

1. Stop dogging the players. These are 18-21 yr old kids who in most cases are doing their level best every day to pass classes, show up at study hall, hit the weight room, watch game film, perform at practice, etc., etc. 5 days/wk.
And these responsibilities don't stop when traveling to play an opponent. Think about it: how well do you sleep in hotels? I travel for work every week and I don't rest there like I do at home. Yet these kids step up, make grades and deliver on the field. They are the personification of TIGMA.

2. 10 wins is 10 wins. But as the TV announcer mentioned yesterday at the end of the game, "The expectation at App State is to win championships and bowl games." Not arguing 10 wins is an accomplishment, but the announcer was right. And with that being said,

3. NO ONE is taking these losses harder than our coaches and players. Clark realizes more than anyone what faces App between now and August. Who knows what will happen with the portal? With our staff? Lots of questions to be answered. A lot can happen between now and spring practice.

4. These losses are very fresh for all of us. And I believe everyone here is so upset because we're all 100% Black & Gold, through and through. If we care about the team (and I know we do), we'll continue to support the team. They are human beings and they're not perfect. We can't expect them to be.

[WataugaMan]

After all their prior success, I sure do feel for the Super Seniors having their college careers end on such a sour note.

[appstate5]

Looking back now, that was just a bad matchup for App. The strength of our defense this season was our LB's and that style of offense took them completely out of the game.

I do agree with a lot of you about the regression, the penalties, the turnovers, lack of discipline which I believe started in 2020. If we don't get this cleaned up next season then it's going to be a long year.
Congrats to all the Super Seniors and Seniors for giving their all to App State. We're going to miss you next season!

[Rekdiver]

I’m just grateful we aren’t in the SoCon anymore and we get 30k to a weekday game. I’m also glad to be on this side of the dirt. Perspective is everything.

[bigdaddyg]

I wonder if the nut jobs (I’m sure they exist) on the UCF, Boise State and BYU (lost bowl game to a CUSA team) are melting and butchering their players and coaches on social media. All of those teams “underperformed “ this year and none made it to the NY6.

[appbio91]

We gave up a lot of yards all year to teams that could throw the ball. We just seemed to be able to keep them out of the end zone. These guys were striking from long distance so our red zone stops that saved us were neutralized.

[yikas1]

I don't care how good their QB is, except for playing Alabama we shouldn't be okay with giving up 59 points on a neutral site. And to Western Kentucky.

[appstate5]

I said it earlier, WKU was a bad matchup for us....it happens....you see it in March Madness every year.
Their passing took away out LB play which was the strength of our D.

That was a good hit on Cam that caused the fumble, not his fault. The way we were moving the game would have been tied in another play or two. Instead the fumble happened, they broke an 86 yard run and it was a gut punch. We were playing behind the entire game and could just never get ahead. On to next year.....

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Thought it was a good, not great season with a terrible ending. We won 10 games including wins against Marshall, ECU, a ranked Coastal team, and beat rival Georgia Southern. Getting swept by UL and losing conference championship was a disappointment. Losing to an inferior Miami team with a chance at a P5 win was disappointing. Giving up 58 points in a bowl game to a team we were expected to beat was extremely disappointing. Hope the staff and team learn from this experience and grow on it for next year.