Unprecedented National Attention

[ASUFan4863]

I am a young buck but I pose the question - Is this the most national attention our program has received in history? We have been all over ESPN, social media, etc for the first 3 weeks of the season. We will have more big conference matchups down the road televised (with hopefully a top 25 game against Marshall) and fighting for a conference championship. We saw what the Michigan win did to our program. Maybe this year and beyond, we can take the next step into the upper echelon of the Power 6 (Sorry AAC, its the Sun Belt now) on a national stage.

[biggie]

Michigan was probably bigger, just social media isn't what it is today and this time we are sharing a little with Marshall.

[AppSt94]

A buddy asked me yesterday if this win is bigger than the Michigan win. I had to think about it for a bit and I believe in some ways it is. The Michigan win had significance in that it was the greatest upset by a FCS school. It helped build the brand it is today. This win hits different in that it serves as more a leveling of the playing field.

The gap in talent in 2007 was evident and that win didn’t really change that after. This one showed while there still exists a huge gap in terms of resources, the talent gap isn’t a real issue.

When we beat Michigan, people said, and rightfully so, that we couldn’t hold up to that level of competition on a weekly basis. Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete.

[AppStFan1]

I am a young buck but I pose the question - Is this the most national attention our program has received in history? We have been all over ESPN, social media, etc for the first 3 weeks of the season. We will have more big conference matchups down the road televised (with hopefully a top 25 game against Marshall) and fighting for a conference championship. We saw what the Michigan win did to our program. Maybe this year and beyond, we can take the next step into the upper echelon of the Power 6 (Sorry AAC, its the Sun Belt now) on a national stage.

Not even close. Michigan by far. If Michigan had happened this year in same setting it would be the most trending topic for 2 weeks. It was talked about all year long and still 15 years later to this day.

[AppAlum1]

This is a great chicken and egg question!!
Kudos to appfan4863. It seems to me that without the Michigan win App woulda never got invited to play in College Station. That win in Ann Arbor was epic and was a stepping stone in lotsa ways. Unlike back in 2007, today we hava 2 deep to rival SEC schools and level the field.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

After the game I was not on the euphoria of yelling in the front yard as I was after UM. My father passed away in 2008 and my daughter was at a wedding so I was not able to talk to her. I did text her but she was not able to respond. And my wife just is not as in to it. So it was more subdued. Also this is FBS vs FBS, yes SEC money versus Great5 money and all that entails but at the end of the day equal number of players (minus some of the team being left in Boone for a road trip maybe). UM was all of that plus less schollys of FCS vs FBS scholly count. UM was 5 vs 50-60 at best with a merged FCS/FBS ranking were as TAMU was 6 vs top 30-35. Still an upset but not as big.

I have to admit, I yelled more than a few very strong words that will not be typed here in case kids are reading this. I was emotionally invested in this game at the same level as I was with UM and had the same gut-punch when a TD pass was dropped.

[EastHallApp]

A buddy asked me yesterday if this win is bigger than the Michigan win. I had to think about it for a bit and I believe in some ways it is. The Michigan win had significance in that it was the greatest upset by a FCS school. It helped build the brand it is today. This win hits different in that it serves as more a leveling of the playing field.

The gap in talent in 2007 was evident and that win didn’t really change that after. This one showed while there still exists a huge gap in terms of resources, the talent gap isn’t a real issue.

When we beat Michigan, people said, and rightfully so, that we couldn’t hold up to that level of competition on a weekly basis. Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete.

This is about what I was going to say. The Michigan win was probably more attention, because it was more shocking. That was a David & Goliath, lightning bold out of nowhere situation.

This time I feel like the tenor of the coverage is more an acknowledgment of "How do these guys KEEP doing this over and over?" And the fact that App has really built a program that can compete with almost anyone in spite of the very large and real deficits in resources and other structural advantages.

[Yosef1986]

Even the game announcers - at least one of them - gave us credit. He stated that this is not the same situation as UM. I believe he stated that App has evolved and our tradition, athletes, conditioning, recruiting have all risen to another level. This not the same situation.

[appchicago]

2007 was huge because it was the first time many national audiences even heard our name. It was an introduction. This game, however, was a confirmation. And the timing couldn't have been better, with two other SBC East teams taking out P5s this week, plus one last week. It was a coming out party for a division that was already getting considerable buzz in college football media. You can't buy this kind of advertising.

[AppStFan1]

A buddy asked me yesterday if this win is bigger than the Michigan win. I had to think about it for a bit and I believe in some ways it is. The Michigan win had significance in that it was the greatest upset by a FCS school. It helped build the brand it is today. This win hits different in that it serves as more a leveling of the playing field.

The gap in talent in 2007 was evident and that win didn’t really change that after. This one showed while there still exists a huge gap in terms of resources, the talent gap isn’t a real issue.

When we beat Michigan, people said, and rightfully so, that we couldn’t hold up to that level of competition on a weekly basis. Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete.

I was at both and I had been around the program for a long time so I can put some of it in context.

Michigan is by far our biggest win and here is why. Part of what you said in here about we could not hold up regularly is why. Had we played Michigan 2 weeks later we lose that game by 30. The talent gap, as you said, was evident. If not for Dexter Jackson or Armanti Edwards we can't win that game. We blew so many chances early to take a bigger lead but still we were not as good as them. We had enough speed to catch them off guard and they clearly did not prep for us like they should have.

Here are major reasons why Michigan is by far the biggest win in school history.

1. It was the biggest story that entire year
2. It is still talked about 15 years later and not in a joke way. Michigan actually played us since then and curb stomped us but NOBODY brings that game up.
3. Michigan propelled us to FBS. People will say it is the 3 titles and they helped but Michigan made us a brand name as the giant killers. David coming with his sling shot to take down Goliath.
4. Michigan brought attention and money to us that nobody saw coming except a few people. I remember someone saying before the game on a radio show when asked if it would be the talk of the weekend if we beat them and he said it would be the talk of the entire week and likely the year. They laughed at it and thought he was overstating. He was 100% right and honestly was conservative with that because it has still been the talk for 15 years when people bring up the biggest upsets.

Personally if I had to rank our biggest wins in school history I would say 1. Michigan (2007) 2. A&M (2022) 3. UNC (2019) 4. 2005 NC 5. 2007 NC 6. 2006 NC 7. South Carolina (1975) 8. South Carolina (2019) 9. Marshall when ranked number one before they left 10. ECU (2020) or Georgia Southern when we beat them 17-16 and they were number one.

I'm sure I might be missing a couple that should be in the bottom half but I would say 1-4 is hard to argue. FCS national titles do not do more for a program than beating ranked P5 teams. Sorry, they just don't. Most who say that probably did not want us to move up. I remember a lot of opposition on here back in the 2000s when the talk came up but it is completely not existent today. We never should have been I-AA anyway. Laney and other idiots wanted us in I-AA forever and it held us back so long. We could have grown to what UCF has become had we gone earlier and I say that because of how far we went from 2005 to 2022. Nobody has skyrocketed in the CFB world more than App State in that time period. We were a NAIA program in the 1960s for goodness sake. This is all without being in a huge TV market and mostly having idiots run the place for 20-25 years. I credit our students, boosters, alumni, players, coaches, and all those who truly willed us to this place.


To your comment here "Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete."

While I was waiting on A&M to break a big play or two they never really made those plays that showed they were better than us by far. That KR TD I thought might mentally drain us but it did not. This team is 100% a P5 caliber squad. The interesting thing here is that we have hit at LB and several positions so well but without the portal this probably does not happen. We would still be good but our overall use of the portal has been really good. We have missed on some players but the hits outweigh them.

You have to keep in context here that we did not have Harrington, Peoples was out some dinged up but did come back in, Cobb left the game, Noel did not play, etc. We were not 100% and went in to Kyle Field and we not only went toe to toe with A&M but we were the better team. A&M did not "fail to execute" but we just simply beat their butts and outplayed them. App State is just as talented as A&M and we are way better coached. I don't know what the plans were with the 1.5M but it needs to give Shawn about 200k and give Watts, Wade, and Barbay at least 200k raises with it. I also think Dale Jones fixing mistakes deserves a bonus as well. If Barbay was here last year we don't lose 4 games. We maybe only lose 1-2 and finish ranked. He is that good. Barbay is indeed the real deal and if someone on here does not realize how lucky we are to have them I hope they appreciate it by the end of the season.

Enjoy Barbay and Wade because those two men will only stay here more than 2 years if they truly love this place and money is not a huge issue. I think a G5 would be stupid not to approach Barbay as a HC in November and I believe a P5 would be smart to offer him 1M or so if they can to lure him in now. His game plan was masterful. It was one of the best games as far as strategy I have ever seen. Players have to execute but we literally brought the perfect game plan into A&M to out play and out smart them.

And before someone says no way we got the talent to play in the SEC we jut put 5 rookies on NFL rosters from 2022 draft class and actually had 1 good enough who just retired but this group is better. Practice squad rule changes and expansion probably helped 2 of them but still we had talent. I would venture to guess that Hampton goes top 100, Peoples goes day 3 (if not for injuries and inconsistent in pass game and blocking he would go 2-3), Jones goes day 3 or PFA and makes it, Hodges goes day 3 or PFA and makes it, Brice likely PFA who makes a PS at least, and then we could see maybe 1-2 more. This class is really good and it is clear that we got others like Parker, McLeod, etc who will have a real shot one day. That does not even include super young ones like Stroman, Wells, Horn, and many others who might be that good. We have about 10-12 who could get a tryout from the 2023 class next spring if they all come out.

It will be interesting to see how much this helps recruiting.

[bigdaddyg]

Put it this way. When I stopped to pump
gas in 2007 and someone saw either my license plate or my shirt or hat I got comments and conversion for weeks. We had a student teacher conference and one of the teachers was I believe a Michigan State grad. She thanked me like I had played.

Fast forward to Saturday. Went to the store with my gear on. Not a word. Saw a lady in a Marshall shirt. I thought about saying something but I let it go.

[appstatealum]

After the game I was not on the euphoria of yelling in the front yard as I was after UM. My father passed away in 2008 and my daughter was at a wedding so I was not able to talk to her. I did text her but she was not able to respond. And my wife just is not as in to it. So it was more subdued. Also this is FBS vs FBS, yes SEC money versus Great5 money and all that entails but at the end of the day equal number of players (minus some of the team being left in Boone for a road trip maybe). UM was all of that plus less schollys of FCS vs FBS scholly count. UM was 5 vs 50-60 at best with a merged FCS/FBS ranking were as TAMU was 6 vs top 30-35. Still an upset but not as big.

I have to admit, I yelled more than a few very strong words that will not be typed here in case kids are reading this. I was emotionally invested in this game at the same level as I was with UM and had the same gut-punch when a TD pass was dropped.

Agree. This one hit different than Michigan. As noted earlier on here, walking up to the stadium, I told my buddy that I felt like we were going to win this and the whole game we dominated. While a part of me was waiting for the inevitable "bad break", it never came and as the clock hit zero, I was happy for the win, but not at all feeling like it was some huge upset. As a long time App fan, I felt like this was long overdue and not a surprise.

[Yosefus]

The Michigan win was historic! The last 2-3 weeks are from a chaotic game and a beat down of a national contender in another. I think the last couple weeks we are not viewed as much as an upstart but being recognized as a very strong G5 contender. I think we are seeing true recognition for our program nationwide. Our boys need to continue to prove themselves and not read the papers. The GameDay telecast is huge in a whole bunch of ways. I hope the Michigan game isn't dwell on a whole lot in the conversation Saturday but more focus on this year's team. I know it will have to be and the close games in years past that have brought us to today. It is truly Great to be a Mountaineer!

[Rekdiver]

Michigan baked the cake...A&M just put icing on it..........

[Yosefus]

A buddy asked me yesterday if this win is bigger than the Michigan win. I had to think about it for a bit and I believe in some ways it is. The Michigan win had significance in that it was the greatest upset by a FCS school. It helped build the brand it is today. This win hits different in that it serves as more a leveling of the playing field.

The gap in talent in 2007 was evident and that win didn’t really change that after. This one showed while there still exists a huge gap in terms of resources, the talent gap isn’t a real issue.

When we beat Michigan, people said, and rightfully so, that we couldn’t hold up to that level of competition on a weekly basis. Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete.

I was at both and I had been around the program for a long time so I can put some of it in context.

Michigan is by far our biggest win and here is why. Part of what you said in here about we could not hold up regularly is why. Had we played Michigan 2 weeks later we lose that game by 30. The talent gap, as you said, was evident. If not for Dexter Jackson or Armanti Edwards we can't win that game. We blew so many chances early to take a bigger lead but still we were not as good as them. We had enough speed to catch them off guard and they clearly did not prep for us like they should have.

Here are major reasons why Michigan is by far the biggest win in school history.

1. It was the biggest story that entire year
2. It is still talked about 15 years later and not in a joke way. Michigan actually played us since then and curb stomped us but NOBODY brings that game up.
3. Michigan propelled us to FBS. People will say it is the 3 titles and they helped but Michigan made us a brand name as the giant killers. David coming with his sling shot to take down Goliath.
4. Michigan brought attention and money to us that nobody saw coming except a few people. I remember someone saying before the game on a radio show when asked if it would be the talk of the weekend if we beat them and he said it would be the talk of the entire week and likely the year. They laughed at it and thought he was overstating. He was 100% right and honestly was conservative with that because it has still been the talk for 15 years when people bring up the biggest upsets.

Personally if I had to rank our biggest wins in school history I would say 1. Michigan (2007) 2. A&M (2022) 3. UNC (2019) 4. 2005 NC 5. 2007 NC 6. 2006 NC 7. South Carolina (1975) 8. South Carolina (2019) 9. Marshall when ranked number one before they left 10. ECU (2020) or Georgia Southern when we beat them 17-16 and they were number one.

I'm sure I might be missing a couple that should be in the bottom half but I would say 1-4 is hard to argue. FCS national titles do not do more for a program than beating ranked P5 teams. Sorry, they just don't. Most who say that probably did not want us to move up. I remember a lot of opposition on here back in the 2000s when the talk came up but it is completely not existent today. We never should have been I-AA anyway. Laney and other idiots wanted us in I-AA forever and it held us back so long. We could have grown to what UCF has become had we gone earlier and I say that because of how far we went from 2005 to 2022. Nobody has skyrocketed in the CFB world more than App State in that time period. We were a NAIA program in the 1960s for goodness sake. This is all without being in a huge TV market and mostly having idiots run the place for 20-25 years. I credit our students, boosters, alumni, players, coaches, and all those who truly willed us to this place.


To your comment here "Now they are saying that we could play in some of these Power 5 conferences and compete."

While I was waiting on A&M to break a big play or two they never really made those plays that showed they were better than us by far. That KR TD I thought might mentally drain us but it did not. This team is 100% a P5 caliber squad. The interesting thing here is that we have hit at LB and several positions so well but without the portal this probably does not happen. We would still be good but our overall use of the portal has been really good. We have missed on some players but the hits outweigh them.

You have to keep in context here that we did not have Harrington, Peoples was out some dinged up but did come back in, Cobb left the game, Noel did not play, etc. We were not 100% and went in to Kyle Field and we not only went toe to toe with A&M but we were the better team. A&M did not "fail to execute" but we just simply beat their butts and outplayed them. App State is just as talented as A&M and we are way better coached. I don't know what the plans were with the 1.5M but it needs to give Shawn about 200k and give Watts, Wade, and Barbay at least 200k raises with it. I also think Dale Jones fixing mistakes deserves a bonus as well. If Barbay was here last year we don't lose 4 games. We maybe only lose 1-2 and finish ranked. He is that good. Barbay is indeed the real deal and if someone on here does not realize how lucky we are to have them I hope they appreciate it by the end of the season.

Enjoy Barbay and Wade because those two men will only stay here more than 2 years if they truly love this place and money is not a huge issue. I think a G5 would be stupid not to approach Barbay as a HC in November and I believe a P5 would be smart to offer him 1M or so if they can to lure him in now. His game plan was masterful. It was one of the best games as far as strategy I have ever seen. Players have to execute but we literally brought the perfect game plan into A&M to out play and out smart them.

And before someone says no way we got the talent to play in the SEC we jut put 5 rookies on NFL rosters from 2022 draft class and actually had 1 good enough who just retired but this group is better. Practice squad rule changes and expansion probably helped 2 of them but still we had talent. I would venture to guess that Hampton goes top 100, Peoples goes day 3 (if not for injuries and inconsistent in pass game and blocking he would go 2-3), Jones goes day 3 or PFA and makes it, Hodges goes day 3 or PFA and makes it, Brice likely PFA who makes a PS at least, and then we could see maybe 1-2 more. This class is really good and it is clear that we got others like Parker, McLeod, etc who will have a real shot one day. That does not even include super young ones like Stroman, Wells, Horn, and many others who might be that good. We have about 10-12 who could get a tryout from the 2023 class next spring if they all come out.

It will be interesting to see how much this helps recruiting.

Spot on.

[AppStFan1]

Even the game announcers - at least one of them - gave us credit. He stated that this is not the same situation as UM. I believe he stated that App has evolved and our tradition, athletes, conditioning, recruiting have all risen to another level. This not the same situation.

100% here. Everyone knows we got lucky with Michigan situation. It was truly lightning in a bottle. This was not the same. We brought an SEC roster in to town after fixing issues that cost us the UNC game. I truly expected to be 0-2 now but after seeing how quick some of our young talent is coming along I am actually disappointed we are not 2-0.

We have to move on and focus. We need to handle this better than we did Michigan from the coach and player standpoint. Troy is a trap game and we can't lose 2 more games like we did against Michigan. Beating A&M but not winning the SBC would label this year as a huge disappoint. We have 2 meaningless gimme FCS games later this year but outside of that every game we play counts and can cost us a title. The issue is the SBC is so good that we still have 4-5 games we could lose between Marshall, JMU, Ga State, Ga Southern, and Troy if we aren't careful.

[AppStFan1]

Put it this way. When I stopped to pump
gas in 2007 and someone saw either my license plate or my shirt or hat I got comments and conversion for weeks. We had a student teacher conference and one of the teachers was I believe a Michigan State grad. She thanked me like I had played.

Fast forward to Saturday. Went to the store with my gear on. Not a word. Saw a lady in a Marshall shirt. I thought about saying something but I let it go.

I ate free at a restaurant coming home on the drive when they saw my hat and shirt. So many thanks from Big Ten fans. People who question should go watch the videos on Youtube of school reactions to the game. Literally the entire country was an App State fan on that day. I had friends in the SEC and ACC who said their tailgates that day put the game on and they were glued to it. Nobody could believe it. People who never saw us play before screaming for us and cheering. Stadiums literally erupted when Corey blocked the kick. It was truly an amazing day that will live forever. Those who lived it just know. With the expanded playoff if we somehow won a title or at least win a playoff game I wonder if that feeling could even surpass it.

[AppStFan1]

Michigan baked the cake...A&M just put icing on it..........

Good way to look at it.

[AppStFan1]

After the game I was not on the euphoria of yelling in the front yard as I was after UM. My father passed away in 2008 and my daughter was at a wedding so I was not able to talk to her. I did text her but she was not able to respond. And my wife just is not as in to it. So it was more subdued. Also this is FBS vs FBS, yes SEC money versus Great5 money and all that entails but at the end of the day equal number of players (minus some of the team being left in Boone for a road trip maybe). UM was all of that plus less schollys of FCS vs FBS scholly count. UM was 5 vs 50-60 at best with a merged FCS/FBS ranking were as TAMU was 6 vs top 30-35. Still an upset but not as big.

I have to admit, I yelled more than a few very strong words that will not be typed here in case kids are reading this. I was emotionally invested in this game at the same level as I was with UM and had the same gut-punch when a TD pass was dropped.

Agree. This one hit different than Michigan. As noted earlier on here, walking up to the stadium, I told my buddy that I felt like we were going to win this and the whole game we dominated. While a part of me was waiting for the inevitable "bad break", it never came and as the clock hit zero, I was happy for the win, but not at all feeling like it was some huge upset. As a long time App fan, I felt like this was long overdue and not a surprise.

With you here. Just sit down and scout our players. Watch our guys run, block, the way they move, etc. We truly have a P5 caliber team. We are thin in some spots and definitely need to get better but we have a P5 caliber team. The only big issue is now the Sun Belt is what the AAC was prior to recent alignment and we have a stacked league. If we could somehow add Memphis and ECU and maybe even get UAB or USF to flip I think we could truly grow the SBC into a P6, if we still have a P5. This league keeps getting better and better. We just have to pay coaches and convince them to stay longer. We do more with less better than any other program. I mean A&M, UNC, NC State, etc schools should beat us by 40+ when you compare money and all but yet that simply does not happen. Very proud of how we did. We are not lucky to play with P5s but are simply on equal footing and with our budget that is nothing short of a miracle. Imagine what we could do with SEC or ACC resources. The way we do it is simple though. Culture, correctly identify talent, and develop that talent. That stuff does more than money will ever do. Money can't buy heart, grit, and toughness. In fact money actually makes many softer.

[bigdaddyg]

I meant to add at the end of the last post. While I didn't really anticipate a win Saturday I really didn't anticipate getting our butts kicked like a few on here predicted or what many A&M folks expected. I predicted a 3 point win (albeit higher scoring). That being said when I went out Saturday night with my shirt and hat on I really didn't want a "Michigan " reaction. I think one of the players for App even said he was tired of hearing about Michigan and that he wanted it to be about beating A&M. I really got tired of hearing about the close ones we had with P5's. Close doesn't mean anything as we proved Saturday. A close loss doesn't bring Game Day to Boone and a close loss doesn't get talked about all weekend.