Just wanted some thoughts on a scenario for next year or the 2016 season. What IF App were to go 11-1 next season with the only loss to Clemson (by two scores or less). I certainly don't want to put too much emphasis on how we finished this season, but you gotta DREAM BIG . If we were able to accomplish this, what kind of bowl game could App expect ? I would bet something a little bigger than the New Orleans Bowl.

I think it mostly depends on how other G5 teams do and how strong the sunbelt is. If those two factors are in our favor, we get in one of the major New Years bowls.

See these threads for similar discussion:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6222

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6219&p=74072#p74072

Thanks Appvette. Did not see those threads for some reason. I was just thinking of how cool it would be for App to get to a bowl like the Chick Filet Peach Bowl, Music City Bowl in Nashville, or even the Belk Bowl just because of the regional flavor that it would offer for about 15,000 or so App fans.

MDaniels84 wrote:Thanks Appvette. Did not see those threads for some reason. I was just thinking of how cool it would be for App to get to a bowl like the Chick Filet Peach Bowl, Music City Bowl in Nashville, or even the Belk Bowl just because of the regional flavor that it would offer for about 15,000 or so App fans.

It wouldn't be the Music City Bowl or Belk Bowl because those bowls have tie-ins with other conferences. We'd go to one of the Sun Belt's four tie-ins (and probably not the New Orleans Bowl, as they'd still likely take ULL over us) unless we got that New Year's bowl game.

Unfortunately, I doubt even 11-1 would get us that spot. The rest of our OOC schedule will not impress anyone, and the Sun Belt was the weakest league by a pretty wide margin this year, so we'd have to hope for a huge improvement by the rest of the league (which, of course, would make an undefeated conference season much more difficult to accomplish in the first place).

MDaniels84 wrote:Just wanted some thoughts on a scenario for next year or the 2016 season. What IF App were to go 11-1 next season with the only loss to Clemson (by two scores or less). I certainly don't want to put too much emphasis on how we finished this season, but you gotta DREAM BIG . If we were able to accomplish this, what kind of bowl game could App expect ? I would bet something a little bigger than the New Orleans Bowl.

Getting way ahead of myself...but I believe Deshaun Watson will be coming off knee surgery for Clemson, and they've already lost their OC, and may lose their DC. If Watson isn't playing, and a new set of Coordinators (and I believe they have opted on Co-Coordinators for Offense already), I like our chances in that game.

IF we did that, AND went undefeated, I'd guess we get a G5 berth. For the record - that's any of the "major bowls" not included in the playoffs, which would most likely be the Peach...though I think can also be Sugar, Fiesta, or Rose.

I just want to start by beating Howard. It makes me nervous when we start talking about how we will perform for the whole of the 2015 season. There is great hope for 2015 based on how we closed out 2014 but we are WAY ahead of ourselves talking about making the access bowl. I realize it is just dreaming and no one takes it too serious but I think we have a long way to go to be the G5 rep. I think it will be tough for anyone coming out of the Sun Belt to be that team.

hapapp wrote: I realize it is just dreaming and no one takes it too serious but I think we have a long way to go to be the G5 rep. I think it will be tough for anyone coming out of the Sun Belt to be that team.

Agreed. We need to see someone from the Sun Belt at least sniff the top 25 for even one week before we start thinking about getting the New Year's bowl bid. We have a lot of ground to make up on the MWC and AAC in particular.

Beat Clemson!

EastHallApp wrote:

hapapp wrote: I realize it is just dreaming and no one takes it too serious but I think we have a long way to go to be the G5 rep. I think it will be tough for anyone coming out of the Sun Belt to be that team.

Agreed. We need to see someone from the Sun Belt at least sniff the top 25 for even one week before we start thinking about getting the New Year's bowl bid. We have a lot of ground to make up on the MWC and AAC in particular.

Yes that is all true but we can also watch all of our games at Buffalo Wild Wings next year and have the bartender pull some switch that enables him to control the ending of games. With that being said we will go undefeated! Obviously threads like this are all full of speculation and we have a long way to go but isn't the fun part of this just the debate and speculation?

If we are talking Dream Season then I'd have to say 12-0 with a Big 6 Bowl game. The non-Semi Final games next year are the Peach, Sugar, Fiesta, and Rose. In that group the best game for our fans would obviously be the Peach. For me the absolute dream game would be to see the Apps take the field in the Rose Bowl since well it's the Rose Bowl, but I doubt the committee would ever send a G5 school to Pasadena.

bigdaddyg wrote:

EastHallApp wrote:

hapapp wrote: I realize it is just dreaming and no one takes it too serious but I think we have a long way to go to be the G5 rep. I think it will be tough for anyone coming out of the Sun Belt to be that team.

Agreed. We need to see someone from the Sun Belt at least sniff the top 25 for even one week before we start thinking about getting the New Year's bowl bid. We have a lot of ground to make up on the MWC and AAC in particular.

Yes that is all true but we can also watch all of our games at Buffalo Wild Wings next year and have the bartender pull some switch that enables him to control the ending of games. With that being said we will go undefeated! Obviously threads like this are all full of speculation and we have a long way to go but isn't the fun part of this just the debate and speculation?

Absolutely. I am all for trying to project how the season might play out. I tend to temper my expectations a bit more (though I am very optimistic as well), so I'm hoping for something like 9-3 and a conference title.

Honestly before this season, my goal for 2015 was 7-5 and a bowl bid. While that still could happen, it seems hard not to at least hope for improvement over this year given all the factors we have going for us.

This year's Marshall team would be a good case study. 11-1

We finished the year strong so there is a reason for unbridled optimism. Keep in mind we were rather fortunate on the injury front. We have some good depth but injuries can contribute to the win loss record.

IGgreer wrote:This year's Marshall team would be a good case study. 11-1

No P-5 opponents. That's what kept them out of the G5 access spot.

appst89 wrote:

IGgreer wrote:This year's Marshall team would be a good case study. 11-1

No P-5 opponents. That's what kept them out of the G5 access spot.

No P5 wins. Losing to a P5 opponent would have put them in the same boat as Boise State, but with a clearly worse conference schedule.

IGgreer wrote:This year's Marshall team would be a good case study. 11-1

Boise State is likely getting in with a 10-2 record. The big difference is they actually played decent OOC games (Ole Miss, BYU, ULL, UConn) unlike Marshall.

JTApps1 wrote:

IGgreer wrote:This year's Marshall team would be a good case study. 11-1

Boise State is likely getting in with a 10-2 record. The big difference is they actually played decent OOC games (Ole Miss, BYU, ULL, UConn) unlike Marshall.

Speaking of 1 of those 2 Boise losses...how about the year Air Force had? Wins over Boise State and Colorado State. Pretty nice for a program that looked to be fading...

appgrad wrote:

MDaniels84 wrote:Just wanted some thoughts on a scenario for next year or the 2016 season. What IF App were to go 11-1 next season with the only loss to Clemson (by two scores or less). I certainly don't want to put too much emphasis on how we finished this season, but you gotta DREAM BIG . If we were able to accomplish this, what kind of bowl game could App expect ? I would bet something a little bigger than the New Orleans Bowl.

Getting way ahead of myself...but I believe Deshaun Watson will be coming off knee surgery for Clemson, and they've already lost their OC, and may lose their DC. If Watson isn't playing, and a new set of Coordinators (and I believe they have opted on Co-Coordinators for Offense already), I like our chances in that game.

IF we did that, AND went undefeated, I'd guess we get a G5 berth. For the record - that's any of the "major bowls" not included in the playoffs, which would most likely be the Peach...though I think can also be Sugar, Fiesta, or Rose.

It's nice to dream and the Peach Bowl would be dreamy. We would travel very well for that one.

For ANY dream scenario to occur, App HAS to FIX special teams. Take a gander at the link below to Sun Belt stats for year... Scroll down to stats involving special teams.... Meet "sore thumb".

http://sunbeltsports.org/custompages/fb ... nfldrs.htm