Apps number one in preseason mags

[AppinVA]

Here's a question for everyone - if you could only do one, would you rather beat Miami or win the Sun Belt title?

Personally, I'd take the Miami win without a second thought.

I'll take both.

Stop the presses! I agree with Cline!

[AtlAppMan]

Here's a question for everyone - if you could only do one, would you rather beat Miami or win the Sun Belt title?

Personally, I'd take the Miami win without a second thought.

Here's the deal, we need consistency. If you only had one choice it would probably mean win SB which would be a result of consistent play over the entire season. However, to gain national respect we need to consistently win against the better FBS teams on our schedule. If we pull off a big win and then lay an egg in other games, what does that really get us? Not national respect. That would take away the shine of the win and most people would say we got lucky, not because we were the better team. I want them to say we proved we were that better team.

If we really want respect at the national level we have to dominate against the lesser teams, win all the games we are supposed to or against similar competition, and then win some against the ones where we are underdogs. Since we are in the SBC and the overall conference is not very strong, if we are truly a top 35 team, we have to kick the crap out of most of our fellow SB teams to get any respect. That is a fact. That is how we got everybody's attention through first half of last year, before injuries started to set in. We lost some of our luster in the second half of the season due to close games and loss to ArkSt. I would argue much of that was due to injuries but regardless of why it happened and the outside world and analyst saw it as a weakness which in a way due to our transition it was. We have to develop quality depth to sustain the high level of play for an entire season. That will happen over time.

Here is an example, Clemson. Until the last few years they were not taken seriously at the top of FBS because they always dropped a game or two throughout the season. They stopped that in recent years and now everybody sees them as real powerhouse and serious challenger for the CFB Playoffs.

We have to have consistency first and then continue to raise the bar on our level of play for the entire season. That is what I want.

[EastHallApp]

Hey, I want to win them all too - that's why I posed the choice as one or the other. Otherwise, it's not a choice at all, is it?

If it helps, let's assume the record is the same either way - say, 9-3. We can either go 9-3 with a win over Miami (but no league title), or 9-3 with a loss to Miami but a conference title.

I think Appdoggy hit the nail on the head - nobody outside the Sun Belt cares who wins the Sun Belt, and few even know. Winning the Sun Belt would be a fine accomplishment. Beating Miami would be a program-changer.

[bigdaddyg]

The way I see it things can shake out in a number of ways (I realize that all of these are obvious). In my mind there will be a world of difference in 10-2 and 9-3. A 10-2 record could include a huge win over Miami (or Tennessee but I see Miami as the more attainable), a too close for comfort win over Akron, a closer than anticipated win over ODU and a stinging loss to Stink. If we get beaten badly by UT and play closely with Miami but lose by a couple of touchdowns then run the table with some blowout wins in the SBC and drop the Stink game I mark that as just a slight move forward. The way the SBC is set up the projected top teams don't play each other so there is always room for debate. A 9-3 record that includes two beatings by UT and the U and a bad conference loss sets us back a bit. We all want to go undefeated obviously. Would I want a win over Miami versus a conference championship? If the ultimate bowl game is the same regardless, I take the Miami win. Beating them gets us some serious ESPN time and puts us in the national discussion for a while until we falter in the conference games and drop from title contender.

[ASUMountaineer]

The "U," for all of the reasons mentioned above AND to see Daniel Jeremiah rub it in Michael Irvin's face.

[ASUMountaineer]

Here's a question for everyone - if you could only do one, would you rather beat Miami or win the Sun Belt title?

Personally, I'd take the Miami win without a second thought.

Here's the deal, we need consistency. If you only had one choice it would probably mean win SB which would be a result of consistent play over the entire season. However, to gain national respect we need to consistently win against the better FBS teams on our schedule. If we pull off a big win and then lay an egg in other games, what does that really get us? Not national respect. That would take away the shine of the win and most people would say we got lucky, not because we were the better team. I want them to say we proved we were that better team.

If we really want respect at the national level we have to dominate against the lesser teams, win all the games we are supposed to or against similar competition, and then win some against the ones where we are underdogs. Since we are in the SBC and the overall conference is not very strong, if we are truly a top 35 team, we have to kick the crap out of most of our fellow SB teams to get any respect. That is a fact. That is how we got everybody's attention through first half of last year, before injuries started to set in. We lost some of our luster in the second half of the season due to close games and loss to ArkSt. I would argue much of that was due to injuries but regardless of why it happened and the outside world and analyst saw it as a weakness which in a way due to our transition it was. We have to develop quality depth to sustain the high level of play for an entire season. That will happen over time.

Here is an example, Clemson. Until the last few years they were not taken seriously at the top of FBS because they always dropped a game or two throughout the season. They stopped that in recent years and now everybody sees them as real powerhouse and serious challenger for the CFB Playoffs.

We have to have consistency first and then continue to raise the bar on our level of play for the entire season. That is what I want.

I get what you're saying, but I also would say that Boise State didn't become Boise State by beating up the WAC. Sure, they did that, but they made their name by being giant killers. I agree with you about consistency, and also agree that we need to win games against "giants" like Miami (don't laugh) too. So, for this particular season, I'll say beating Miami and then letting the chips fall where they may in the SBC. If we can beat Miami, we should have no problem being consistent in the SBC this year. We shall see.

[JTApps1]

Everyone should keep in mind that Boise State disnt become a household name for almost 10 years after their move up. By that standard we are ahead of the curve with our 11-2 record and bowl win last year. Its only year 3, lets give this time to grow guys.

[AtlAppMan]

Ok, so we all agree we use Boise as our benchmark and we are ahead of schedule vs their track. Now because we are ahead of schedule we cannot make excuses for stumping our toes. We have to continue to build on the previous success in last two years.

Boise did take 10 years but more because they did not initially do the necessary things to be successful immediately upon making transition to FBS rather than it really taking that long. In other words they extended that time unnecessarily due to lack of proper execution. The good news is they eventually did start to execute better and we all see the results.

App's leadership especially Satterfield studied what made teams like Boise reap success and have implemented plans earlier in our cycle. As a result I expect us to rise on a quicker pace as long as we retain the proper leadership.

[NewApp]

Ok, so we all agree we use Boise as our benchmark and we are ahead of schedule vs their track. Now because we are ahead of schedule we cannot make excuses for stumping our toes. We have to continue to build on the previous success in last two years.

Boise did take 10 years but more because they did not initially do the necessary things to be successful immediately upon making transition to FBS rather than it really taking that long. In other words they extended that time unnecessarily due to lack of proper execution. The good news is they eventually did start to execute better and we all see the results.

App's leadership especially Satterfield studied what made teams like Boise reap success and have implemented plans earlier in our cycle. As a result I expect us to rise on a quicker pace as long as we retain the proper leadership.

Good points, AAM. Here's hoping we don't get too big for our britches by sacrificing our academic standards the way they have off and on. Not much danger of that happening with SS in charge, however, but he won't be here forever. Just sayin.' His stock is rising every day. He bleeds black and gold, but when it comes to family, everybody has his price.

[EastHallApp]

Ok, so we all agree we use Boise as our benchmark and we are ahead of schedule vs their track. Now because we are ahead of schedule we cannot make excuses for stumping our toes. We have to continue to build on the previous success in last two years.

Boise did take 10 years but more because they did not initially do the necessary things to be successful immediately upon making transition to FBS rather than it really taking that long. In other words they extended that time unnecessarily due to lack of proper execution. The good news is they eventually did start to execute better and we all see the results.

App's leadership especially Satterfield studied what made teams like Boise reap success and have implemented plans earlier in our cycle. As a result I expect us to rise on a quicker pace as long as we retain the proper leadership.

I think they're the standard for all G5 programs, at least over the long term. Other programs may be better in a given year but none have been as consistently excellent.

I don't know how much of their steps we can or should replicate. I don't know all the ins and outs of their program, but I know they've recruited tons of jucos, recruited California and Texas hard, and of course used the blue turf as a marketing tool. Don't think we'll do the former or latter, though we can hit Georgia and Florida the way they have CA and TX. We have much more talent close by to recruit, but of course we also have much more competition. We're in a small town in a populous state; they're in a medium-sized city in an otherwise very sparsely populated state.

As far as immediate FBS success, Marshall is the standard, and might actually have more in common with App culturally than does Boise.

[TheMoody1]

As far as immediate FBS success, Marshall is the standard, and might actually have more in common with App culturally than does Boise.

Wasn't much of Marshall's success attributable to cheating? I hope App never has that in common with the Turds.

[EastHallApp]

As far as immediate FBS success, Marshall is the standard, and might actually have more in common with App culturally than does Boise.

Wasn't much of Marshall's success attributable to cheating? I hope App never has that in common with the Turds.

I had seen that mentioned on this board but honestly didn't know the details, so I looked it up.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/NCAANewsArchive ... -7-02.html

As best I can tell, they were guilty of a couple things involving players who were nonqualifiers: allowing them to be employed improperly (by a booster, from the sound of it), and a professor giving players advance copies of a final exam. Perhaps others who are more familiar could shed more light.

How much of their success was directly attributable to those violations is anyone's guess. A bigger difference than the violations themselves might be that they were able to admit nonqualifiers in the first place. That's an option that, for better or worse, we don't have.

Regardless, no doubt we don't want to have those issues in common with them.

[ASUMountaineer]

Everyone should keep in mind that Boise State disnt become a household name for almost 10 years after their move up. By that standard we are ahead of the curve with our 11-2 record and bowl win last year. Its only year 3, lets give this time to grow guys.

I couldn't agree more, but that wasn't really my point either.

[AtlAppMan]

So here is the ultimate question I have to everyone. Will App make another step forward in their overall competitive level? We definitely have improved each year over the last three years and improved our consistency in each game throughout the course of the season. Last year, we probably realistically finished the season as a genuine top 30-50 team in overall FBS. If we had time to heal probably near the top 25-35, but with injuries towards 50ish.

So is our team going to make another step up the ladder while maintaining consistency?
We are stacked with RB's so that seems to be a continual improvement as likely step up.
Is Lamb going to take another step up where he leads the team in big games and doesn't make the mistakes, i.e. Clemson.
Is our O-Line and D-Line going to continue to improve and will we have enough depth to maintain the level of play throughout the season.
Are our receivers going to produce more than last year???? We have some potential but also questions.
I think our D-backfield will be better than last year.

As I have said previously, we have to maintain consistency game over game. We have to perform each game at the highest level possible. If we are playing against a lesser opponent then you have to overwhelm them by a large margin, if we are playing a similar level opponent then you must find the way to win.

[Saint3333]

We will go as our oline goes, if win the SBC I'd wager we have two first team all-SBC on the line.

[EastHallApp]

That's the question Atl. I think our overall talent and depth is improved. What I don't know is whether we can suitably replace some of the guys we lost. Defensively, I expect our back 8 to be terrific. But how big will the dropoff be in losing Blair? I'm not sure where we stand at DE right now, and if we struggle there it will affect the whole defense.

Offensively, same deal - skill positions look good, and returning OL are excellent. But how will we be at LT and C? If we can't reliably snap the ball or protect Lamb's blindside, it won't matter how explosive our backs and receivers are. And what if someone gets hurt - has our OL depth improved any?

[NewApp]

So here is the ultimate question I have to everyone. Will App make another step forward in their overall competitive level? We definitely have improved each year over the last three years and improved our consistency in each game throughout the course of the season. Last year, we probably realistically finished the season as a genuine top 30-50 team in overall FBS. If we had time to heal probably near the top 25-35, but with injuries towards 50ish.

So is our team going to make another step up the ladder while maintaining consistency?
We are stacked with RB's so that seems to be a continual improvement as likely step up.
Is Lamb going to take another step up where he leads the team in big games and doesn't make the mistakes, i.e. Clemson.
Is our O-Line and D-Line going to continue to improve and will we have enough depth to maintain the level of play throughout the season.
Are our receivers going to produce more than last year???? We have some potential but also questions.
I think our D-backfield will be better than last year.

As I have said previously, we have to maintain consistency game over game. We have to perform each game at the highest level possible. If we are playing against a lesser opponent then you have to overwhelm them by a large margin, if we are playing a similar level opponent then you must find the way to win.

Lamb was playing against the #2 team in the country. He's entitled to a few mistakes.

[EastHallApp]

I'm a big defender of Lamb's and he had a terrific season, but it's a fair critique to say he can cut down on his mistakes. He made some crucial ones in games besides Clemson.

[AtlAppMan]

I know Lamb was playing against the #2 defense BUT he made 3 critical mistakes in the 2nd qtr that buried us in a close game. So Lamb either makes an excuse for his actions like you did or he admits he didn't execute well and expects to raise his game to the next level so the next time we play a strong team he rises to the level of the competition. That is what our team MUST do to take us to the next level. I am not saying we have to beat a #2 team but our TEAM must play a much better error free game when in those situations.

So do our players rise to the occasion or make excuses when in a tough game? For the last couple years the appear to be learning from previous mistakes and raising their game. Can they stay on that path? I think they will.

[Yosef84]

I think Lamb has already shown that his nature is to learn from mistakes. Against Ohio, he struggled but made adjustments and played a great second half. I think he continues to improve and we are looking strong at QB. The WR position is an unknown. Everyone seems to believe we are more physically talented with the young guys, but they are still unproven. It's going to be an interesting season.

I always tend to be very optimistic until I'm proven wrong and that is where I am right now. I think we are poised for a great season!