We've been Spoiled

[bigdaddyg]

If were all of a sudden at a point where we are getting run out of the building by 20 points there might be reason for panic or for ridiculous threads like many are posting and arguing over (I mean logically discussing). I preface this by saying “ifs and buts....”, but, if we had managed to make two yards on a first down two weeks ago we slide by UMass. If we made a couple of plays on defense yesterday we again slide by Monroe. We didn’t do either and lost two close games. Had we won those games we are still unbeaten in conference and 7-2. Very little of this bitching would be going on. I mentioned in another thread that some folks lose sight of the fact that our opponents actually recruit, practice and play to win games just like we do! Wow imagine that! Sometimes you just don’t win.

[AppnGreenwood]

At this point in the season if we win out I would be happy. It starts Thursday against our rival and they will come loaded for bear. If we think they will roll over for us, it ain’t happening. Let’s go Apps!

[samplessjs]

OK. Let's deal with just the facts. By NCAA definition the transition period between FCS and FBS consists of ineligibility for post season play in year one. The transition year ends at the beginning of year two. As a practical matter when a transitioning team reaches 85 grants it has parity with other league members. That usually takes a year or two. I have pointed out using Ga So as an example, that any so called "transitioning" period is moot. (as an excuse for losing games in 2017) SoCon players won the SBC at Statesboro. There are no differences in the caliber of most of the players signed at the SBC/SoCon levels. My post was directed at those who think we are somehow recruiting far better talent than during the FCS days. And all we need is another class or two to improve the on field product. The product is improved because of 22 extra grants. Not greater talent.

[WVAPPeer]

I'm not sure what your prevailing point is in this discussion? Help me out here...What is your point?

[NewApp]

OK. Let's deal with just the facts. By NCAA definition the transition period between FCS and FBS consists of ineligibility for post season play in year one. The transition year ends at the beginning of year two. As a practical matter when a transitioning team reaches 85 grants it has parity with other league members. That usually takes a year or two. I have pointed out using Ga So as an example, that any so called "transitioning" period is moot. (as an excuse for losing games in 2017) SoCon players won the SBC at Statesboro. There are no differences in the caliber of most of the players signed at the SBC/SoCon levels. My post was directed at those who think we are somehow recruiting far better talent than during the FCS days. And all we need is another class or two to improve the on field product. The product is improved because of 22 extra grants. Not greater talent.

Yep.

[AppSt94]

OK. Let's deal with just the facts. By NCAA definition the transition period between FCS and FBS consists of ineligibility for post season play in year one. The transition year ends at the beginning of year two. As a practical matter when a transitioning team reaches 85 grants it has parity with other league members. That usually takes a year or two. I have pointed out using Ga So as an example, that any so called "transitioning" period is moot. (as an excuse for losing games in 2017) SoCon players won the SBC at Statesboro. There are no differences in the caliber of most of the players signed at the SBC/SoCon levels. My post was directed at those who think we are somehow recruiting far better talent than during the FCS days. And all we need is another class or two to improve the on field product. The product is improved because of 22 extra grants. Not greater talent.

So you're saying that teams like us, in the Sun Belt can't recruit against teams in other conferences? So ECU is 1-6 with better players? UNC is 1-8 with better players? The talent on the field will be fine once they get game experience. You have to understand that a successful and efficient offensive/defensive unit needs all 11 players doing their assigned responsibility consistently. That doesn't always happen with young guys. Aside from Hennigan, they have all messed up something bad enough to notice. And when they do, the others have to try and compensate which tend to make matters worse. You argue that our alert level is no better than it was hen we were in the SoCon. I would argue that it is infinitely better across the board. I can see why you would feel that way. During those title years, we just recruited better FCS talent than other FCS schools.

[samplessjs]

Yes, in most cases a HS player will pick ECU over any SBC team. And very rarely do we beat UNC for a kid. I also believe (and the Sagarin rating confirm that position) that Apps '05-'07 teams had more talent than the current squad. For that matter the '75 team would beat the '17 team.

[WVAPPeer]

Just a note on the transitioning discussion. Ga So won the SBC their first year, with three classes of SoCon players. So much for the big difference between FCS and SBC talent. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but my perspective is transition is a poor excuse for failing. I stand by my statement. Transition was over long ago. In any case I hope we win the final three and finish on a positive note.

Well we can all pass judgment on topics using our own opinions - however, occasionally there are factual parameters than should be incorporated into a logical conclusion - In actuality transition from FCS to FBS isn't complete until all recruited classes have been recruited for a bowl eligible program which is a bowl eligible program when said class is recruited - APP has not reached that threshold yet as it would be 5 years (considering players have 5 years to play 4) - We had teams when Armanti was the QB who could have competed in the SB but they wouldn't have been playing on an equal recruiting field ---
And my next question is --- what are you referring to with this comment? - "a poor excuse for failing"

Still awaiting the answer ---

[Longrifle28]

I bought into the hype at the beginning of the season, and I thought we had a chance to go 11-1 or 10-2. However, after the Texas State game I was pretty disappointed, and after the next few G5 games I reset my expectations of the season (especially after all the injuries). I'm a little frustrated at this point and I am sure the coaches and players feel the same. We are a pretty much average team and after the last two weeks, we will probably not be ranked in the top 100 of the power rankings. What I would like to see is improvement in fundamentals over the remainder of the games. I would like to see that even though we may be equal to or outmatched, we are capable of not defeating ourselves. I would like to see less mistakes and some of our younger talent stepping up. This season has been an adventure. We could have been 8-1 at this point, and we could have easily been 1-8, but here we sit at 5-4. Coach em up and lets finish strong.

Edit: We are 94 in Sagarin (behind 7 1AA teams) and we are 95 in Massey FBS (out of 130). I'm not sure we have fallen as far as we should have. Georgia State and Louisiana Lafayette are at 108 and 109 respectively and Georgia Southern is almost last place in Massey at 129. In Sagarin we are still ranked above UMass and ULM which makes no sense to me....

[samplessjs]

I've answered your question in detail. What is it you don't understand?

[WVAPPeer]

""a poor excuse for failing"

[Rekdiver]

When I posted this "spoiled" refers to the fans who whine when you have a mediocre year after years of success. They want a new QB, they want new coaches they look for blame everywhere. Down seasons happen especially when you have massive injuries and gaps seem to appear in recruiting. It's one year and like most G5 teams we have to rebuild not reload. Review the season so far and see the impact of injuries on the offense and defence and failure to correct special teams early on. Now if we see continued play degradation next year then we all have a right to be concerned.

[samplessjs]

I will give it another shot. Several people on this board (yourself included) have stated that we are in transition. The implication being we do not yet have a full compliment of FBS players. I'm pointing out that the players coming in are very similar to the ones going out (in talent) and with an additional class or two, we are unlikely to see a major on field improvement. Frankly at the SBC level the past two seasons are about as good as it gets. Should we one day join the AA or CUSA we will move up in the recruiting pecking order. Does that mean we lose all the players recruited by higher prestige conferences? No. It means we lose most of them. Our recruiting competition is ODU, Ga St, Ga So, Char. So., JMU, Troy, Liberty, Charlotte, occasionally FIU, FAU, ULM, and Ark St........primarily. Overall I'd say we are doing well against those schools. When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

[AppSt94]

When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

Bold statement seeing that the sample size for your argument is 0 games played against those two teams under the current classification.

[AppSt94]

Georgia Southern's immediate success can be attributed to running a gimmick offense that no one sees on a consistent basis, with good athletes that were very good at running said gimmick offense.

[appst89]

When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

Bold statement seeing that the sample size for your argument is 0 games played against those two teams under the current classification.

I think he was talking about recruiting battles.

[WVAPPeer]

I will give it another shot. Several people on this board (yourself included) have stated that we are in transition. The implication being we do not yet have a full compliment of FBS players. I'm pointing out that the players coming in are very similar to the ones going out (in talent) and with an additional class or two, we are unlikely to see a major on field improvement. Frankly at the SBC level the past two seasons are about as good as it gets. Should we one day join the AA or CUSA we will move up in the recruiting pecking order. Does that mean we lose all the players recruited by higher prestige conferences? No. It means we lose most of them. Our recruiting competition is ODU, Ga St, Ga So, Char. So., JMU, Troy, Liberty, Charlotte, occasionally FIU, FAU, ULM, and Ark St........primarily. Overall I'd say we are doing well against those schools. When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

OK - personally I only chipped in about "transition" to respond to you - I am not using transition as any excuse whatsoever - but facts are facts ---
---I am NOT arguing your above stated points whatsoever
---I am asking this - what does this mean? --- ""a poor excuse for failing"

[Rekdiver]

I will give it another shot. Several people on this board (yourself included) have stated that we are in transition. The implication being we do not yet have a full compliment of FBS players. I'm pointing out that the players coming in are very similar to the ones going out (in talent) and with an additional class or two, we are unlikely to see a major on field improvement. Frankly at the SBC level the past two seasons are about as good as it gets. Should we one day join the AA or CUSA we will move up in the recruiting pecking order. Does that mean we lose all the players recruited by higher prestige conferences? No. It means we lose most of them. Our recruiting competition is ODU, Ga St, Ga So, Char. So., JMU, Troy, Liberty, Charlotte, occasionally FIU, FAU, ULM, and Ark St........primarily. Overall I'd say we are doing well against those schools. When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

I dont believe I ever used the word "transitioning".........I dont think that is an issue.

[AppSt94]

When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

Bold statement seeing that the sample size for your argument is 0 games played against those two teams under the current classification.

I think he was talking about recruiting battles.

Yes, you are right. My apologies. Thanks for pointing that out. Based on recruiting, I would say that losing to UNC is going to happen almost every time and to expect anything else would be dilusional. As far as ECU, how often do we actually lose kids that are recruited by both solely? Have we been in a recruiting war with them over any kids?

[AppSt94]

I will give it another shot. Several people on this board (yourself included) have stated that we are in transition. The implication being we do not yet have a full compliment of FBS players. I'm pointing out that the players coming in are very similar to the ones going out (in talent) and with an additional class or two, we are unlikely to see a major on field improvement. Frankly at the SBC level the past two seasons are about as good as it gets. Should we one day join the AA or CUSA we will move up in the recruiting pecking order. Does that mean we lose all the players recruited by higher prestige conferences? No. It means we lose most of them. Our recruiting competition is ODU, Ga St, Ga So, Char. So., JMU, Troy, Liberty, Charlotte, occasionally FIU, FAU, ULM, and Ark St........primarily. Overall I'd say we are doing well against those schools. When we go head to head with ECU and UNC we lose big to UNC, and more than 50% of the time to ECU.

I dont believe I ever used the word "transitioning".........I dont think that is an issue.

We have multiple double digit win seasons and are the first team in FBS history to win their first two bowl games. The fact that you can't see that the talent coming in is better than that which is leaving leads me to beleive that all you really expect is to win every game and any reason for not doing so is an "excuse".