2019 would you rather

[CoachRob]

Curious, what hardware would we be adding to the trophy case with the two P5 wins??? Maybe another Alabama bowl trophy I guess ...

4 Straight Conference Championships just sounds really good ... with another trip to NoLa.

Beating UNC and USC l'[p= won't really help recruiting overall, no different then another Championship. Bragging rights would be awesome but not sure how much more exposure this'll bring outside the Carolinas. Really those P5 wins will depend on their success rest of the year. Beating sub .500 P5 doesn't do it enough that a Conference Championship would do. Now if the Heels and Cocks are 8 or 9 win teams, then you may have a point ... but don't foresee us beating them if they are that good anyways.

[AppSt94]

Not referencing the person who posted the topic, but reading through some answers I have a serious question. Do many of you feel that 9-3 or 8-4 is where we are headed? Presumably due to new coach? Personally I think 10-2 or 11-1 is attainable, and undefeated is more possible than any season in fbs yet. I would say at troy and USC are serious uphill battles....but I could see next year being our best fbs year yet...but wouldn't be shocked to be in the minority

With two P5s and two difficult conference foes on the road, 8-4 is a realistic possibility.

[Yosef84]

I can't really choose between these hypotheticals and fortunately I don't have to. The good news is that, if we beat both Carolinas, there's a pretty good chance we are strong enough to sweep the belt also. It certainly isn't a given because there are some good teams who aren't going to lay down for us but we would be the favorites. It's true that beating UNC could propel us into the Top 25 but even with wins over the Carolinas, if we lose two SunBelt games, we won't be ranked at season end.

I do think the wins over the Carolinas would have a larger impact than a conference championship but I wouldn't want that to be a pattern....winning a big non-conference game but falling short of the conference championship. This coming season is unique, so there are some interesting dynamics in play but fortunately, these goals aren't mutually exclusive in the real world.

[AppSt94]

I’ll take the two Carolina wins hands down, just because that’s the one thing we haven’t been able pull off yet. It has been widely speculated that we may have the second best (Clemson of course being first) football program in the Carolinas. I like to believe this, but don’t think there’s anything solid to support it till we beat some of these guys.

On another note, Drink has stated his goals for ‘19 are to win the SBC and subsequent bowl game.... What do y’all think would be his (and the players’ for that matter) honest answer to this question?

Exactly what he said.

[EastHallApp]

I’ll take the two Carolina wins hands down, just because that’s the one thing we haven’t been able pull off yet. It has been widely speculated that we may have the second best (Clemson of course being first) football program in the Carolinas. I like to believe this, but don’t think there’s anything solid to support it till we beat some of these guys.

On another note, Drink has stated his goals for ‘19 are to win the SBC and subsequent bowl game.... What do y’all think would be his (and the players’ for that matter) honest answer to this question?

I think he’d say the conference title is a sort of baseline goal (and I believe he said something similar at his intro presser, i.e. “we’ll go from there”). I think CFB coaches like to make a big deal about conference titles because it’s a tangible goal they can control (as opposed to, say, “national relevance”), and because it’s realistic without having to have a perfect season.

FBS football is the only sport I know where half the teams have basically no shot to compete for the championship no matter what, and for everyone else your chance can be ruined by one or two bad games. You don’t hear basketball coaches talk that much about winning their conference. You don’t hear pro coaches say their goal is to win their division.

But if Drink says the goal is to make the NY6, what does he say if we drop a game or two and that goal is dead by midseason? What does he say after the season when he’s won the Sun Belt and some reporter asks him if the season was a disappointment because we aren’t ranked? I’d guess he’s very much aware of things like the NY6 and top 25 as sort of “stretch goals” (not to mention things that will get him other job offers), but publicly he’s going to set the bar where it’s more realistically attainable.

[HighPointApp]

I'll have the same perspective as our head coach & BOONEBOY92- Coach Drink has stated his goals for ‘19 are to win the SBC and subsequent bowl game

[goapps93]

I figured someone should bring this up and this is a good time..We shouldn't even be having this discussion since we haven't even beat ETSU yet. Focus people.

[bcoach]

Losing to washed out faded blue makes me throw up in my mouth. Never wanted to play them.

[Arsenal App]

Losing to washed out faded blue makes me throw up in my mouth. Never wanted to play them.

I agree. I never wanted to play Easy Teasy either.

[AppSt94]

Beating P5s is great but it isn’t that big of a deal to the world. Boise St probably has had the most success at it but outside of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, can you name one that was a significant victory? Now if we win the Conference, get a NY6 bowl and beat one, then now you’re on to something.

[bigdaddyg]

Perhaps a good question to ask would be- if we don’t go undefeated and win the NY6 bowl game (this season or in any season) what is the goal for App football? Is it to win the conference and the bowl game if we never beat our P5 opposition or is it to finally get over that hump and beat the big boys if the offset is a conference loss or losses which prevents playing in the championship game? We all know it will take a huge drop off in the program to not reach bowl eligibility considering that most of the Belt schools stink.

[Yosef84]

As with almost everything, our goals are and should be a hierarchy. The top of the hierarchy (first goal) is a conference championship. That's been the stated position of App coaches for a long time...and for most coaches elsewhere (at least publically). Secondary would be winning the bowl games, other non-conference games, etc.

I hear a lot of folks on here talking about the NYD bowl appearance being a goal but I don't think that is an appropriate goal to use in assessing the program's success. There are too many variables completely outside the coach's control to state that as a goal. Getting that NY6 bowl invitation is the product of achieving the other goals + some luck (schedule supports the bid, other high profile teams lose, etc.).

Obviously, maintaining the integrity of the program (academics, positively representing the university, etc.) is a top level goal also, but for this discussion I was trying to keep it about the W/L issue.

[AppWyo]

Any thing less than zero losses this season and post season would be a disappointment, considering our expectations with this staff and this team. Back in '07 anything less than winning the FCS Championship would have been a disappointment after beating Michigan.

[BeauFoster]

Any thing less than zero losses this season and post season would be a disappointment, considering our expectations with this staff and this team. Back in '07 anything less than winning the FCS Championship would have been a disappointment after beating Michigan.

We lost a couple games in 2007, if memory serves. Were you disappointed that year?

[AppWyo]

Any thing less than zero losses this season and post season would be a disappointment, considering our expectations with this staff and this team. Back in '07 anything less than winning the FCS Championship would have been a disappointment after beating Michigan.

We lost a couple games in 2007, if memory serves. Were you disappointed that year?

No, because if you won your conference you got to go to the playoffs and depending on your conference you may have gotten a bid to contend for a National Championship. Even though we went undefeated in '95 the loss in the second round of the playoffs was disappointing. This season's expectations are such that the course of the program might be damaged if these expectations are not met. We have got a good thing going and I would like for it to continue.

[Black Saturday]

Let's say we go 10-2:

Would you rather loose the games against UNC and USC but run the table in the SunBelt

Or

Beat the Carolinas and loose two conference games (and not play for the title)?

In the grand scheme of things, no one will remember a SunBelt loss, but will more likely remember beating P5s

[Rick83]

This team certainly has the ability and talent to go undefeated this year but it won't be surprising if we drop a couple of games, or even 3, more than 3 losses would be a disappointment to me. We're playing 2 P5s (both of whom will most likely improve this year) plus we know the Sun Belt will have a couple of competitive teams and in the bowl we should expect to face a good team although we've been in demolition mode the last 2 bowl games.
I think we may be fielding the best team in school history in 2019 but you never know what will happen when you play the games. I never would have thought that we'd lose to Wofford and Georgia Southern after beating the 5th ranked Michigan Wolverines but that is exactly what happened. I was shocked that we lost to Georgia Southern so badly last year even with having Zac knocked out of the game...but that's football.

[appgrad95&97]

I’d go with the P5 wins. A 10-2 record and a trip to the same old Belt bowl tie ins is nothing new. It would mean that the Belt is pretty good also. We are pretty much at NY6 or bust now. We have won conference titles, a championship game and all the bowl games we have played. Only box not checked is knocking off P5 teams. Also after we beat them we don’t need to be referred to as the little mountain school who shocked the world in 2007. Needs to be expected.

We have five FBS seasons under our belt. We haven't beaten a P5 school in over a decade. We have been ranked (25th) for a week. But we are a NY6 or bust program??? I'm terrified by this perspective.

Also, I have really appreciated the responses to my question. Thanks!

[AppWyo]

If we were to go to a NY6 I do not want to just go; I want to win and win BIG!

[bigdaddyg]

I’d go with the P5 wins. A 10-2 record and a trip to the same old Belt bowl tie ins is nothing new. It would mean that the Belt is pretty good also. We are pretty much at NY6 or bust now. We have won conference titles, a championship game and all the bowl games we have played. Only box not checked is knocking off P5 teams. Also after we beat them we don’t need to be referred to as the little mountain school who shocked the world in 2007. Needs to be expected.

We have five FBS seasons under our belt. We haven't beaten a P5 school in over a decade. We have been ranked (25th) for a week. But we are a NY6 or bust program??? I'm terrified by this perspective.

Also, I have really appreciated the responses to my question. Thanks!