Athlon 2019

[AppFan11]

They have us ranked 51st... winning East and Winning SunBelt Championship. They have us going 9-4, 6-2. Unit rankings: QB #1, RB #1, WR/TE #2, OL #1, DL #4, LB #1 and DB #5..... guess that’s pretty accurate. I think CB’s will surprise. I also think 9-4 is probably too many losses absent significant injuries. They do have Zac as best QB, Evans best RB, Sutton WR Hannon Ol and Johnson OT.... first team offense. Davis-Gaither LB, Franklin and Thomas first team defense.

[Rekdiver]

So they have us losing to both UNC and USC.....

[AppSt94]

So they have us losing to both UNC and USC.....

You don’t?

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

So they have us losing to both UNC and USC.....

You don’t?

I don't. I think we split. Likely with the win coming against UNC.

[Rekdiver]

So they have us losing to both UNC and USC.....

You don’t?

Nope

[Lowcountry App]

I wonder what two conference games they think we’ll lose.

[AppfaninCAALand]

We may well see our guys lose 4 games and go 6-2 in conference, but 9-4 is highly unlikely, as we are only playing 12 games unless Athlon is counting championship game (or the bowl game but not championship game). But I'd be surprised if 6-2 is good enough to make the championship game.

I'm expecting either somewhere between 11-1 and 9-3 before postseason games, and 8-0 or 7-1 in Belt play.

[Black Saturday]

I like our chances against UNC, I think APP should be a 3-5 point favorite, and a 3-5 point underdog in Columbia

[AtlAppMan]

Right now we are favored in all but one game based on S&P+ which has historically been a decent projection. I guess Athlon is looking for us to blow several contest that we would otherwise be favored. He believes we will significantly underachieve for the year.

Not impossible by any stretch but seems improbable as he is then saying several other opponents will overachieve vs App.

Strange is what I say. What is his rationale? What did he say last year? Seems eerily familiar to his year over year analysis.

Can anybody pull Athlon’s comments for the last couple years just for grins?

[AtlAppMan]

Athlon 2018 Predictions:
The Mountaineers rank No. 77 in Athlon's Top 130 for 2018
National Ranking: 77
Sun Belt East Prediction: 2
There are major departures to account for, but there's no reason to believe Appalachian State won't contend for its third straight Sun Belt championship, and at the very least, reach a fourth straight bowl game.

2018 Final Rankings: AP-#26, Coaches-#28, Sporting News-#21

Athlon 2017 Predictions:
The Mountaineers rank No. 67 in Athlon's Top 130 for 2017
National Ranking: 67
Sun Belt Prediction: 1
With wins in 20 of their last 22 league games, a conference title last season and back-to-back bowl wins, the Mountaineers have established themselves as one of the Sun Belt’s alpha dogs. With so much firepower returning, don’t expect that status to change anytime soon.

2017 Final Rankings: AP-#NR, Coaches-#36

[sixtoes9134]

Unless Mack is a Miracle worker I can't see us losing there. USC will be tougher no matter what. Drop one or two conference games? Likely, we always do.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

I'm not saying I will think it will happen, but it wouldn't shock me if we went undefeated in the regular season. I'd definitely be ecstatic, but it wouldn't be a surprise.

[Rekdiver]

I’m betting the last thing Coach D says every night before he goes to bed is “Don’t screw this up”

[Yosef84]

There are just too many variables to have any real confidence in predictions, especially as the season progresses. New staff, injuries, new players in the secondary, chemistry with the new philosophy....it's going to be fun to watch though.

[NewApp]

I like our chances against UNC, I think APP should be a 3-5 point favorite, and a 3-5 point underdog in Columbia

All true, but we have to beat the Carolina Blue leaning refs.

[AppStFan1]

So they have us losing to both UNC and USC.....

You don’t?

Nope and if we go 9-4 there should be some shakeup unless Zac Thomas is injured or we see a bevy of starters go down. I also don't see us winning the SBC with a 6-2 league record. Troy should be very good and I doubt we could have two losses and finish above them.

9-4 is just not acceptable in Boone, NC in 2019. I could have stomached that in 2016, 2017, and even last year if Zac Thomas had not been as good as he was. However, after seeing how good we were last year I will pull my YOSEF donation if we go 9-4. How anyone on this board could be okay with that with the talent we have is beyond me.

We better beat UNC. If we can't beat UNC then we have no business receiving any votes in the top 25. Period. They aren't anywhere near a top 40 team right now. I did not think we should have been ranked last year at any point but this year if we take it one game at a time and Drink/Roof are as good as they are suppose to be then we should go 11-1 or 12-0 in regular season. We have the talent. Best QB, RB, OL, LB, and maybe WR/TEs and special teams units in the SBC. Our DB unit is probably 2nd best.

[appstate77]

Beat ETSU!

[AppStFan1]

I'm not saying I will think it will happen, but it wouldn't shock me if we went undefeated in the regular season. I'd definitely be ecstatic, but it wouldn't be a surprise.

We could. I could see 10-2 with a close loss at Troy and at Columbia but I could see 10-2. If we run our offense like we did against MTSU we should be fine. My concern is Ted Roof. Hopefully he does not let us down because the defensive scheme is the only thing that could stop us. There should not be a SBC defense that can hold us under 30 points this year. All Roof has to do is hold teams to 20 or less and we did that easily last year.

[gsoappfan]

Nope and if we go 9-4 there should be some shakeup unless Zach Thomas is injured or we see a bevy of starters go down. I also don't see us winning the SBC with a 6-2 league record. Troy should be very good and I doubt we could have two losses and finish above them.

9-4 is just not acceptable in Boone, NC in 2019. I could have stomached that in 2016, 2017, and even last year if Zach Thomas had not been as good as he was. However, after seeing how good we were last year I will gladly pull my YOSEF donation if we go 9-4. How anyone on this board could be okay with that with the talent we have is beyond me.

We better beat UNC. If we can't beat UNC then we have no business receiving any votes in the top 25. Period. They aren't anywhere near a top 40 team right now. I did not think we should have been ranked last year at any point but this year if we take it one game at a time and Drink/Roof are as good as they are suppose to be then we should go 11-1 or 12-0 in regular season. We have the talent. Best QB, RB, OL, LB, and maybe WR/TEs and special teams units in the SBC. Our DB unit is probably 2nd best.
[/quote]

That's true support there.

[AppStFan1]

I’m betting the last thing Coach D says every night before he goes to bed is “Don’t screw this up”

Roof better be saying that as well. I'm going to be hard on our coaches because everything is in place to win. We have the best team in the SBC by far. We have speed, size in most units, and are very talented. We also have so much depth that some players went ahead and left because they saw they could not crack the two deep and I bet they will go to FCS and be real good players. Other than playing South Carolina and Troy (during the week) on the road I think we have a schedule that we should be able to dominate if we take it one game at a time.

First, BEAT ETSU!