The UNCC Game Thread

[Neer86]

quick take from ESPN


Appalachian State 35, Charlotte 20

The Mountaineers came into Saturday as an easy Sun Belt favorite, but played a tight one against Charlotte. They don't need to be concerned just yet, given Charlotte's improvement the past few years under Will Healy. Returning four starters on the offensive line, App State decided it would run behind that line to a victory, and the plan worked. Three players had at least 13 rushes or more, with Marcus Williams Jr. leading the way with 117 yards and a touchdown. -- Harry Lyles Jr.

[Deano]

First very happy for the win, regardless of the circumstances. Secondly, I noticed the lack of big plays and ball handling that Evans and Sutton provided last year. I watched highlights from last year this week and it seemed that Evans and Sutton were the majority. Hennagan did great but the rest of the WR's need to step up and get open, and the RB's just need to hold on to the ball. I know we'll improve and the next man up, will have to step up.

[Yosef84]

Congratulations on the win. My Niners didn't show up to play today, so I hope we get better.

I don’t think either team showed up today. I thought UNCC played cleaner. That was a crazy sloppy game by App.

That about sums up my opinion of the game. Very sloppy play for the Apps. Charlotte had some bright spots and took advantage of our mistakes (which were numerous). Can't begrudge them for that. It's hard to say after that game, but I think Charlotte is about even with last year which is no small thing given the offensive losses. Healy is a good coach. Their transfer RB was a Godsend and will win them some games.

I imagine both teams will look better as the year progresses. I know that some App fans won't, but I'll be pulling for Charlotte for the rest of their season.

[Yosef84]

First very happy for the win, regardless of the circumstances. Secondly, I noticed the lack of big plays and ball handling that Evans and Sutton provided last year. I watched highlights from last year this week and it seemed that Evans and Sutton were the majority. Hennagan did great but the rest of the WR's need to step up and get open, and the RB's just need to hold on to the ball. I know we'll improve and the next man up, will have to step up.

Our 3 RBs looked good, but hopefully the weather was the reason for the fumbles. I have to think that was a big part of it. We seemed to have them on a pretty strict rotation, but IMO Peoples was the dominant one. Our running game is going to be hard to stop. Zac has a lull in the 3Q and missed some wide open passes including one to Virgil that could have been a nice play. Again, I imagine the weather was a big factor in the passing game. We got a sloppy one out of the way and hopefully this gets the team laser focused for the next one.

[ah59396]

A lot I can complain about and did during the game. But we did what’s most important.


1-0. Just win baby.

[InFor6More]

We really are a much different offense with Peoples on the field but he does appear to carry the ball a little loosely. We’ll learn from the mistakes and come out strong against Marshall next week.

Did anybody else think that our D didn’t have much of a second level in the first half? We were playing some five man fronts that left us exposed when our guys didn’t get off blocks.

[The Rock]

1st game of season, Rona schedule, rain.
We played sloppy, but I feel it’s all correctable. Penalty and turnovers at inopportune times.
We won the trenches and the yardage battle by a lot. I think we will be fine

[Neer86]

If UNCC has a good season, I wouldn't be surprised to see their coach at NC State in the near future.

[MAD Doctor]

[AppfaninCAALand]

We have to work on fumbles. That’s what we missed most from Evans today it seemed.

I'm suprised they didn't review that first fumble on the goal line (if they did review it, I missed it, could be wrong). I paused the replay at the moment the ball came loose, and I'm not convinced the ball wasn't over the plain - could be the angle of course. I'm sure a replay would have been "call stands" but still it was worth a look.

Overall, fumbles in a downpour are understandable, it was the 4th down penalties that bothered me most. Certainly correctable though.

[WASU 93]

Sloppy game.

Last year we beat the Niners by 15 and had a lot to clean up. Same thing this year.

Charlotte beat Marshall 24-13 in November last year.

[AppFan11]

To win alot of games, you have to be able to win games when you don't play well. We did that today. We gave Charlotte several extra chances with the ball.... some by turnovers and some by penalties. I think there is some tweaking that needs to be done on the defensive side of the ball. The D certainly played well in the fourth Qtr when we needed it. It was nice to see Peoples get more carries and he definitely adds another dimension to our run game. I'm still concerned about his durability. I expect we'll see a big improvement next week.

[BUTCH1991]

Congratulations on the win. My Niners didn't show up to play today, so I hope we get better.

Y'all played pretty well today. Many fewer mistakes than we made. Good luck the rest of the season!

[Longrifle28]

Weather is alwAys an equalizer.

Clean up special teams, turnovers and penalties and we are right where we ended up last year. Mental mistakes can be corrected.

Lots of good things from today also. O line, Zac, 3 headed monster at running back, hennigan, meech.

Uncc is not a bad team.

Go App!

[Stonewall]

I notice Virgil missing most of the game.

[BambooRdApp]

Sunbelt 2
Big 0

Let's go Coastal. Let's sweep the Big 12 today

[BUTCH1991]

SMH, just wow. Can't believe we're already going with the "this is a poorly coached team" bit after a COVID interrupted practice season, in bad weather, and a no atmosphere Rock. SMH

[app97]

I just wish we could play them later in the season instead of a warmup game in September every time. The separation in talent would be more apparent after working the kinks out. Now, let’s move on to the fbs season with an old respected rival with real football history, and stay off of the niner message board. A couple of our fans seem obsessed with posting there...not a good look.

[MtnMan14]

I would like to see the offense open it up a bit more and try to get it to guys like Virgil and Malik Williams in space and let them work. A lot of mental errors and bad weather led to a sloppy game but I’m optimistic we will clean it up. Beat UNCC by the same score last year but honestly were more dominant this year statistically. Clean up a few mistakes and turnovers and we dominate the game. On to the next one, GO APPS!

[bigdaddyg]

I think the coaching was fine. I personally love high kickoffs inside the 5. If and I mean if you hold the return man inside the 25 it’s a win. If we got smacked around by a bad team I’d worry. We drop a ball on the 1- easy TD there. We give up the kick return for a TD with bad pursuit- fixable. We jump offsides on 4th down to give them another possession- dumb. Then rough the kicker. Way too many gifts and still win by 15. Gonna be fine. What killed me were the false starts with no crowd noise. My take on Charlotte is that they aren’t bad. Good QB. Coach Healey needs to calm down a bit on the sideline though. Begged for lots of calls