The Morning After

[Zeke.Midas007]

Appalachian State Mountaineer Football is alive and well. We beat that UL team seven STRAIGHT times, the scales were bound to balance at some point, you can make the argument that we're still on the right side of it. Napier has done a tremendous job of building a talented, physical, competitive football program. He called a hell of a game last night. As long as he is in Lafayette, the Cajuns will be a tough team to beat. They bested us last night. We have a heck of a program too! Let's feast on Beach Chicken next week! Jamey Chadwell is an a$$hat

[CharlotteApp05]

If you look at the schedule, there is maybe one more loss. That is 9-3 and then a chance to win our seventh straight bowl game and get 10 wins. While we have been spoiled with tremendous success, and all want to make that 11 or 12 wins, the truth is that is not sustainable. What is incredible though is since 2015, we have had at least 9 wins. If 9 is our floor and the ceiling is a conference championship and stealing a p5 win on top of that every couple of years, thats not a bad deal. Other programs would give anything for that.

Last night sucked A**. It was difficult to watch. But we have to accept that it happens and move forward and give everything we have next week. If we can win that game, we are in the driver seat for another chance at a conference championship.

And I honestly don't think one person is to blame. Chase had an awful game. Play calling O&D were both bad. Noel had a bad game. Spurlin had a bad game. 52 bad game. So to me, maybe it was anticipation of next week, maybe it was a road game on a Tuesday, maybe it was unrealistic expectations, maybe it was something else. But, I fully expect us to play better at home next week and win at least 9 games this year.

[Saint3333]

Already making excuses for losing to CCU?

Nah, that's not Mountaineer football. Buckle up buttercup we have the talent to win next Wednesday, the question is can we prepare well enough to do so.

Going 9-3 and playing in the 4th SBC bowl would be a disappointment for the seniors that came back. 7 days.

[WVAPPeer]

Look - I told 94 last night I wasn't going through all the crap that I am sure is in the game thread - I saw this thread and decided to chime in here - I agree with Saint --- As a former coach I am always looking to avenues to get to where we wanted to go - The interstate is blocked so we have to find another route - Let's be totally honest here - WE WERE NOT GOING TO THE FINAL 4 OR THE NEW YEAR 6 - PERIOD - SO, the post-season bowl route has not changed whatsoever - We will end up in a low-tier bowl game against a mediocre G5 opponent - as every other season, even when we were 12-1.
All of us Mountain guys know of back roads to get us to where we want to go - It's a tougher road, sometimes with potholes and dangerous curves with no guardrails but focus and concentrate and we reach our destination -
BEAT COASTAL and then take care of business with teams we should handle and then we are there - BACK INTO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO WIN THE SBC and then to whatever Bowl Game they decide to send us with ANOTHER SUNBELT CHAMPIONSHIP !!!

[ah59396]

McCall is, by many statistics, the best quarterback in FBS. 80% completion percentage, 14 TD’s, 1 INT. Over 100 attempts. Coastal knows who their star is and use him exactly the how they should.

If we do not find a way to create pressure, he will humiliate us.

4 QB hurries and 1 sack for our defense last night. We had similar issues getting to Wells in the Marshall game, which led to Wells highest rated QBR performance of the season.

I was completely unimpressed by the play calling on 3rd and long, as well as the turnovers and misfires (drops, missing wide open receivers). But what shocks and concerns me more than anything is just how badly we got our ass kicked on both sides of the line. It was men versus boys out there.

0/11 on 3rd down
4 turnovers

We wouldn’t beat Gardner Webb with those two stats.

[AppOrange]

I agree with many on here, it was one really bad game, one of which we have not seen since the VT game, although Marshall last year was pretty ugly at times. Special teams gets an A but oline, dline, tackling, turnovers, coaching (preparedness, effort, decision making), was as bad as I have seen from an App team . . . and ULL really seemed to want it more; last night was their Coastal game, and it was really obvious, they wanted it and we looked flat everywhere. Next week is massive, not only for this year, but for this staff moving forward. We have to play good. This staff has had 16 games and their/our biggest win is ECU, which was good, but not in conference and not an upset. In the offseason, it may be time to consider adapting/tweaking how we recruit and our offensive philosophy, but only if we continue to get pushed around like last night. Miami had athletes, everyone else seems to be bigger, yet we typically get great results, so its not time to push the panic button . . . but we do need to look for trends that are holding us back and change when/IF needed (like moving to the spread and adapting to the changing game). Never be to proud, be humble and make changes when they are needed. Fingers crossed for next week, I will be there doing all I can, I hope the effort on the field is there and so are better results.

[Saint3333]

This staff has yet to have an upset or beat a team we were favored by less than 4.

They'll get another chance next week.

[Yosefus]

So if the game plan and execution next week is the same as last night it will be a beat down worse than the game we may or may not have played in Blacksburg several years ago. The boys will be playing an even better and ranked team. Last night's team they faced on paper should have been a fairly close match up. We will get to see what the App State 2021 versions intestinal fortitude is. Good luck gang.

[Saint3333]

We will face a better/more efficient offense next week, but better team is debatable.

ULL has the superior defense compared to CCU.

[dtrain4prez]

If I'm reading the box score right, our longest play of the game was a 19 yard pass to Evans. When is the last time we had a game with NO plays of 20+ yards? The Reagan administration?

[mikeyosef]

I agree with many on here, it was one really bad game, one of which we have not seen since the VT game, although Marshall last year was pretty ugly at times. Special teams gets an A but oline, dline, tackling, turnovers, coaching (preparedness, effort, decision making), was as bad as I have seen from an App team . . . and ULL really seemed to want it more; last night was their Coastal game, and it was really obvious, they wanted it and we looked flat everywhere. Next week is massive, not only for this year, but for this staff moving forward. We have to play good. This staff has had 16 games and their/our biggest win is ECU, which was good, but not in conference and not an upset. In the offseason, it may be time to consider adapting/tweaking how we recruit and our offensive philosophy, but only if we continue to get pushed around like last night. Miami had athletes, everyone else seems to be bigger, yet we typically get great results, so its not time to push the panic button . . . but we do need to look for trends that are holding us back and change when/IF needed (like moving to the spread and adapting to the changing game). Never be to proud, be humble and make changes when they are needed. Fingers crossed for next week, I will be there doing all I can, I hope the effort on the field is there and so are better results.

This is exactly how I felt this morning. I refrained from posting anything last night as my emotions were high and as an App fan, I was in a dark place. To loose this badly on national television was almost more than I could bear; I am after all, too high strung. I'll be there on Wednesday and hope and expect to witness a major rebound for our team.

[PhillyApp1]

What I saw was UL was better prepared from top to bottom.
Each player on UL knew what to do, and did it.
UL blockers held their blocks and made App react, instead of App dictating play.
App players did not have resolve to focus, which cost us mistakes by the players.
App coaches did not adjust to the game and were not prepared for the focus that UL played with. App did what App does and Napier has finally figured out how to beat us, grinding both sides of the line.
App needs to change our process, be more aggressive, FBS football is less forgiving on mistakes...... we continually make to many.

I am praying that our coaches adjust, and not make excuses, because we are losing to “the better teams” because we do not change what we do which makes it easy for the better competition to plan to beat us..... my humble opinion..... coach Saban is constantly growing, Coach Napier studied under Saban..... We are watching Napier’s growth in UL team play

[appfanjj]

2 questions that I hope are seen as legitimate:

Does #9 look slow and is not really getting into the backfield or pressuring the QB?

This may be for the lodge but what is the status of Camerun Peoples?

If these are not legitimate questions / concerns let me know.

[WVAPPeer]

Question 1 - No - he has looked good to me - remember he is the one guy who our opponents know they have to stop and most times he will be double-teamed - his job as much as anything is to jam up their Olinemen so our LBs can make plays
Question 2 - I have no idea but I will say this about our offense (a system we know works) and that is we can't pound and pound and grind and thusly wear our opponent's defense down by the 4th quarter with one 5'9" 175 lb back - as tough as Nate is, he is not going to be effective - WE NEED CAM IF WE PLAN TO CONTINUE WITH OUR OFFENSE PHILOSOPHY!!! - Geez, we have a QB who can throw the ball and 4 super-senior WRs

And LA beat us at our own game last night - they rotated their backs and they kept pounding and by the 4th Q our guys were beat down -

[appfanjj]

The only players our running backs wore down last night were themselves. Did Harrington only have one carry?

[Howard Street Hooligan]

if they go out and rebound next week then I won't freak out, but everyone should be concerned right now.

[Stonewall]

We were destroyed last night, physically and mentally ,on the field ,on the sideline and in the booth. Worst performance in seven years , maybe longer. Got our asses handed to us. We can however , redeem ourselves in one weeks time. Win out and we will see them again , down there , in December. That is my expectation. Anything less is a failed season.

[Rick83]

I'm' not sure how to do it but if we can fix the turnover situation we can fix the season...I believe the 4 turnovers led to 4 touchdowns last night, if I recall correctly. That's the 28 point differential and that's also what wore down our defense. This week has got to be about ball security...and hopefully we'll get Cam back...

[ASUTodd]

Im sorry guys and gals.... If you think we can beat Coastal then I want what yall are smoking. In the prediction thread for ULL I said there were two things that could beat us....
"The only things that keeps us from winning this game are:
1. Lack of focus
2. Coaching decisions

I don't see #2 being a big factor. #1 can always come into play. If we go out and play like App State should play, we win this one.

App State 28
Cajuns 10"



Looks like I was wrong about coaching being an issue.

[AppYosef!]

What came to mind last night was "quicksand". Remember the scene in "The Replacements" where they are talking about quicksand and how you get in a hole and the harder you try to get out the deeper you go? That was last night. Got in an early hole and tried so hard to fight back but just kept sinking deeper and deeper. Eventually you could see the team was just worn out from trying to make the comeback. Hoping that some of the super seniors take it on themselves to call a players only meeting and get some things worked out like I heard has happened in some previous season. If our beloved Mountaineers can play like we all know they can next Wednesday night should be a great game.