App getting some AP25 votes

[AppOrange]

When I saw this I could not be more proud. I think we have a special team, and look forward to trying to win out and being ranked in the top 25. I think that would be amazing for recruiting and national buzz. With that said, are we one of the best 25 teams in the country, probably not but I don't care. I thought our FPI ranking and SOS ranking would get better playing GSU, but it did not. We currently have the 125th ranked schedule.

[hotrod2001]

I think it's a mutual benefit to Clemson as well as us...

We can say that our only loss was to the #3 team in the country and Clemson can claim that they took down a Group of 5 powerhouse instead of some yuppie cupcake team.

The more success both teams have this season, the sexier the win and loss looks to the outside.

[rbarthle17]

But a comfortable win over arguably the number three team in the conference would be a nice win and we would be 8-1

Beating the third team in a two team conference says what exactly? I love seeing wins. I also am realistic and understanding that we have exactly one decent win on the resume so far. The conference has exactly zero eye-opening out of conference wins, and more than its share of bad losses. The fact that we are getting voted all at this point in the season is stunning. We also don't have to receive more votes by continuing to beat the worst conference in FBS.

So no, beating teams with current records of 2-5, 4-3, 3-4, 2-4, and 3-4 in the statically worst FBS conference shouldn't get anyone voting in the AP polls too excited. Especially when we had our chance to make a statement and didn't perform.

Like I said, go 11-1 and then maybe we deserve some consideration. Win a bowl game against a team that will at least be a decent OOC team, and then I think an argument for a 20-25 spot is warranted. Not before.

[APPdiesel]

I've always hated this (what I'm officially calling) Retroactive Win Impressiveness Recalibration. Going back and artificially adjusting how good a win was or how bad a loss was based on how a team has played since you played them is crap.

If you believe in it then you have to believe Michigan going on to have an awful 2007 season cheapens our beloved upset of a damn talented #5 Wolverine team.

Clemson being a playoff contender now vs being #12 then doesn't change the fact that they flat out made us look silly. Maybe it refocused our guys and made us a better team going forward but it certainly doesn't negate that 2nd quarter.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[SayYesToTheRock]

If you believe in it then you have to believe Michigan going on to have an awful 2007 season cheapens our beloved upset of a damn talented #5 Wolverine team.

I didn't know 9-4 with a bowl win over #9 Florida was considered an awful season.

[TheMackAttack]

I hate when one of us likes to speculate a big what if and somebody throws the old "gotta win next game first" on it. Obviously! Geez this is just fun talk! Uncharted territory for us.

Preach! I'm not suiting up this Saturday, two Thursdays from now, or any other game ever. Who cares what I focus on!?

[T-Dog]

To my knowledge no 11-1 team in the FBS era has been shut out of the AP Top 25.

[MAD Doctor]

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[bigdaddyg]

i wouldn't expect any love from the Coaches poll. They tend to stick with who they are familiar with. AP has more clout, i think

Coaches Poll is ridiculous. There are probably lots of coaches who don't even know where our school is located. Unless you can have some knowledge of every team you should not be able to vote for them. I have always contended that there should be no poll until late October. We are living proof. If there were a preseason 128 where would we have been- 70 or so? How many big boys who were ranked in the preseason top 25 have completely dropped out- probably not too many.

[bigdaddyg]

But a comfortable win over arguably the number three team in the conference would be a nice win and we would be 8-1

Beating the third team in a two team conference says what exactly? I love seeing wins. I also am realistic and understanding that we have exactly one decent win on the resume so far. The conference has exactly zero eye-opening out of conference wins, and more than its share of bad losses. The fact that we are getting voted all at this point in the season is stunning. We also don't have to receive more votes by continuing to beat the worst conference in FBS.

So no, beating teams with current records of 2-5, 4-3, 3-4, 2-4, and 3-4 in the statically worst FBS conference shouldn't get anyone voting in the AP polls too excited. Especially when we had our chance to make a statement and didn't perform.

Like I said, go 11-1 and then maybe we deserve some consideration. Win a bowl game against a team that will at least be a decent OOC team, and then I think an argument for a 20-25 spot is warranted. Not before.

Are you saying that we didn't perform against Clemson? I will readily admit that I think we should have done better. We were right in the game until the horrible second quarter. That game aside we have looked great otherwise. I was also surprised to see us jump in with some votes. You can probably always make an argument for or against somebody who is either ranked or receives votes. Is the number 24 team REALLY a top 25 team? All subjective. People said that FSU was over ranked and maybe they were. To rank anybody until they play at least 6 games has never made sense to me. Oregon was highly ranked based on what? History? The unfortunate thing with a schedule is that you simply cannot do anything about your opponents. For what is worth isn't our schedule for next season potentially weaker? Don't we play the crappier (potentially) SB teams?

[Saint3333]

Glad Rob doesn't get a vote.

Just win the rest will take care of itself.

[rbarthle17]

Are you saying that we didn't perform against Clemson? I will readily admit that I think we should have done better. We were right in the game until the horrible second quarter. That game aside we have looked great otherwise. I was also surprised to see us jump in with some votes. You can probably always make an argument for or against somebody who is either ranked or receives votes. Is the number 24 team REALLY a top 25 team? All subjective. People said that FSU was over ranked and maybe they were. To rank anybody until they play at least 6 games has never made sense to me. Oregon was highly ranked based on what? History? The unfortunate thing with a schedule is that you simply cannot do anything about your opponents. For what is worth isn't our schedule for next season potentially weaker? Don't we play the crappier (potentially) SB teams?

We did not perform against Clemson. We look pretty silly as a fanbase trying to explain away why the margin was so large. Those big plays we gave up in the second quarter matter just as much as the defensive effort in the first quarter does. Own it and accept it.

Yes, our schedule will be weak for the foreseeable future. As it pertains to the loftiest aspirations, our season will inevitably come down to one thing - go undefeated with at least 1 P5 win of significance. And even that may not be enough if the rest of the league continues the trend of sucking complete ass in OOC games. No Sun Belt team will ever gain an Access Bowl spot without a perfect season and uncharacteristic help from the rest of our conference. It's comical how deluded people here have become to the reality of what is possible this season.

We are in a better place than we were in 1-AA, for sure. But in our first season as a full member we are already looking directly at the glass ceiling firmly in place for the Sun Belt Conference. We alone won't be enough to break that ceiling, it will have to be a group effort. One that history says the longtime members of this conference are incapable of doing their part in. On our own merits alone, I think a T25 finish at 12-1 is doable. I wouldn't be shocked if we gain votes here and there in the coming weeks but get leapfrogged by other teams in the process.

[Appftw]

If you believe in it then you have to believe Michigan going on to have an awful 2007 season cheapens our beloved upset of a damn talented #5 Wolverine team.

I didn't know 9-4 with a bowl win over #9 Florida was considered an awful season.

This.

Clemson still probably won't win the national championship, but it couldn't hurt our perception.

[APPdiesel]

If you believe in it then you have to believe Michigan going on to have an awful 2007 season cheapens our beloved upset of a damn talented #5 Wolverine team.

I didn't know 9-4 with a bowl win over #9 Florida was considered an awful season.

This.

Clemson still probably won't win the national championship, but it couldn't hurt our perception.

Ask any Michigan fan...when you come in ranked preseason #5 with a team full of senior NFL talent and you lose 4 games, that by their standards was an awful season. Need more proof? They also fired Lloyd Carr after that year.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[bigdaddyg]

If you believe in it then you have to believe Michigan going on to have an awful 2007 season cheapens our beloved upset of a damn talented #5 Wolverine team.

I didn't know 9-4 with a bowl win over #9 Florida was considered an awful season.

This.

Clemson still probably won't win the national championship, but it couldn't hurt our perception.

They might not but how many schools are legitimately in the discussion for the final 4? That list is dwindling and there are still about 5 games each remaining (and conference championship games). If we had suffered a beat down like at VT a few years ago my expectations would be a little tempered.

[EastHallApp]

But a comfortable win over arguably the number three team in the conference would be a nice win and we would be 8-1

Beating the third team in a two team conference says what exactly? I love seeing wins. I also am realistic and understanding that we have exactly one decent win on the resume so far. The conference has exactly zero eye-opening out of conference wins, and more than its share of bad losses. The fact that we are getting voted all at this point in the season is stunning. We also don't have to receive more votes by continuing to beat the worst conference in FBS.

So no, beating teams with current records of 2-5, 4-3, 3-4, 2-4, and 3-4 in the statically worst FBS conference shouldn't get anyone voting in the AP polls too excited. Especially when we had our chance to make a statement and didn't perform.

Like I said, go 11-1 and then maybe we deserve some consideration. Win a bowl game against a team that will at least be a decent OOC team, and then I think an argument for a 20-25 spot is warranted. Not before.

What you might be overlooking is that once a team starts to get votes, they move up not just because of who they beat, but because teams in front of them lose. That will happen for us if we keep winning. One can certainly debate whether that's the most accurate way to rank teams, but that's the way the polls work.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion about when App should "deserve some consideration." But the reality is that in the AP poll, we already are receiving consideration.

I'd say if we keep winning, given that we're at 33 now, we'll almost certainly crack the top 25 before the end of the season. I'd say we'd get there within the next 2-4 weeks, actually.

[SpeedkingATL]

Beat Troy!

[bigdaddyg]

USA Today Re-rank has us at 38th. How ever you want to slice it and dice it there seems to be plenty of conviction somewhere that this team is a legit top 40 team, regardless of schedule, conference level or whatever. I am enjoying it. I can't imagine that if we are able to run the table (with a bowl win) that we won't finish inside the top 25. To me that would be beneficial for next season. We would not have dropped off the radar and a preseason ranking would be possible as well.

[firemoose]

Here's an interesting excerpt from the below linked ESPN article:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ild-week-8

The team you should know about but probably don't: Appalachian State Mountaineers

The Mountaineers got Week 8 kicked off with a 31-17 throttling of longtime Southern Conference and now-Sun Belt rival Georgia Southern. App State (don't call them Appy State, they hate that) is now 6-1, with their only loss coming at Clemson in Week 2. Sure, losing 41-10 is never good, no matter the opponent, but the Mountaineers certainly gave the Tigers a better game than Miami did! After a lot of internal arguing over whether or not the FCS powerhouse should make the jump to the FBS, the program best known for knocking off Michigan in '07 got off to a terrible start, beginning last season 1-5 and bottoming out with an overtime loss to Liberty. Since then, they're 12-1 and thinking about their first bowl bid.

Extra Point: About that Appalachian State bowl berth. ... Let me clarify. The Mountaineers haven't been to an FBS bowl, but they have been to bowl games before. Sort of. Back in the day, they played in invitation-only postseason games organized by local charities (which is actually how a lot of current bowl committees would like for us to describe them). In 1950 and '54, ASU played in two bowl games in one week. Take that, College Football Playoff teams! I'm a sucker for awesomely weird, old bowl-game names (Gotham City Bowl, y'all), but App State's first might be my favorite bowl name of all time:

Appalachian State Bowl Appearances

1937 Doll and Charity Game, Biloxi, MS L, Southern Miss, 7-0

1938 Unnamed Bowl, Winston-Salem, NC W, Moravian College, 20-0

1948 Burley Bowl, Johnson City, TN L, West Chester, 7-2

1949 Pythian Bowl, Salisbury, NC W, Catawba College, 21-7

1950 Burley Bowl, Johnson City, TN L, Emory & Henry, 26-6

1950 Pythian Bowl, Salisbury, NC L, West Liberty State College, 28-26

1954 Burley Bowl, Johnson City, TN W, East Tennessee State, 27-13

1954 Elks Bowl, Raleigh, NC L, Newberry College, 20-13

1955 Burley Bowl, Johnson City, TN L, East Tennessee State, 7-0

[bigdaddyg]

Funny, I pulled up that article in hopes of some App mention but didn't scroll all the way to the bottom. I would love some game film of those old "Bowl Games".