The App players/units in the Clemson game

[AppSt94]

That actually brings a good, honest question….At what point did our coaches know it was over and switch from throw everything on the table, try to win to they obviously outmatched us, let’s go base and protect our playbook for the season.

I agree the game was over halfway in the first qtr…. Wondering if some of the score outcome was determined by us taking our beating and moving on.

It was fairly close to that point I imagine. I wouldn’t say we went to base to protect the playbook as much as getting guys to understand the core principles and assignments in the base.

But yes. I would think there comes a point where you recognize the futility of hammering a gameplan and use the reps to build some reps.

[fjblair]

We held them to 0 yards on the first two plays and had Klubnik not made an amazing throw, they would have started 3 and out. Then who knows.

He won't throw a ball that good the rest of the season.

[BambooRdApp]

In the first half, I believe I noted one maybe two balls that could have been caught and were not. For the others, I watched some of the game yesterday, the Clemson secondary were right on our receivers and knocking the ball away. In some cases, coming in between our WRs hands to get enough on it to knock away. We had difficulty in getting separation. Just my opinion.
Overall, they had great athletes...and getting separation was hard.
With that said, I would like to see us open up the offense. With Barbay, he would use the middle of the field for intermediate passes ...and not just long ones like to Horn in ETSU.
Maybe it is that is is going to Joey strengths.
One aspect I do like that seems to be incorporated is the back shoulder pass down the sidelines. If worked to perfection, that is almost unstoppable without the DB committing pass interference. I do not remember that being used much last several years.. maybe some with Sutton and Heni ..but not that often.

[WVAPPeer]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

[AppSt94]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

Watching a game like that as a fan is different than that of a coach or player.

A fan has to set the frustration aside and change their mindset on how to watch it. Once that game was lost in the first quarter, you need to watch the sidelines more for body language and engagement. Is there still effort on the field. Are they still working as a team. At that point, effort becomes more of a predictive indicator of future results. If they don’t quit, they won’t quit.

[AppWyo]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

Watching a game like that as a fan is different than that of a coach or player.

A fan has to set the frustration aside and change their mindset on how to watch it. Once that game was lost in the first quarter, you need to watch the sidelines more for body language and engagement. Is there still effort on the field. Are they still working as a team. At that point, effort becomes more of a predictive indicator of future results. If they don’t quit, they won’t quit.

I quite like our chances this season, this game has, in a sense, taken the pressure off and made for a much more enjoyable season. It would be ironic if Clemson and App meet in the playoffs, just like Marshall and App did in 1987.

[AppSt94]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

Watching a game like that as a fan is different than that of a coach or player.

A fan has to set the frustration aside and change their mindset on how to watch it. Once that game was lost in the first quarter, you need to watch the sidelines more for body language and engagement. Is there still effort on the field. Are they still working as a team. At that point, effort becomes more of a predictive indicator of future results. If they don’t quit, they won’t quit.

I quite like our chances this season, this game has, in a sense, taken the pressure off and made for a much more enjoyable season. It would be ironic if Clemson and App meet in the playoffs, just like Marshall and App did in 1987.

I would agree. As long as there isn’t a hangover from last Saturday, we should be able to build some momentum.

[goapps]

I’ll be honest, I turned the game off after the first quarter. And in that first quarter, our receivers had a lot of balls hit their hands and didn’t get hauled in. If that changed later, good. But I didn’t see “very good receivers while I was watching”. I saw a lot of missed opportunities.

I was there and I agree.

[goapps]

We held them to 0 yards on the first two plays and had Klubnik not made an amazing throw, they would have started 3 and out. Then who knows.

It would have helped to have someone within 5 yards of the receiver too.

Looked like the safety misjudged the ball, he thought it was under thrown. He was wrong.

[MrCraig]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

Watching a game like that as a fan is different than that of a coach or player.

A fan has to set the frustration aside and change their mindset on how to watch it. Once that game was lost in the first quarter, you need to watch the sidelines more for body language and engagement. Is there still effort on the field. Are they still working as a team. At that point, effort becomes more of a predictive indicator of future results. If they don’t quit, they won’t quit.

I quite like our chances this season, this game has, in a sense, taken the pressure off and made for a much more enjoyable season. It would be ironic if Clemson and App meet in the playoffs, just like Marshall and App did in 1987.

I thought something similar. I mean, App only lost one other game after the Virginia Tech game that never actually happened.

[AtlAppMan]

We held them to 0 yards on the first two plays and had Klubnik not made an amazing throw, they would have started 3 and out. Then who knows.

It would have helped to have someone within 5 yards of the receiver too.

Looked like the safety misjudged the ball, he thought it was under thrown. He was wrong.

Our Defensive backfield "misjudged" many plays which is where they got 7-8 homerun throws for the game.
That was painful to watch but if on play 3 he is back far enough Cade doesn't try it or it is disrupted.

Also on refs and pass interference, I watched Clemson and UGA, they mostly let them play that way it is up to the receivers to pull in those passes. You will have a guy draped on your back but in big time football you gotta make those catches. I saw our WRs not catch several balls that they have to make the play. That happened early when we needed them most and they didn't make the play. We were not as ready to play as Clemson.

If we were hungry for this game, Clemson was STARVING. They wanted us in the worst way and we were not ready for them.

[AppOrange]

I saw an elite P4 team treat us like a team that could beat them, revved up, hungry, respect given. Now we have to continue to push our brand and grow as a program. I watched the Boise/Oregon game, that is the blueprint, they look the part as a consistent G5 contender year in and year out, that can be us . . .

Losing like we did was awful, set us back to be sure, but people have short memories, and a good rest of the season can be had and strides made. We are 1-1 (for most, where we thought we would be), the potential is still there.

[AppFan11]

Just did some research today, from 2021-2024 Clemson has 44 of 85 scollies from ESPN Top 250 players and out of those 40 are in the Top 20 nationally at their position….. Apps have 0. They are probably the most talented team easily since moving up to FBS. Could we have caught some of the early balls…. sure… could we have had less stupid penalties….. yes…. but schematically speaking, there was nothing that we could have done to stop them …. if Clubnick completed the passes… and the wr caught the ball…. We did not have the ability to put pressure on their qb…. and couldn’t stay with their wr’s. Just too much everywhere….. do I like it…. nope. There is a reason (or several) why we are G5.

[WVAPPeer]

As someone said earlier... Wrong team at the wrong time on the wrong night

[AppSt94]

It was a bad day to have a bad day.

[asumba95]

Why would you sit there and watch something that’s going to make you upset and angry? There’s no reason. I left the game after the first quarter, when it was clear we were going to lose by 30+. I do not regret it at all

To each his own...as a player I never quit when we were getting whipped and as a coach I would NEVER show any quit in front of my players
If you had watched the entire game you would have seen coaches coaching, players playing, teammates lifting teammates. You would have also seen our guys make some good plays. Sure you can say this is a loss, no question but it has nothing to do with winning the Sunbelt.
Personally I wanted to see our guys play, not watching the scoreboard

Watching a game like that as a fan is different than that of a coach or player.

A fan has to set the frustration aside and change their mindset on how to watch it. Once that game was lost in the first quarter, you need to watch the sidelines more for body language and engagement. Is there still effort on the field. Are they still working as a team. At that point, effort becomes more of a predictive indicator of future results. If they don’t quit, they won’t quit.

I quite like our chances this season, this game has, in a sense, taken the pressure off and made for a much more enjoyable season. It would be ironic if Clemson and App meet in the playoffs, just like Marshall and App did in 1987.

good lord have mercy...

[AppSt12]

In my opinion...there is no worse game to get into the specifics with player performance. This was the most humiliating loss in App State History. Much worae than the VA Tech loss as we had enormous amoujts of injuries and less scholarships and that team was our 3rd least talented team since 2005. Clemson could easily have put 100 on us if they didnt go to 4th and 5th string players. If Dabo wanted it could have been 130-10. It looked like NFL vs high school and thats no exaggeration.

I obviously feel like we dont have the talent to be successful...but i think the best thing to do is hope and pray that was a freak thing that happened. I doubt any football team in college football history has had a succesful year when losing 66-20...and shawn clark has lead us to consecutive 4, 6 and 5 loss seasons with 0 conference titles. But we have to be hopeful that this is a come to jesus moment for our boys and that they start a new season vs ECU on saturday. CFB playoff is gone even if we win out every game by 20...so take it 1 game at a time. A win vs ECU is mandatory to salvage the season and give us hope for the future.

Go Apps

[WVAPPeer]

Go bitch on the other thread - read the OP

[mountaineerman]

Are you a Moderator?

[Bootsy]

All good points. Many of these young men had the unique experience of playing only their second game as Mountaineers in
Death Valley, an intimidating venue for most top-tier P4 teams. More than a few of our kids have never played on a stage as big as that one, facing a desperate team composed of THE best talent they’ll see during their time at App.

One thing occurred to me today, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Last year, a pivotal moment occurred after the loss to ODU. Yes, Sloan promoted the Star as scheme #1. But more importantly, the players started buying into what Sloan and the coaches were teaching them. Not just with the Star, but also focusing on fundamentals: they worked hard on taking the correct angles and paid attention to getting assignments right.

What happened on Saturday night (particularly on D) was a replay of what we saw early last year. Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. I believe we’ll look back and see the Clemson game was a watershed for App. The team will grow closer, trust the coaches more, learn from past mistakes, focus on the fundamentals and get better as a result.

So here’s to PUNKING THE PIRATES this weekend and securing the 3-year sweep.

GO APP!