In their annual FBS rankings the Orlando Sentinel ranked App State 126th.
Only FBS schools ranked worse were Georgia State 128th and FIU 127th.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/b ... 73831.post

Appalachian State, which has made a name for itself as an elite Football Championship Subdivision team, is making the jump to the highest level of college football and accepted an invitation to compete in the Sun Belt for the 2014 season.

I never get tired of hearing that! Also, it's pretty neat to get coverage on a national level now. Can't wait for kickoff!!!

At least they gave App one additional National Championship. That alone shows the depth of their research. That said, it's not the worst write-up you'll see concerning App State this year.

Lower than the GaSou team that we beat last year which will have a new head coach this season???

I realize they have a lot of work to do putting these articles together for 128 schools, but leaving Marcus Cox, who might be the most talented RB in the Sun Belt next season, out of the section of our strengths is quite the oversight.

We're not the third worst FBS team in 2014.

SpeedkingATL wrote:At least they gave App one additional National Championship. That alone shows the depth of their research. That said, it's not the worst write-up you'll see concerning App State this year.

Am sure we will hear from Georgia Southern on our 4th National Championship.
That was funny.

We have 1 ONE FBS win since 2006.

How else cold they categorize us?
But......BAYD!

They have a lot to learn........

asutrnr81 wrote:We have 1 ONE FBS win since 2006.

How else cold they categorize us?
But......BAYD!

Exactly. We have to prove ourselves. What we did in the past in FCS has no relevance now. As is the case with most fanbases, we have a much higher regard for our program than the rest of the FBS world.

Hopefully that's simply a case of looking at 4-8 FCS + first year in FBS and concluding that equals one of the worst teams in the nation.

Also, hopefully it turns out to be wrong, since there is a certain elegant logic to that line of thought.

hapapp hit the nail on the head. We need to prove what we can do. Our record to this point against FBS competition is not very strong. I am sure one day we will have something to crow about but it just isn't today.

I thought that was a very fair "article." Given that they're doing this for all 128 teams, it was almost entirely accurate and struck the right balance, IMO. It's hard to argue against their stance. However, I hope the team uses it as motivation. You have to earn respect, and now is the time to do so.

Does anyone know what their predictions were last year and how they stand up (especially those for bottom teams)? That would be a good estimate (IMHO) as to how good they are at doing this.

We're going to see a lot of new places over us just because we're FBS and not FCS. We're going to see a lot of mistakes and oversights, according to us.

We're also going to be ranked last or near-last in every rankings, just because we're the new guys.

Other than getting a few "facts" wrong I thought it was pretty much right on the money. Coming off last year and no real accomplishments since 08 what can we expect?

eh, take the article with a grain of salt, seems to me he did about 5 minutes worth of work, looked up a few stats, few players, put a quick article togeather, and, there we are, ranked 126. No big deal

Kgfish wrote:Other than getting a few "facts" wrong I thought it was pretty much right on the money. Coming off last year and no real accomplishments since 08 what can we expect?

I totally agree. In my opinion the last truly GREAT App State team was in 2009. If not for costly penalties and a dropped TD pass from Quick in the endzone at Montana, I believe we would've won championship #4. I never felt that way about the '10, '11, '12 and '13 teams. But I digress...

Who cares where we're ranked? Our schedule is set and it isn't changing. If our team is GOOD and they KNOW they're good, whatever is written in an ORLANDO newspaper shouldn't make an scintilla of difference with what happens on the field.

Winning cures everything and 4-8 has caused several ailments.

Maddog1956 wrote:Does anyone know what their predictions were last year and how they stand up (especially those for bottom teams)? That would be a good estimate (IMHO) as to how good they are at doing this.

Just looking at their top 25 from last year I wouldn't give them too much credit. They ranked #2 Auburn at #41, #1 FS at #15, etc. I know no one can know everything but these are the teams that so much is known about and if they are that far off on them what can they know about the last 25 colleges.

APPARJ wrote:

Kgfish wrote:Other than getting a few "facts" wrong I thought it was pretty much right on the money. Coming off last year and no real accomplishments since 08 what can we expect?

I totally agree. In my opinion the last truly GREAT App State team was in 2009. If not for costly penalties and a dropped TD pass from Quick in the endzone at Montana, I believe we would've won championship #4. I never felt that way about the '10, '11, '12 and '13 teams. But I digress...

Who cares where we're ranked? Our schedule is set and it isn't changing. If our team is GOOD and they KNOW they're good, whatever is written in an ORLANDO newspaper shouldn't make an scintilla of difference with what happens on the field.

Winning cures everything and 4-8 has caused several ailments.

I think several ailments caused the 4-8; and unless those ailments are fixed and others avoided; another 4-8 isn't beyond belief at all.

All these polls are just educated guesses. Just something to pass the time till the season starts BUT. Do we really have any facts that would dispute their ranking? No we don't, so let's be thankful for this article to hang on the locker room wall.