YouTube App State Overview

[bigdaddyg]

Just for the sake of discussion what if this year UT and Miami were replaced by P5 Wake and P5 Ole Miss (just grabbed an SEC team) and we beat both, beat ODU and Akron convincingly then just slipped up with a loss in conference. How would that compare with close losses to UT and Miami and the same outcome with the rest? Still "P5" wins albeit against lesser competition.

11-1 would certainly be better than 9-3. While that Wake win wouldn't get many people's attention, Ole Miss is ranked almost as high as Tennessee, so that would be a major headline-grabber. (Personally I think they're overrated, but presumably we'd still be playing them in game 1 in your hypothetical). Even if you replace them with a clearly lesser SEC team - say, Missouri - I think you still take the two wins with no hesitation.

Close losses, while they might be encouraging to us, would barely be noticed by a national audience. And to the extent they are, it would be in the context of "What's wrong with Tennessee/Miami?"

That's pretty much my thinking. We could conceivably be trading close losses (in this scenario) to an ACC and SEC school with convincing or comfortable wins over schools from the same conferences. As far as the national scene goes a loss to us by either UT or Miami would first, rekindle Michigan highlights all weekend and secondly, would start the talk of both schools being overrated. Our hope would be that both schools go on to having great years. Basically as far as the national scene goes we are in a no win situation with those two opponents. To me though, who cares! I have good friends who are die-hard UT fans. Just the fun of razzing them will be enough.

[moonshine]

Basically as far as the national scene goes we are in a no win situation with those two opponents.

No win situation for App???

[AppOrange]

If we go 2-2 to start the year, I think we are all set up for 9-3. A 1-3 start and you are probably looking and 7-5. I am optimistic that we can take the Stink down in brownsboro, I'm more concerned about a let down somewhere else.

[bigdaddyg]

Basically as far as the national scene goes we are in a no win situation with those two opponents.

No win situation for App???

Let me phrase it differently. If we beat UT they will be perceived as possibly overrated and little Appalachun state pulled another Michigan. About the same for the U. It wouldn't lean towards- "hey that program is pretty damn good"! Only that regard is it a bit of a no win. No way can a little school like us possibly knock off an SEC or ACC big boy and that school remain legit.

[Saint3333]

If we were to beat UTk we'd be the first SBC team to every be ranked and I don't give a damn what the media calls the Vols that Monday.

[TheMackAttack]

Basically as far as the national scene goes we are in a no win situation with those two opponents.

No win situation for App???

Let me phrase it differently. If we beat UT they will be perceived as possibly overrated and little Appalachun state pulled another Michigan. About the same for the U. It wouldn't lean towards- "hey that program is pretty damn good"! Only that regard is it a bit of a no win. No way can a little school like us possibly knock off an SEC or ACC big boy and that school remain legit.

If we beat both then people would pay attention. I'd go so far as to say that if we start the year 3-0 we will be the early front runners for the Access Bowl bid. Have both Tennessee and Miami underachieved in recent years? Sure. But to beat teams with that amount of raw talent will put us firmly on the map.

[AtlAppMan]

I hope this team would be greatly disappointed with an 8-4 or 7-5 season. I would only because I think that would mean we under performed in multiple games. If we somehow play to our potential and still get beat then numerous teams would have stepped up and outplayed us.

At some point we have to start stepping up in big games and not faultering in the face of a big challenge (I.e. P5 games). That is how we won three FCS championships. We stepped up in big games not rolled over. Remember during those years our teams played stronger on the big stage not rolled over.

So, is this team going to stand strong on the big stage or wilt?

[JTApps1]

I'll be disappointed with anything less than 9 wins considering how many guys we have back and our conference schedule. I really believe there are only 3 conference games that we should not be significant favorites in, and only GS should be a toss up because of the rivalry. The other two would be Troy and UL, but I'm not completely sold on either of them. Troy may just be a tough match-up for us, but they really struggled in their other games so maybe we just had a bad day? It's hard to say. With UL they will be better at QB, but until they show they can run better across the board I just don't know if they can beat the other top teams right now. The Hud loves big guys, but their lack of speed against us and stAte has been very obvious. ODU will be tough due to where it falls on the schedule, but we are the better team. Akron lost a TON from their first ever bowl team so who knows what to expect with them???

[EastHallApp]

I'll be disappointed with anything less than 9 wins considering how many guys we have back and our conference schedule. I really believe there are only 3 conference games that we should not be significant favorites in, and only GS should be a toss up because of the rivalry. The other two would be Troy and UL, but I'm not completely sold on either of them. Troy may just be a tough match-up for us, but they really struggled in their other games so maybe we just had a bad day? It's hard to say. With UL they will be better at QB, but until they show they can run better across the board I just don't know if they can beat the other top teams right now. The Hud loves big guys, but their lack of speed against us and stAte has been very obvious. ODU will be tough due to where it falls on the schedule, but we are the better team. Akron lost a TON from their first ever bowl team so who knows what to expect with them???

Agree on all this. A lot of people seem to just be writing off last season as a fluke for ULL, and I'm not sure why. They look like a program in decline to me.