Louisiana at APP Game Day Thread

[Yosef10]

I agree the playcalling was extremely pedestrian and predictable all night, but Louisiana didn’t even really try passing the ball either. This makes me think neither team thought they could pass the ball in that weather.

Yeah but even running the ball, not a single jet sweep to the guy who has Olympic track speed? Maybe one zone read with Zac if that all night? I know the staff likes to brag about “having only 2 running plays, inside and outside” and that’s fine but show some different looks. Get some motion in there, throw in a new formation, something that makes them have to think.

[AppinVA]

When Hannon cheap shotted the guy in front of everyone and essentially ended the drive , was he pulled? For atleast one play ? If not that speaks loudly to the coaching situation.

I don’t think it was quite the cheap shot you thought. He’s also the center, and putting someone in cold could’ve been disastrous.

[NewApp]

I agree the playcalling was extremely pedestrian and predictable all night, but Louisiana didn’t even really try passing the ball either. This makes me think neither team thought they could pass the ball in that weather.

Yeah but even running the ball, not a single jet sweep to the guy who has Olympic track speed? Maybe one zone read with Zac if that all night? I know the staff likes to brag about “having only 2 running plays, inside and outside” and that’s fine but show some different looks. Get some motion in there, throw in a new formation, something that makes them have to think.

A jet sweep in the rain on wet turf??

[appstate77]

Some Perspective:
Driving back home to the beach today, I was passed by a BUNCH of cars, on 421 S with App gear on them. I'm sure it was the same on the other "21's" that go in and out of God's Country.
I had 4 hrs to drive so I began thinking of this season and some numbers popped into my head. The best, the best 3 point shooters in the NBA only hit 38 percent of their attempts. The best hitters in baseball get hits ONLY on a third of their times at bat. MLB pitchers are considered great is they win 20 of their 40+ starts.
This year's version of The Mountaineers, the 46th year I have pulled for them currently sits at 7-3, 70 percent. Coaching changes, Covid, hybrid classes, injuries, among the adversities they have endured; these guys have won 70 percent of their games this year. How many FBS teams can say that. I bet UMass would trade results in a 30 second time out! I'm proud of them, damn proud of this team. We have at least one more 1-0 weeks this season. BEAT THE Stink! Then see what comes. I love my Mountaineers!

[MrCraig]

I agree the playcalling was extremely pedestrian and predictable all night, but Louisiana didn’t even really try passing the ball either. This makes me think neither team thought they could pass the ball in that weather.

Yeah but even running the ball, not a single jet sweep to the guy who has Olympic track speed? Maybe one zone read with Zac if that all night? I know the staff likes to brag about “having only 2 running plays, inside and outside” and that’s fine but show some different looks. Get some motion in there, throw in a new formation, something that makes them have to think.

This is what I’ve been screaming at the TV for about a month now. How many times does App send a WR in motion but then never give it to him? Where’d the read option go? Speed option? Designed QB run? There’s a million different ways to run the ball, App uses two of them.

[MrCraig]

Some Perspective:
Driving back home to the beach today, I was passed by a BUNCH of cars, on 421 S with App gear on them. I'm sure it was the same on the other "21's" that go in and out of God's Country.
I had 4 hrs to drive so I began thinking of this season and some numbers popped into my. The best, the best 3 point shooters in the NBA only hit 38 percent of their attempts. The best hitters in baseball get hits ONLY on a third of their times at bat. MLB pitchers are considered great is they win 20 of their 40+ starts.
This year's version of The Mountaineers, the 46th year I have pulled for them currently sits at 7-3, 70 percent. Coaching changes, Covid, hybrid classes, injuries, among the adversities they have endured; these guys have won 70 percent of their games this year. How many FBS teams can say that. I bet UMass would trade results in a 30 second time out! I'm proud of them, damn proud of this team. We have at least one more 1-0 weeks this season. BEAT THE Stink! Then see what comes. I love my Mountaineers!

You are absolutely right. We are spoiled and need some perspective. HOWEVAH!! Before last season numerous folks said “Drink is inheriting a Ferrari, let’s see how he drives it.” Well Clarke (and really Peterson) inherited, at worst, a Corvette, and Peterson is driving it in the left lane, going 35, with his blinker on.

[Rekdiver]

Albeit different situation, Shawn needs to have a Jerry Moore moment about offense.....

[appstate77]

Albeit different situation, Shawn needs to have a Jerry Moore moment about offense.....

Part of what I meant with the coaching changes. If I remember correctly it took until Woody's third season until the D got comfortable with the 3-4. Give Shawn credit here. I think he gets it. His first year or two we will see some hybrid offenses until Shawn's system get into everyone's muscle memory.

[ukappfan]

One good thing after this loss is that we very rarely lose twice in a row. A good thought to keep for stink week.

[AppStateMtneer]

Some Perspective:
Driving back home to the beach today, I was passed by a BUNCH of cars, on 421 S with App gear on them. I'm sure it was the same on the other "21's" that go in and out of God's Country.
I had 4 hrs to drive so I began thinking of this season and some numbers popped into my. The best, the best 3 point shooters in the NBA only hit 38 percent of their attempts. The best hitters in baseball get hits ONLY on a third of their times at bat. MLB pitchers are considered great is they win 20 of their 40+ starts.
This year's version of The Mountaineers, the 46th year I have pulled for them currently sits at 7-3, 70 percent. Coaching changes, Covid, hybrid classes, injuries, among the adversities they have endured; these guys have won 70 percent of their games this year. How many FBS teams can say that. I bet UMass would trade results in a 30 second time out! I'm proud of them, damn proud of this team. We have at least one more 1-0 weeks this season. BEAT THE Stink! Then see what comes. I love my Mountaineers!

You are absolutely right. We are spoiled and need some perspective. HOWEVAH!! Before last season numerous folks said “Drink is inheriting a Ferrari, let’s see how he drives it.” Well Clarke (and really Peterson) inherited, at worst, a Corvette, and Peterson is driving it in the left lane, going 35, with his blinker on.

I would have said reverse or lost the keys or doesn't know how to drive a stick.

[Stonewall]

Underperforming.Underachieveing. If we accept this ,this is what we will have.

[Stonewall]

One observation...The quarterback from Louisiana was the first quarterback "Meech" could not track down. The kid reminded me of Armanti on his escapability. That being said. The team looks flat and uninspired.

On a positive note...The stadium looks great. First game I have been able to attend last night. Weather was bad. My umbrella did not make it to the end. Wind was all over the place from different directions. If we had to lose a game....last nights was the one to lose. Hopefully we get one more game. For some reason last nights loss did not bother me too much. I hope our coaches find something during spring practices because we looked lost last night.

Our angles of pursuit aren’t fundamentally sound. We get by against the majority of our opponents by having superior athletes. No so against those that are comparable .

[Blackshirt68]

If you do what you did, you’re gonna get what you got.

[Kafarmer]

At least we didn’t lose to Rice!

[NewApp]

Some Perspective:
Driving back home to the beach today, I was passed by a BUNCH of cars, on 421 S with App gear on them. I'm sure it was the same on the other "21's" that go in and out of God's Country.
I had 4 hrs to drive so I began thinking of this season and some numbers popped into my head. The best, the best 3 point shooters in the NBA only hit 38 percent of their attempts. The best hitters in baseball get hits ONLY on a third of their times at bat. MLB pitchers are considered great is they win 20 of their 40+ starts.
This year's version of The Mountaineers, the 46th year I have pulled for them currently sits at 7-3, 70 percent. Coaching changes, Covid, hybrid classes, injuries, among the adversities they have endured; these guys have won 70 percent of their games this year. How many FBS teams can say that. I bet UMass would trade results in a 30 second time out! I'm proud of them, damn proud of this team. We have at least one more 1-0 weeks this season. BEAT THE Stink! Then see what comes. I love my Mountaineers!

Good post, 77. Quite a contrast to the “Negative Nellies” on here.

[Tatedc]

Underperforming.Underachieveing. If we accept this ,this is what we will have.

This. People who personally know coach Clark or the players are trying to blindly defend their performance because they like them. Others are trying to make themselves feel better.

The reality is this should have been our best team in the FBS Era. Period. So many returning starters and 25 seniors. 24 of which are in the 2 deep. We should have been 11-1 at worse.

But coaches don't know how to make any adjustments. And Zac Thomas couldn't do anything despite the running game finding 200+ yards vs Marshall, Zac Thomas threw 2 picks in the final minutes while we were winning that gave coastal the game and Zac Thomas has so proven his inability to pass that a team took a safety with a minute left because they knew we couldn't score a touchdown.

Thats the reality.

[appstate77]

After a night of sleeping on it and realizing I didn’t wake up from a terrible nightmare.

3 huge momentum changers

1) whatever the hell that penalty was on our first punt fumble recovery in the end zone
2) whatever the hell decision it was near the end of the first half to only kick it to the 30 yard line and allow for a good return and good field position to get that field goal before half
3) 4th down sack taken by Zac near/in the red zone.

That said, this game wouldn’t have been as close had the long snapper even had a decent day, and it’s hard to win the day when you have a 3-0 turnover margin.

While it’s great to be a mountaineer, I can’t say I very much enjoyed the drive home yesterday soaked and cold after whatever that was. Fundamentally sloppy, that’s about all there is to it.

Addendum to number 2: The five yard offsides penalty on the kickoff team....us. Five less yards UL had to cover in the few seconds left in the first half. It DID make a difference.

[App91]

My opinion...last year Drink started trying to turn ZT into a pocket passer. Took out the roll out plays that utilized Z’s speed and mobility. Difference was that Drink was/is an A1 quarterback coach and was able to coach Zack into that style of play. Peterson doesn’t have that ability and is still forcing the system. It isn’t working. Z needs to run the ball on the edges.

I have heard this stated a few times and i totally disagree. We have seen very few rollouts or pocket movements this year compared to last. Also, remember the game saving drive vs UNC, those long running plays that Zac made. He seems slower this year, not able to get the edge as he was last year. Seems Drink had him moving and utilizing speed much much more. Not sure if it is injury but he does appear to be a couple steps slower this year.

[MrCraig]

Albeit different situation, Shawn needs to have a Jerry Moore moment about offense.....

Part of what I meant with the coaching changes. If I remember correctly it took until Woody's third season until the D got comfortable with the 3-4. Give Shawn credit here. I think he gets it. His first year or two we will see some hybrid offenses until Shawn's system get into everyone's muscle memory.

What's Shawn's system? Is his "system" more complex than Drinkwitz's? So far, I haven't seen any complex plays being run this year. This would be expected if we had a really young offense, but we don't. There is one thing, and one thing only, to really complain about this season, and it is offensive play calling. Our offense has been boring, pedestrian, predictable, and ineffective against every team with similar talent.

[t4pizza]

Whatever is going on with Zac this year, one thing is very clear.....our offensive staff is unable to make a game plan that enhances the things that Zac can do well and minimized those things that he can not do so well. This is COACHING. I know I have made plenty of complaints about Zac's performance this year, and I stand behind pointing out his poor decisions in games, but it is the coaches job to find what a player does well and build on that. We all have seen Zac play the quarterback position well for 2 years. Does he have great arm strength? No he doesn't, but he is very capable of playing at a highly level despite that it just requires a scheme that doesn't make him attempt throws that he has a low likelihood of completing. Zac is best when he is mobile, roll outs, options, zone reads, bubble pass... all of those things pause the defense enough for Zac to make a play but we aren't really seeing any of those plays and that is COACHING. I wasn't happy with the Peterson hire and I am less happy with the teams performance under his tutelage, he needs to go and go soon. EVERYONE knew that this year we were loaded for bear but that next year would be the real challenge. Well, turns out with this offensive coordinator that this year has been a real challenge, I shudder to think what he will do next year if allowed to continue in his role.