Game week in Boca

[Yosefus]

It was shocking to watch that game yesterday. We lost to a record breaking QB and team that we could not stop. It was also shocking how we were out coached and lost 2x to a very well prepared ULL. Those 3 games hurt to watch and the result was the team goals were not met this year. Hoping for better next season, I fully expect a rebuilding year or 2. I just hope to see what someone said in an earlier post the "it" factor. I don't think we had that consistently this year. On the bright side I did see an article that featured Chase Brice and he had broken the school record for passing yesterday. Haven't seen that posted here yet but is impressive none the least. Is the coaching staff the right ones to get App to the next level? Will see in next couple of seasons with recruiting, growth and gained experience and knowledge. We gotta win the big games or our program will start the slow decline into mediocrity. No one wants to see that but starting in 2023 the new conference will be much tougher than current and our coaching staff had better be ready.

[NewApp]

It was shocking to watch that game yesterday. We lost to a record breaking QB and team that we could not stop. It was also shocking how we were out coached and lost 2x to a very well prepared ULL. Those 3 games hurt to watch and the result was the team goals were not met this year. Hoping for better next season, I fully expect a rebuilding year or 2. I just hope to see what someone said in an earlier post the "it" factor. I don't think we had that consistently this year. On the bright side I did see an article that featured Chase Brice and he had broken the school record for passing yesterday. Haven't seen that posted here yet but is impressive none the least. Is the coaching staff the right ones to get App to the next level? Will see in next couple of seasons with recruiting, growth and gained experience and knowledge. We gotta win the big games or our program will start the slow decline into mediocrity. No one wants to see that but starting in 2023 the new conference will be much tougher than current and our coaching staff had better be ready.

Out coached??? I'm sure you could have done better. Not.

They had an answer talent wise to everything we tried. They made catches and throws like a pro team. The QB was right on the money and the receivers caught like they had glue on their hands. They clearly had as much or more speed and talent as we did.

[NewApp]

How about this season scenario. Let’s say we had beaten Miami, ECU, lost to Marshall and La (twice) but won today? Assume the Coastal win as well. Would you negative guys have felt any better? Obviously we go out with a win but we would have had a road P5 win. I don’t like “coach speak” per se but I do agree with one thing Clark says all the time- “It’s hard to win a college football game “.

Someone earlier made a great point that can’t be overlooked. Pretty much every school in the country had a bunch of experienced Super Seniors return. We ran into a couple of teams who also loaded up on transfers. There is some great assumption going on that we were just loaded with the most talent ever and that we should have rolled everyone. It’s just not that easy.

No they wouldn't and would just say we had low expectations for our Apps since we didn't win every game by 50 points and play in the Rose Bowl on NY day. Only half kidding.

[appst89]

I, for one, am not going to apologize for having high expectations. High expectations is a big part of why there have only been three losing seasons since 1983. If we get to the point that mediocrity is acceptable then mediocre is the best we’ll ever get.

The world isn’t ending and nobody needs to be fired, but the last two seasons have been underwhelming and below what our expectations should be.

[Blackshirt68]

It’s a new game with the transfer portal. Look at W. Kentucky. There will be many schools who will try their route and enough will succeed to give the tactic weight. Some coaches don’t see that “the times they are a changing”.

[AppSt94]

It’s a new game with the transfer portal. Look at W. Kentucky. There will be many schools who will try their route and enough will succeed to give the tactic weight. Some coaches don’t see that “the times they are a changing”.

There are decided adverse possibilities to this method. If you are consistently churning through your roster every 2-3 years then you are going to lose any culture. Secondly, the portal is full of guys that were misses for varied reasons. Some good, some bad. You got to find the right guys to fill holes or you can set yourself back. Look at what it did at Arkansas St and Texas State.

[Blackshirt68]

I see Navy is going to Rocky Top

[t4pizza]

Not gonna lie, I was amped with the Brice pickup and thought much of his woes at Duke were the Oline. He just has a knack for missing 2-3 wide open throws per game. Combined with taking sacks at the worst time or turning the ball over too much. By no means is Brice to blame for us giving up 50+ points. I just don't think he is the put the team on your back and go win a game when you need him type QB. Do I expect us to always have an Armanti Edward's every year, of course not. But a ZT type at least had the leadership you wanna see from QB 1.

That is exactly right. Brice is not a bad QB by any means. He is just not as good for a total game as some we have had in the past. Stats are all well and fine but stats don't always win games. Stats don't necessarily happen when you need them to win a game. Today we scored enough to win most games. Today the defense came up against the best team we have played in a very long time. One of the best QBs we have played in a long, long time. Excellent receivers we are not used to coming up against. Then finally a running game that anyone would be happy to have and nobody expected. We were just whipped by better talent. Could we have been better prepared? Maybe, but to lay this all on coaching is just plain ridiculous.

I know that they made us look silly, but it isn't like this team was undefeated or anything. Heck they lost 5 times on the season including their last game they played in the CUSA championship. We made them look like the best team around, but they are not that and those 5 loses say that loud and clear. This was a one dimensional team with a suspect defense that we allowed to completely embarrass us. If it isn't up to the coaches to put us in a position to win the games, who else should be to blamed? Again, it isn't like we just played BAMA or even Cincy for that matter, we got boat raced by the second place CUSA team that had 5 losses on the season. No way was this team "the best taht we have played in a very long time", we just made them look that way.

[bcoach]

Not gonna lie, I was amped with the Brice pickup and thought much of his woes at Duke were the Oline. He just has a knack for missing 2-3 wide open throws per game. Combined with taking sacks at the worst time or turning the ball over too much. By no means is Brice to blame for us giving up 50+ points. I just don't think he is the put the team on your back and go win a game when you need him type QB. Do I expect us to always have an Armanti Edward's every year, of course not. But a ZT type at least had the leadership you wanna see from QB 1.

That is exactly right. Brice is not a bad QB by any means. He is just not as good for a total game as some we have had in the past. Stats are all well and fine but stats don't always win games. Stats don't necessarily happen when you need them to win a game. Today we scored enough to win most games. Today the defense came up against the best team we have played in a very long time. One of the best QBs we have played in a long, long time. Excellent receivers we are not used to coming up against. Then finally a running game that anyone would be happy to have and nobody expected. We were just whipped by better talent. Could we have been better prepared? Maybe, but to lay this all on coaching is just plain ridiculous.

I know that they made us look silly, but it isn't like this team was undefeated or anything. Heck they lost 5 times on the season including their last game they played in the CUSA championship. We made them look like the best team around, but they are not that and those 5 loses say that loud and clear. This was a one dimensional team with a suspect defense that we allowed to completely embarrass us. If it isn't up to the coaches to put us in a position to win the games, who else should be to blamed? Again, it isn't like we just played BAMA or even Cincy for that matter, we got boat raced by the second place CUSA team that had 5 losses on the season. No way was this team "the best taht we have played in a very long time", we just made them look that way.

I absolutely disagree but that's ok.

[WASU 93]

It is interesting that some people discount WKU because of their 5 losses, but also discount our 10 wins (because we only beat the teams that we should have). WKU started 1~4, then figured out how to win and finished 8-1, with a close loss in the CC. They were hot and had momentum. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a way to derail them.
Sun Belt runner-up vs. C-USA runner-up. They executed, we didn’t. There may be shame in how we lost, but there shouldn’t be in who we lost to.

[BOONE BOUND]

Well the hen house is active and the lynch mob wants answers. Here is my humble opine and you can take it as just that. I hear all the time we had the most talent we have ever had. I just do not see it. I think it was an "overachieving" bunch that played to the best of their abilities with the tools they were given. I believe the 4 losses we had were to better talent. I also believe we beat a few that also had better talent than us. I mean look at the rosters and match them up side by side and tell me where we were so superior? WKU / ULL / Miami all had bigger faster stronger players upfront than we had. These are just facts. The portal has changed the game and each of these teams have 20-25 players from Notre Dame, Teaxas A&M, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, etc littered across their rosters and were just a superior squad. Each of these games they dominated the los and that is where each and every game is won. Period. We are not in the FCS anymore and we are now playing teams that have the same or often times better talent than we do.
Off season--hit the weights--work on team speed--install some innovation to our schemes--prepare the newbies for greater depth--GET READY TO BEAT THE HEELS!!

[MrCraig]

Not gonna lie, I was amped with the Brice pickup and thought much of his woes at Duke were the Oline. He just has a knack for missing 2-3 wide open throws per game. Combined with taking sacks at the worst time or turning the ball over too much. By no means is Brice to blame for us giving up 50+ points. I just don't think he is the put the team on your back and go win a game when you need him type QB. Do I expect us to always have an Armanti Edward's every year, of course not. But a ZT type at least had the leadership you wanna see from QB 1.

That is exactly right. Brice is not a bad QB by any means. He is just not as good for a total game as some we have had in the past. Stats are all well and fine but stats don't always win games. Stats don't necessarily happen when you need them to win a game. Today we scored enough to win most games. Today the defense came up against the best team we have played in a very long time. One of the best QBs we have played in a long, long time. Excellent receivers we are not used to coming up against. Then finally a running game that anyone would be happy to have and nobody expected. We were just whipped by better talent. Could we have been better prepared? Maybe, but to lay this all on coaching is just plain ridiculous.

I know that they made us look silly, but it isn't like this team was undefeated or anything. Heck they lost 5 times on the season including their last game they played in the CUSA championship. We made them look like the best team around, but they are not that and those 5 loses say that loud and clear. This was a one dimensional team with a suspect defense that we allowed to completely embarrass us. If it isn't up to the coaches to put us in a position to win the games, who else should be to blamed? Again, it isn't like we just played BAMA or even Cincy for that matter, we got boat raced by the second place CUSA team that had 5 losses on the season. No way was this team "the best taht we have played in a very long time", we just made them look that way.

Their offense absolutely WAS the best we have faced all year. The statistics and record books prove that. We made 3 turnovers that led to 3 TDs. If those turnovers were TDs for App, they would’ve won. It’s pretty much that simple. It’s not like our offense had trouble scoring on them.

[bigdaddyg]

Well the hen house is active and the lynch mob wants answers. Here is my humble opine and you can take it as just that. I hear all the time we had the most talent we have ever had. I just do not see it. I think it was an "overachieving" bunch that played to the best of their abilities with the tools they were given. I believe the 4 losses we had were to better talent. I also believe we beat a few that also had better talent than us. I mean look at the rosters and match them up side by side and tell me where we were so superior? WKU / ULL / Miami all had bigger faster stronger players upfront than we had. These are just facts. The portal has changed the game and each of these teams have 20-25 players from Notre Dame, Teaxas A&M, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, etc littered across their rosters and were just a superior squad. Each of these games they dominated the los and that is where each and every game is won. Period. We are not in the FCS anymore and we are now playing teams that have the same or often times better talent than we do.
Off season--hit the weights--work on team speed--install some innovation to our schemes--prepare the newbies for greater depth--GET READY TO BEAT THE HEELS!!

I tend to agree with the talent comment. We have lots of fans who watch games with blinders on which is understandable. Just because we had success the past couple of years and brought back lots of guys (same with teams everywhere) that didn’t mean we could just line up and whip everyone we played. The one question I have not seen asked is this- is there a possibility that Clark and the staff felt compelled to play the super senior guys at the expense of more talented younger guys? I really hope that wasn’t the case but it would be hard to imagine seeing a bunch of those experienced guys standing on the sideline while redshirt freshmen took the snaps. Again, you have to believe that the older guys were better but… We brought in a few P5 transfers who barely saw the field. I don’t really see that part of the portal becoming a huge deal- P5 guys transferring to G5 schools and dominating. Most of the transfers are guys who didn’t get to play in the first place.

[Longrifle28]

Not gonna lie, I was amped with the Brice pickup and thought much of his woes at Duke were the Oline. He just has a knack for missing 2-3 wide open throws per game. Combined with taking sacks at the worst time or turning the ball over too much. By no means is Brice to blame for us giving up 50+ points. I just don't think he is the put the team on your back and go win a game when you need him type QB. Do I expect us to always have an Armanti Edward's every year, of course not. But a ZT type at least had the leadership you wanna see from QB 1.

That is exactly right. Brice is not a bad QB by any means. He is just not as good for a total game as some we have had in the past. Stats are all well and fine but stats don't always win games. Stats don't necessarily happen when you need them to win a game. Today we scored enough to win most games. Today the defense came up against the best team we have played in a very long time. One of the best QBs we have played in a long, long time. Excellent receivers we are not used to coming up against. Then finally a running game that anyone would be happy to have and nobody expected. We were just whipped by better talent. Could we have been better prepared? Maybe, but to lay this all on coaching is just plain ridiculous.

I know that they made us look silly, but it isn't like this team was undefeated or anything. Heck they lost 5 times on the season including their last game they played in the CUSA championship. We made them look like the best team around, but they are not that and those 5 loses say that loud and clear. This was a one dimensional team with a suspect defense that we allowed to completely embarrass us. If it isn't up to the coaches to put us in a position to win the games, who else should be to blamed? Again, it isn't like we just played BAMA or even Cincy for that matter, we got boat raced by the second place CUSA team that had 5 losses on the season. No way was this team "the best taht we have played in a very long time", we just made them look that way.

Their offense absolutely WAS the best we have faced all year. The statistics and record books prove that. We made 3 turnovers that led to 3 TDs. If those turnovers were TDs for App, they would’ve won. It’s pretty much that simple. It’s not like our offense had trouble scoring on them.

This is true. The only teams that beat them just outscored them, they didn't stop them. We needed to score when we had the opportunity, have no turnovers, and try to hold them to field goals.

[Stonewall]

We got Zappied.

[AtlAppMan]

Just to clarify because some on this board think if you offer any criticism you are saying you want to fire the coaches. I am NOT saying that nor want that. We hired a rookie HC and OC in two successive years. Along with that is the understanding that they are still figuring stuff out and we must expect some ups and downs as a result.

On the Boca game, we have not been manhandled on defense like this since moving up to FBS by anybody other than Georgia and Clemson. Certainly no peer G5 team has handled us like that. I defense couldn't stop them or even slow them down at all. In fairness they have the best offense that we have seen short of those two P5 opponents just mentioned but, we couldn't do anything. And, we gotta stop turning the ball over, that has killed us numerous times this season. I was embarrassed with how we handled this opponent. Sorry, I am not a coach, not saying I can do it better, just a fan telling you how I feel. I bet you the players and coaches also felt the same way.

[goapps93]

It looked to me like we made a lot of changes to the D. There were several times that we only had two down linemen on D. Lots of stand-up players. I had not noticed that previously this season. At least twice that I remember we were in that when they broke long runs. I made the comment during the game that it looked like we outwitted ourselves. I would have rather seen us play our normal defensive scheme.

[MAD Doctor]

My thoughts:
1- We ran into a highly motivated buzzsaw, who was playing for something bigger than football. Some days you’re the hammer and some days you are the nail.
2- Our seniors and super seniors took this program to new heights beating UNC, USC, ECU, conference championships and bowl victories. Well done and Thank You
3- Our students and fans were awesome this year. They showed up and set attendance records during a global pandemic.
4- This year we got revenge on Marshall and Coastal and whipped a good ECU team. Not too shabby.
5- We have an opportunity to be great and young again in 2022. Looking forward to seeing the new talent in action.
6- It’s great to be a Mountaineer

Merry Christmas. Stay safe.

[appdaze]

An EMT I know was telling me a lot of the hospitals in the NC\TN\VA area have been so overwhelmed in the last week that one poor guy died waiting on an ER. I asked him if covid was really getting that bad in this area. He said it wasn't covid. All the beds were filled with butthurt and delusional App fans. They are calling what local psyche wards are still functioning to see if they can transfer the worst cases.


Every arm chair coach and QB has given their 2 cents and has been offended by some other experts clearly better understanding of all that moves in this world.

Move on. Go enjoy the holidays.

[AppSt94]

An EMT I know was telling me a lot of the hospitals in the NC\TN\VA area have been so overwhelmed in the last week that one poor guy died waiting on an ER. I asked him if covid was really getting that bad in this area. He said it wasn't covid. All the beds were filled with butthurt and delusional App fans. They are calling what local psyche wards are still functioning to see if they can transfer the worst cases.


Every arm chair coach and QB has given their 2 cents and has been offended by some other experts clearly better understanding of all that moves in this world.

Move on. Go enjoy the holidays.

“Thoughts and Prayers”

Did I do that right?