SB Nation team preview App State

[WataugaMan]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

[EastHallApp]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

[IM4ASU]

With us facing much stiffer competition week-in and week-out, I'll be estatic with a 4 win season. Anything over that is gravy.

[WataugaMan]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

I don't recall anyone stating that??????

[appst89]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

[appst89]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

I don't recall anyone stating that??????

I said it, but he didn't include the whole quote.

[WataugaMan]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

I don't recall anyone stating that??????

I said it, but he didn't include the whole quote.

Roger that

[EastHallApp]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

And that's fine. I just personally don't take that approach. I think there are plenty of fans who don't *expect* to win every game. Hope, sure. But "so, how do you think we'll do next year?" is about as timelessly popular as sports discussion gets, so I think it's pretty clear that fans range from pessimistic to optimistic to blind homerism. Otherwise the answer would always be "undefeated, of course," and we'd have to find something else to talk about.

I will say my definition of a fan is more about just supporting the team, which I hope people will do regardless of whether this first FBS season meets their expectations. That's my main point in this discussion - that while I'm hoping for at least 6 wins and think that's a realistic goal, I don't think 4-8 or 5-7 would necessarily mean we aren't in good position for the future.

[Saint3333]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

Possible and likely are very different.

It is possible to win 12 or lose 12 games next year.

It is more likely that we will win between 4 and 7 games.

I believe we will be competitive is all but one or two games, but the win total will not reflect that due to the lack of depth and the stress of playing 10 FBS games puts on a team with young players.

[appst89]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

And that's fine. I just personally don't take that approach. I think there are plenty of fans who don't *expect* to win every game. Hope, sure. But "so, how do you think we'll do next year?" is about as timelessly popular as sports discussion gets, so I think it's pretty clear that fans range from pessimistic to optimistic to blind homerism. Otherwise the answer would always be "undefeated, of course," and we'd have to find something else to talk about.

I will say my definition of a fan is more about just supporting the team, which I hope people will do regardless of whether this first FBS season meets their expectations. That's my main point in this discussion - that while I'm hoping for at least 6 wins and think that's a realistic goal, I don't think 4-8 or 5-7 would necessarily mean we aren't in good position for the future.

I particularly agree with your last sentence. Having invested over 30 years following ASU, I can appreciate that our record in this season may not indicate where we are headed long-term. However, a good portion of this discussion has been geared toward the casual fan, of which we have gained a significant number over the last several years. We need them to continue growing the program. And something about this thread just felt to me like trying to sell a lowering of the bar to those people.

[EastHallApp]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

And that's fine. I just personally don't take that approach. I think there are plenty of fans who don't *expect* to win every game. Hope, sure. But "so, how do you think we'll do next year?" is about as timelessly popular as sports discussion gets, so I think it's pretty clear that fans range from pessimistic to optimistic to blind homerism. Otherwise the answer would always be "undefeated, of course," and we'd have to find something else to talk about.

I will say my definition of a fan is more about just supporting the team, which I hope people will do regardless of whether this first FBS season meets their expectations. That's my main point in this discussion - that while I'm hoping for at least 6 wins and think that's a realistic goal, I don't think 4-8 or 5-7 would necessarily mean we aren't in good position for the future.

I particularly agree with your last sentence. Having invested over 30 years following ASU, I can appreciate that our record in this season may not indicate where we are headed long-term. However, a good portion of this discussion has been geared toward the casual fan, of which we have gained a significant number over the last several years. We need them to continue growing the program. And something about this thread just felt to me like trying to sell a lowering of the bar to those people.

True. I think Satterfield even said publicly something to the effect that they are looking toward 2015 to be a big year. I'm totally on board with that view. If we aren't in a bowl in 2015, then I WILL be disappointed.

[rbarthle17]

The fact that 70% of our opponents have had 3+ FBS recruiting years vs. our 1 is a very important fact I'd say.

Being a fan you want to win every game and root like hell for them, but expecting a winning season in the first year playing 10 FBS schools isn't setting realistic expectations.

This is not about you, or me, or 99% of the people that take to any of the ASU message boards. We will be there come Hell or high water.

We are also NOT representative of the majority of our fan base. We are not the casual fan, the person with little or not actual connection to Appalachian, the person that can and will take their dollars and go elsewhere when times get tough. The people that don't live and breathe Appalachian State. We have not played on a big enough stage long enough to have a casual fan base that will suffer through multiple losing seasons and remain largely intact.

What matters is the majority of our new fan base, the more casual fan. The ones who don't care about rationality, they just want to go see a winning product. We need their dollars, period. You seem to think the casual fan will understand and live with another losing record or two and still be there. Let's hope we don't have to find out how wrong I believe that you are on that front.

[asutrnr81]

The fact that 70% of our opponents have had 3+ FBS recruiting years vs. our 1 is a very important fact I'd say.

Being a fan you want to win every game and root like hell for them, but expecting a winning season in the first year playing 10 FBS schools isn't setting realistic expectations.

I'm willing to be patient as we develop depth at this level. I do expect us to be competitive in all games except for Michigan and staying within striking distant of each opponent. 12 games vs this level is much different than playing up for one game a year.

Agree with everything you are saying....except I think we have actually recruited with the mindset that the 2013 recruiting class was perhaps at least a .5 of an FBS class, as I believe we had to know the behind the scenes discussions that had to be going on with the SB....It was not like on one Friday we were FCS and the next we were SB bound......

I also think that playing at a high level in the FCS year in and out has helped prepare us better....

That being said. Playing an FBS schedule against FBS talent week in and out is NOT what we have been doing. Soooooo by week 7 or 8 we will be looking at a depth problem!

All the more reason to work the mess out of them this winter and get ready for the grind!

[Maddog1956]

This is not about you, or me, or 99% of the people that take to any of the ASU message boards. We will be there come Hell or high water.

We are also NOT representative of the majority of our fan base. We are not the casual fan, the person with little or not actual connection to Appalachian, the person that can and will take their dollars and go elsewhere when times get tough. The people that don't live and breathe Appalachian State. We have not played on a big enough stage long enough to have a casual fan base that will suffer through multiple losing seasons and remain largely intact.

What matters is the majority of our new fan base, the more casual fan. The ones who don't care about rationality, they just want to go see a winning product. We need their dollars, period. You seem to think the casual fan will understand and live with another losing record or two and still be there. Let's hope we don't have to find out how wrong I believe that you are on that front.

I agree with a lot of that, but even the casual fan that just started coming because we were winning, has picked up more than just the "thrill of victory". When you have years of winnings you have friends/families that have grown up here on "Football Saturday". Winning isn't the only important thing to them.

This isn't to say however that if we never won another game we would pack in 30k a game, but I don't really expect us to do that bad. I think that if we hold .500+ against FBS teams we won't experience a major decrease as some have stated. Part of football is not knowing if you're going to win or not. During our best years I never really came to many games at the SoCon level just because I knew we were going to win or because of great football, because many times it was watching 3rd string players. I, like a lot of fans, came because I wanted to support App and because the experience. Win or lose its one of the best $25/person events around.


Not saying it wouldn't fall off, but there is so many ways for Yosef keeps the "game day experience" great, plus I think the team still has some surprises.

[WataugaMan]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

Possible and likely are very different.

It is possible to win 12 or lose 12 games next year.

It is more likely that we will win between 4 and 7 games.

I believe we will be competitive is all but one or two games, but the win total will not reflect that due to the lack of depth and the stress of playing 10 FBS games puts on a team with young players.

Okay, in that case I find it more likely we will win 6 to 7 games next year as opposed to 4 or less.

[MDaniels84]

I could definitely see us winning 5 or 6 games in our inaugural Sunbelt season. However, if we win 4 and play to our capability, I will be ok with that. I don't expect us to have too many 4 win seasons but that is part of the growing pains of moving up a division and having an entirely new staff trying to come together. With our running back situation being strong now and 3 capable qb's to choose from, I have a good feeling about this coming year. I know that we need to add line depth on both sides but think that we have lots of bodies (red shirts from last year and so on) to throw out there in a rotation this season. I hope that they shock me and rough up Michigan again ! My prediction - PAIN . Nah, really I could see us winnning 6 games including 5 of 6 at home.

[AppfaninCAALand]

I predict the 2014 will be somewhere between 11-1 and 1-11.

[Kgfish]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

Are you saying going to Athens last year not expecting to win indicates I'm not a fan? I don't buy that for a second. I'm a long time fan, but I'm also a realist.

[appst89]

Therefore, the perception of a possible 6 or 7 win season is beyond the rim of reality? Alrighty Then

No, but saying "I expect us to win every game we play every year regardless of the opponent" is.

No, it's not. That's the definition of being a fan. Knowing that it's not going to happen doesn't keep me from expecting it. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I can't imagine a fan of any team that doesn't go into every game expecting to win, all the while knowing that it isn't possible to win every time.

Are you saying going to Athens last year not expecting to win indicates I'm not a fan? I don't buy that for a second. I'm a long fan, but I'm also a realist.

It just means we look at things differently. Folks can choose to be fans however they want as long as they aren't being ***holes.

[JMappfan5]

I think it will take at least 2-3 FBS type recruiting classes to win on a consistent basis. I do believe that we will be competitive next year. Realistically, I would be okay with 4-5 wins. Hoping for 6-7!!!