A W is a W

[TheMackAttack]

Long time reader, first time poster... my biggest take away from this game along with the Clemson game (I was at both) is that Taylor Lamb was the perfect "transition" QB for this team, but this team is advancing faster in the FBS than expected. Lamb showed me he cant take our offense to the next level, he was terribly indecisive last night and in the Clemson game.
He is good enough to finish out the year and maybe win a bowl game, but Satt needs to make a tough decision this offseason and bring this offense to the next level.

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I think you're dead wrong there. There are two things that you're ignoring that are major factors here. First, as has been said previously, you're talking about a sophomore. By the time this kid starts his senior year he's got a strong shot at being the best G5 QB in the nation. Second, he wasn't given much of a chance to succeed toward the end of the game Thursday in my opinion. He does fine on the quick hitters and is pretty good at picking the deep route to take a shot on, but we completely took the mid range, middle of the field passes out of the equation with our play calling last night. Our pass plays were play action, slow developing plays, and he didn't have good enough protection to let them develop. His final stats weren't eye popping, but at one point he was 13-18 passing.

[appstatealum]

Long time reader, first time poster... my biggest take away from this game along with the Clemson game (I was at both) is that Taylor Lamb was the perfect "transition" QB for this team, but this team is advancing faster in the FBS than expected. Lamb showed me he cant take our offense to the next level, he was terribly indecisive last night and in the Clemson game.
He is good enough to finish out the year and maybe win a bowl game, but Satt needs to make a tough decision this offseason and bring this offense to the next level.

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I think you're dead wrong there. There are two things that you're ignoring that are major factors here. First, as has been said previously, you're talking about a sophomore. By the time this kid starts his senior year he's got a strong shot at being the best G5 QB in the nation. Second, he wasn't given much of a chance to succeed toward the end of the game Thursday in my opinion. He does fine on the quick hitters and is pretty good at picking the deep route to take a shot on, but we completely took the mid range, middle of the field passes out of the equation with our play calling last night. Our pass plays were play action, slow developing plays, and he didn't have good enough protection to let them develop. His final stats weren't eye popping, but at one point he was 13-18 passing.

Very true. Something else I noticed is the OCs weren't calling many "deception" plays to keep those edge rushers at bay. Again, I'm not saying Lamb isnt the guy, but I do think he has some weaknesses that are starting to show in games and as App continues to be successful, teams are going to do their best to expose those weaknesses.

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[appstatealum]

I just hope we come out on fire Thursday and solidify ourselves as the most dominant team in the Sunbelt. I'll be the first one to eat crow and praise the play of Lamb if he proves my concerns to be null and void.

Go App, see you guys up the hill on Thursday.

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[bigdaddyg]

This is an attempt (how valid you guys can decide) to make a somewhat apples to apples comparison. Looked at a few of the top FBS ranked teams and some of their wins:

Ohio State- barely beat Indiana by 7 and Northern Illinois by 7
Baylor- scores a ton but hasn't played any of the top teams in their conference yet
Clemson- beat Louisville by 3 and last place BC by only 17. Last Saturday night they gave up 41 to a not very good Wolfpack team.
TCU- beat K. State by 7 and gave up 45, beat TTU by 3 and gave up 52, beat a crappy Minnesota team by 6.
Michigan State- beat a bad Purdue by 3 and Rutgers by 7.

Guess the point is that these teams are ranked in the top 10 and a few of them have a good shot at the final 4 and all of them have won games they should have won big or were fortunate to escape with a W. We have pretty much reached a point of expecting blow out wins (including me based on my prediction) but sometimes the other team doesn't roll over. I would rather have an ugly win as opposed to one of those losses when you look back and say, "we out gained them, out played them, etc...but we lost"

[Budman2154]

I think the bottom line is that "OUR TEAM" as a TEAM (Coaches, players, etc) didn't have their best game Saturday. Yes Taylor displayed some happy feat at times, BUT I didn't see any adjustments by Woody and the Offensive play calling was pretty vanilla also. We should all be happy we got the "W" and hope everything gets worked out before Thursday night. Having Nunn out made a difference in not only the protection for Taylor, but also the Chemistry with the OL. We won an ugly one and hopefully the TEAM has moved on to prepare to open up a can of "Whoop Arse" on Arkansas State. What we as FANS/SPECTATORS need to do is make every effort to BE THERE on Thursday night to support "OUR TEAM" and give them the 12TH MAN they need to move forward and get to 8-1. Who knows, maybe the players will start a post questioning OUR FAN HOOD and tell us we need to step up and show up or shut up.

[appbio91]

I have heard both Satt and Woody say the are conscious of not putting too much on tape before a big game. I really doubt that had anything to do with what we were doing on Saturday but we certainly did not give stAte much to look at in that one.

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[bigdaddyg]

I have to believe that we have some different stuff (both sides of the ball) that will come out Thursday night. We need to be the team that keeps the other guy off balance with tempo, blitz packages, etc.

[WataugaMan]

I have heard both Satt and Woody say the are conscious of not putting too much on tape before a big game. I really doubt that had anything to do with what we were doing on Saturday but we certainly did not give stAte much to look at in that one.

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In that case, hopefully we open it up this Thursday for the Big Game.

[MAD Doctor]

My daughter in-law is a University of Minnesota alum. Right after our game on Saturday, she painfully watched her Golden Gophers lose to Michigan on a last second stop at the 18-inch line. I didn't think she'd care to hear me whine about a close win. Let's be thankful, take it, and move on. The goal is a conference championship, and we just got one step closer.

"App-o-lanterns" from the weekend:

Halloween.png (89.38 KiB) Viewed 5283 times

[JTApps1]

I disagree with appstatealum's post, but wish people would lay off the attacks.

I think Lamb is a very good QB. Is he an elite physical talent? No. But he's a very good G5 QB, and it's easy to forget he's only a sophomore because he's generally so reliable.

Other thing I will say is I think our athletic limitations are possibly greater at WR than at QB. Perhaps one reason he holds the ball too long or throws it away a lot is that nobody is open? Our senior WRs are smart, experienced players, but they're all limited athletically. I think we've got some higher-upside guys behind them who just need to learn to do what the coaches expect and play more consistently.

I agree about the WR group on a whole. The old guys do a lot of good things, but some of them are limited athletically. After all they have been through though the have earned their PT, and they are still major contributors. We will likely be more explosive in the future though.

[ASUfan6971]

I don't know who is calling plays, but after 8 games we still don't have an 8 yard pass play.
Let Caruso get some experience.

[bigdaddyg]

I disagree with appstatealum's post, but wish people would lay off the attacks.

I think Lamb is a very good QB. Is he an elite physical talent? No. But he's a very good G5 QB, and it's easy to forget he's only a sophomore because he's generally so reliable.

Other thing I will say is I think our athletic limitations are possibly greater at WR than at QB. Perhaps one reason he holds the ball too long or throws it away a lot is that nobody is open? Our senior WRs are smart, experienced players, but they're all limited athletically. I think we've got some higher-upside guys behind them who just need to learn to do what the coaches expect and play more consistently.

I agree about the WR group on a whole. The old guys do a lot of good things, but some of them are limited athletically. After all they have been through though the have earned their PT, and they are still major contributors. We will likely be more explosive in the future though.

Unfortunately this year I am limited to watching games on the laptop or TV when televised so I can't see what the receivers do downfield. Some posters have said that we have guys getting open but Taylor isn't finding them. I know against Clemson the talent gap was the difference in that our wide outs could not get separation. Was that the case Saturday? I have mentioned before that, to me, it seems that we tend to throw 30 yard outs in 3rd and 5 situations (too often). Do we ever run rub routes, quick slants, etc? While I love the effort and results we get from our senior receivers it doesn't seem like we use the bigger body guys for shorter possession, drive continuing plays.

[HighlandsApp]

Lamb and Aaron Rodgers looked a lot alike this weekend.... Except Taylor had better stats...

[bigdaddyg]

Checked some stats:

3rd down conversion rate- 39.3% (69th ranked)
Yards per attempt- 9.3 (12th ranked)
completion %- 60% (59th ranked)
passing attempts- 119th ranked
rushing yards per attempt- 5.6 (9th ranked)

Obviously, we are a run first team and the passing attempts don't bother me since we are winning but the yards per attempt tells a story. When we throw we throw long too often. Don't get me wrong, I understand getting some defense out of the box but to me we could extend some drives (maybe) if we mixed in some shorter possession type passes to pick up the 4-5 yards. I am not bitching by any means. Just pointing out some interesting stats and some thoughts on where me might improve.

[clayton]

We're 2 years removed from 4-8 (with a SoCon schedule) and 1 year removed from a loss to Liberty.

It's nice to be back to shock and anger over the fact that a football game can be decided by less than two touchdowns.

That was Troy's kitchen sink game.

On-side kick, fake field goal, receiver pass.


It clearly wasn't our best game. Our defense struggled. Too many penalties. I think Lamb wasn't 100% at the end of the game.

But, it definitely isn't a trend. This game came after a string of dominating performances.



And we saw the redemption of Zach Matics. Marcus Cox's 29th carry of the game was a clutch 3rd down run that made the redemption a lot easier.

[AppinVA]

Every team has a game like this during the year. Bad teams get housed. Good teams lose it close. Better teams find a way to win. The best teams make sure it does't happen twice. It feels good to be among the latter two.

[Appsolutely]

I did not think our OL or DL played that well. I am sure, on the offensive side, Nunn's absence made a substantial difference. We have been a bit too conservative on offense (just my opinion) on first and second down. Our WRs have had some trouble getting separation, but it might help to throw the ball when it is not an obvious passing situation. On the offensive side, Lamb was under pressure most of the night...again, during obvious passing situations.

As Satterfield said after the game, penalties continue to be a concern. I think we will clean that stuff up on Thursday and play a much better game. Hoping the Troy game was just a blip on the radar screen...

[JTApps1]

I disagree with appstatealum's post, but wish people would lay off the attacks.

I think Lamb is a very good QB. Is he an elite physical talent? No. But he's a very good G5 QB, and it's easy to forget he's only a sophomore because he's generally so reliable.

Other thing I will say is I think our athletic limitations are possibly greater at WR than at QB. Perhaps one reason he holds the ball too long or throws it away a lot is that nobody is open? Our senior WRs are smart, experienced players, but they're all limited athletically. I think we've got some higher-upside guys behind them who just need to learn to do what the coaches expect and play more consistently.

I agree about the WR group on a whole. The old guys do a lot of good things, but some of them are limited athletically. After all they have been through though the have earned their PT, and they are still major contributors. We will likely be more explosive in the future though.

Unfortunately this year I am limited to watching games on the laptop or TV when televised so I can't see what the receivers do downfield. Some posters have said that we have guys getting open but Taylor isn't finding them. I know against Clemson the talent gap was the difference in that our wide outs could not get separation. Was that the case Saturday? I have mentioned before that, to me, it seems that we tend to throw 30 yard outs in 3rd and 5 situations (too often). Do we ever run rub routes, quick slants, etc? While I love the effort and results we get from our senior receivers it doesn't seem like we use the bigger body guys for shorter possession, drive continuing plays.

I remember 3 times that we had a wide open receiver that Lamb didn't hit. One time he just flat out missed Simms in the middle of the field, but he was rolling left and looked to be locked in on the sideline receiver. I'd put that one on Taylor, but when we rarely design plays for the middle it's probably hard for him to look there.

The second time he was rolling to the West side with pressure, and we had one or two guys open wide on the East side. We all know throwing across your body is a no-no so I'm ok with that one. The third time was when he just flat out over threw Meadors in the end zone.

So not his best game, but sometimes the situation has to be considered.

[hotrod2001]

Every team has a game like this during the year. Bad teams get housed. Good teams lose it close. Better teams find a way to win. The best teams make sure it does't happen twice. It feels good to be among the latter two.

True, look across the landscape, were weren't the only ones who got spooked.Stanford, Michigan, Clemson, Notre Dame all came really close to having someone dump on their seasons. The good teams go back, look for where there they messed up, fix them and move on.

[EastHallApp]

Every team has a game like this during the year. Bad teams get housed. Good teams lose it close. Better teams find a way to win. The best teams make sure it does't happen twice. It feels good to be among the latter two.

True, look across the landscape, were weren't the only ones who got spooked.Stanford, Michigan, Clemson, Notre Dame all came really close to having someone dump on their seasons. The good teams go back, look for where there they messed up, fix them and move on.

Clemson won by 15, and Notre Dame beat a top 25 team on the road, but I get your point.