I don’t understand

[t4pizza]

I for one am actually pleased with this bowl. Specifically because I think we got the best match up of the group. We have a legitimate G5 team that we can play to see which team finishes the season with 10 wins. The game will be a good one, and that is all I am concerned with. Is the location ideal, no it is not. But then again, with the other bowls had negatives as well. Both the NO and Cure bowl feature opponents with 6-6 records, and nobody would have gone to Mobile 2 days before Christmas to watch us play Ohio again. Honestly, I think we got the best bowl game of all Sun Belt teams because we have a legit quality opponent that should give us a good game.

[Seattleapp]

Simple question for everyone advocating for 'fairness & change' ...Why would the people who benefit from the current system change it? What is in it for them?

I get why we want it to change...but WHY would THEY change it?

Hint...the answer is CASH! Until we bring more people and more money than someone else, we will be at the little kid table. So all of you complaining and staying home, you're only extending the purgatory we're in.

Good point

[87ASUgrad]

Did anyone else see this post on ESPN copied & pasted below? Link here: http://www.espn.com/ncf/game?gameId=400876040
An Arkansas State fan agrees that we should have got a different bowl. ESPN has us a a 1 point underdog currently also.
Go Mountaineers!!

Jackson Baker Harrington · Mira Costa High

Arkansas State fan here, I apologize for this ridiculous bowl selection process. You guys have a good matchup here in a bad bowl. App State should have gone to either New Orleans or the Dollar General, with the Red Wolves to the opposite. At the very least they could have gone to the Arizona Bowl and played a decent Air Force, now they are stuck playing UCF, with South Alabama playing AF. This is where Troy should be.

Like · Reply · 4 · Dec 4, 2016 12:57pm

[ericsaid]

You all do realize the Toledo is likely a Top 10 G5 team this year right? This is a great match-up on a Saturday night against a G5 household name on ESPN in what will amount to Kidd-Brewer Southwest's Southwest(South of Chattanooga).

[Yosefus]

Toledo will not be a pushover. Remember last year we won on a last second field goal in a great game with Ohio. I am pleased with where the team is at this point in FBS and tickled to death we have been in top 25 considerations even though we did not get there this year. We played 2 top 25 schools at the time we played them and were only an extra point from beating one of them. Our guys are playing at the top tear of the G5 but realistically we are a long way from P5 playoff contention. Best case scenario for near future is 12-0 or 13-0 conference championship and we will be in NY6 game. And I for one will be there.

[Rekdiver]

Toledo will tempo us to death if we start looking to the sidelines for Woodys calls. A much better team than Ohio was last year. No pushover? Damn right. They aren't. Will be the 3rd best team we will have faced this year behind Ut and Miami.

[Carolina Rocket]

Dont forget that when Boise first came up, they went bowling in their OWN STADIUM for several years before breaking through (Humanitarian Bowl, now the Potato Bowl). Be patient.

[AppST'93]

Did anyone else see this post on ESPN copied & pasted below? Link here: http://www.espn.com/ncf/game?gameId=400876040
An Arkansas State fan agrees that we should have got a different bowl. ESPN has us a a 1 point underdog currently also.
Go Mountaineers!!

Jackson Baker Harrington · Mira Costa High

Arkansas State fan here, I apologize for this ridiculous bowl selection process. You guys have a good matchup here in a bad bowl. App State should have gone to either New Orleans or the Dollar General, with the Red Wolves to the opposite. At the very least they could have gone to the Arizona Bowl and played a decent Air Force, now they are stuck playing UCF, with South Alabama playing AF. This is where Troy should be.

Like · Reply · 4 · Dec 4, 2016 12:57pm

We are actually a 1 point favorite.

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

I think we as fans get a little bit out of our mind every now and then. Can we compete occasionally with a P5 school? Yes (see Tennessee). Can we compete always with a P5 school? No (see Miami). Until we get consistency and win every Sunbelt game by 40, it's not going to happen. Yes we won most Sunbelt games this year pretty easily, but few were blowouts and we lost to Troy. Nothing against Troy at all, they're a great team, but if we're susceptible to losing to Troy, we're not on the level of 80% of the P5's. If you look at the bowl rankings, we're in the middle. That's not bad considering the amount of bowls there are and the fact we're in the "worst" conference in FBS (glances over at C-USA). We're getting respect slowly, but let's pull in the reigns a bit and be thankful we have a winning program year after year. The time will come when we move up to a better conference, but we're in the Sunbelt now, competing for Sunbelt bowls.

[Longrifle28]

Did anyone else see this post on ESPN copied & pasted below? Link here: http://www.espn.com/ncf/game?gameId=400876040
An Arkansas State fan agrees that we should have got a different bowl. ESPN has us a a 1 point underdog currently also.
Go Mountaineers!!

Jackson Baker Harrington · Mira Costa High

Arkansas State fan here, I apologize for this ridiculous bowl selection process. You guys have a good matchup here in a bad bowl. App State should have gone to either New Orleans or the Dollar General, with the Red Wolves to the opposite. At the very least they could have gone to the Arizona Bowl and played a decent Air Force, now they are stuck playing UCF, with South Alabama playing AF. This is where Troy should be.

Like · Reply · 4 · Dec 4, 2016 12:57pm

We are actually a 1 point favorite.

Depends on where you look. If you go by Sagarin ratings, playing on a neutral field we are a .37 point underdog. Massey ratings have us at a 52% chance to win by one point. Based on paper, I don't think you could have gotten two more evenly ranked teams. It will be interesting to see the betting lines as we get closer to the game.

[appgrad95&97]

I think we as fans get a little bit out of our mind every now and then. Can we compete occasionally with a P5 school? Yes (see Tennessee). Can we compete always with a P5 school? No (see Miami). Until we get consistency and win every Sunbelt game by 40, it's not going to happen. Yes we won most Sunbelt games this year pretty easily, but few were blowouts and we lost to Troy. Nothing against Troy at all, they're a great team, but if we're susceptible to losing to Troy, we're not on the level of 80% of the P5's. If you look at the bowl rankings, we're in the middle. That's not bad considering the amount of bowls there are and the fact we're in the "worst" conference in FBS (glances over at C-USA). We're getting respect slowly, but let's pull in the reigns a bit and be thankful we have a winning program year after year. The time will come when we move up to a better conference, but we're in the Sunbelt now, competing for Sunbelt bowls.

I agree with and appreciate almost this entire post. The one issue I have is with your last sentence. I'm not sure we should be focused on moving up to a "better" conference. I recall the day that we wanted to be in CUSA. That doesn't look so good now. I'm not sure it is a better (football) conference than the Sun Belt, and it is (as it always has been) plagued with geography problems. And it is hard to make the case that we will be asked to join the American or get several American teams to jump ship to start a new conference that includes App. The Belt has six teams in bowl games this year. If the conference goes 4-2, that will be a big statement. I think our best option for the next several years is to try to expand our current conference and improve its national reputation that way. Given the issues I see with CUSA (and the fact that I don't see it as a better conference), I'd love to see the Belt make a play for UAB and Southern Miss. If I'm right, its an equivalent conference and better geography for them. Imagine:

Sun Belt East: App St. Costal, Georgia So., Georgia St. Troy and UAB

Sun Belt West: Arkansas St., LA Lafayette, LA Monroe, South Alabama, Southern Miss, and TX St.

[Rick83]

Is UAB playing football now? I like the Sun Belt divisional set up, or as we've discussed endlessly on other threads, a completely re-mapped G5 conference layout that matches schools more geographically based. That would promote attendance, gate receipts, and ignite regional rivalries.

[bigapp]

I hear your arguments...but what is the payoff for being a Conference Champ? The players deserve a better venue and better bling........
AND we deserve a nice warm venue.

Where do you think we "deserve" to go?

Secondly, do you have any idea how many tickets Appalachian would have to sell to avoid the Superdome looking the way the Georgia Dome looks for a Georgia State home game?

Do you guys really think we could sell more tickets than Louisiana for the NO Bowl?

[bigdaddyg]

I hear your arguments...but what is the payoff for being a Conference Champ? The players deserve a better venue and better bling........
AND we deserve a nice warm venue.

Where do you think we "deserve" to go?

Secondly, do you have any idea how many tickets Appalachian would have to sell to avoid the Superdome looking the way the Georgia Dome looks for a Georgia State home game?

Do you guys really think we could sell more tickets than Louisiana for the NO Bowl?

The bowl debate really has no good answer. I agree, guys who say we "deserve" a better bowl. To me it's all a racket for the most part. Personally I believe the entire process would be better if teams had to win at least 7 games and the number of bowls were limited. After the big boy bowls are decided then regionalize the rest. If we got to go to the Rose Bowl would there be more than 10,000 fans who would make the trip? Folks complain about our fan base but maybe it is what it is and maybe it isn't that bad compared to peer schools. I don't really think the New Orleans Bowl is that asthetically appealing. How would it look with 20,000 people in a 70k dome? As long as good G5's have to travel hundreds of miles in mid to late December for a game attendance will always be in the low to mid 20k range and maybe that's ok. How many fans (seriously) will be at the Bahamas Bowl? As far as the point raised above that we need to win Sunbelt games by 40? Dang that's crazy. I think we have established ourselves as a dominant conference program already.

[Rekdiver]

I hear your arguments...but what is the payoff for being a Conference Champ? The players deserve a better venue and better bling........
AND we deserve a nice warm venue.

Where do you think we "deserve" to go?

Secondly, do you have any idea how many tickets Appalachian would have to sell to avoid the Superdome looking the way the Georgia Dome looks for a Georgia State home game?

Do you guys really think we could sell more tickets than Louisiana for the NO Bowl?

The bowl debate really has no good answer. I agree, guys who say we "deserve" a better bowl. To me it's all a racket for the most part. Personally I believe the entire process would be better if teams had to win at least 7 games and the number of bowls were limited. After the big boy bowls are decided then regionalize the rest. If we got to go to the Rose Bowl would there be more than 10,000 fans who would make the trip? Folks complain about our fan base but maybe it is what it is and maybe it isn't that bad compared to peer schools. I don't really think the New Orleans Bowl is that asthetically appealing. How would it look with 20,000 people in a 70k dome? As long as good G5's have to travel hundreds of miles in mid to late December for a game attendance will always be in the low to mid 20k range and maybe that's ok. How many fans (seriously) will be at the Bahamas Bowl? As far as the point raised above that we need to win Sunbelt games by 40? Dang that's crazy. I think we have established ourselves as a dominant conference program already.

I don't care how many tickets we have to sell in the NO dome or Orlando.....this is supposed to be a reward for the team 1sr and the fans 2nd. Think about our guys maki g their first trip to Disneyworld or enjoying the food in NO and the music....They earned it and the SunBelt took it away. I hope they play major pissed because they should be.

[MDaniels84]

Many good opinions presented here and I certainly want what is best for our team. Due to our bowl tie ins, maybe we can hope for one of two other possibilities:
1. Go undefeated or 11-1 and take the Access Bowl by storm

2. Position ourselves to get slotted into the Belk Bowl or a similar venue when they don't have enough conference affiliated teams available.
Can you imagine how many Mountaineers would trek to Charlotte to play Duke, NC State, or Virginia or Vandy or Kentucky!

[appst89]

I don't see playing a 6-6 AAC also-ran on a second-tier network in a city with a much bigger bowl to promote as much of a reward. Same with New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl.

We got the best bowl matchup of any Belt team in a city that wants us there and will roll out the red carpet and it will be on ESPN, who also likes us.

With the bowl tie-ins available, I don't see how we could have gotten a better reward.

[JTApps1]

I don't see playing a 6-6 AAC also-ran on a second-tier network in a city with a much bigger bowl to promote as much of a reward. Same with New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl.

We got the best bowl matchup of any Belt team in a city that wants us there and will roll out the red carpet and it will be on ESPN, who also likes us.

With the bowl tie-ins available, I don't see how we could have gotten a better reward.

Agreed. The reward is more than a few activities the two days before the game. Playing a really good team with a national spotlight on the team is a big deal for the program as we try to grow. With all the talk of realignment and the possible outcomes we need to win games against good competition, and for those that think we deserve better than the Sun Belt this type of game can help propel us to something better. We're still just in our 2nd full year after all.

[hapapp]

Keep in mind as well that the bowl organizers didn't create these bowls to reward players, they did it to make money. If it pays to invite the champion, they will. If there are better options for them, they will take them.

[AppST'93]

I don't see playing a 6-6 AAC also-ran on a second-tier network in a city with a much bigger bowl to promote as much of a reward. Same with New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl.

We got the best bowl matchup of any Belt team in a city that wants us there and will roll out the red carpet and it will be on ESPN, who also likes us.

With the bowl tie-ins available, I don't see how we could have gotten a better reward.

Reward- Ask the players which bowl they would choose. I'm sure New Orleans or Orlando would be their top two. We need these types of destinations if we want to keep getting better recruits. (Think as an 18 year)

I would argue that we got the best bowl matchup. I would much rather play Air Force. (Bigger household name than Toledo)