In case you find yourself lamenting the close losses and what might have been this year, remember, the holiday season is a great time to check in on old friends who've been going through some hard times lately:

Georgia Southern: 4-7

Marshall: 3-8

East Carolina: 3-8

Georgia State: 3-8

APP STATE: 8-3

Very nice East. Is someone going to do a rb comparison of the great backs from Apps????

Another thing worth mentioning is our continued success and improvement over the past years, and our promising future. I know we are not immune to having a bad season, but with how things are going on the field, and off the field with recruiting, I can't see it happening anytime soon.

To expand:

Georgia State has already fired their coach.

Georgia Southern fans desperately want to fire their (first-year) coach. They just lost a brand-new rivalry trophy they wish didn't even exist and are 0-4 the past two years vs. App State and Georgia State.

ECU is tied for last in their division and has lost their past three games by a combined 80 points.

Marshall has lost to Akron (by 27 at home), North Texas (by 17), Charlotte (at home) and FIU (by 17).

Bonus: Willie Fritz and Tulane, after a surprising 3-2 start, are now 3-8 (0-7). Their seven conference losses have been by an average of 17 points.

ECU's biggest mistake in a long time, was firing Ruff. Stupid!!!! Fritz has a strong history of being a "good" coach. He, however, walked into a stacked deck of talent at Southern for his "MAGICAL" season

agreed 9134 - firing Ruffin was absolutely STUPID !!!

/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09 wrote:Another thing worth mentioning is our continued success and improvement over the past years, and our promising future. I know we are not immune to having a bad season, but with how things are going on the field, and off the field with recruiting, I can't see it happening anytime soon.

Unless we have a change in coaching staff, which could very easily happen given our success over the past few years.

UNC CHeat: 8-3
Wake: 6-5
Moo-U: 5-6
Duke: 4-7

In terms of the prospect of future success, I would rank App St right up there among the top of any of these programs in state or those in the OP. The Hat and Cut are among the best in the game right now, and the verdict should still be out on EZU's mistake to drop Ruff. Everyone thought App was headed down the long road of head coaching despair when Cobb rolled Jerry out of town too. Dont' get me wrong, good riddance to Cobb, GIllen is a HUGE upgrade, but Satt has turned out to be one helluva good hire. If App can hold on to Satt and his staff, we have some really good seasons ahead of us.

MtnDevil95 wrote:UNC CHeat: 8-3
Wake: 6-5
Moo-U: 5-6
Duke: 4-7

In terms of the prospect of future success, I would rank App St right up there among the top of any of these programs in state or those in the OP. The Hat and Cut are among the best in the game right now, and the verdict should still be out on EZU's mistake to drop Ruff. Everyone thought App was headed down the long road of head coaching despair when Cobb rolled Jerry out of town too. Dont' get me wrong, good riddance to Cobb, GIllen is a HUGE upgrade, but Satt has turned out to be one helluva good hire. If App can hold on to Satt and his staff, we have some really good seasons ahead of us.

Did they? I thought it was pretty obvious that Satt was the heir-apparent for years and he seemed like a great hire at the time. At least to me. My impression was that the angst was over the timing and manner in which Cobb handled Moore's dismissal (or whatever you want to call it), but either way everyone knew he was near the end of the line, and it seemed like Satt coming back from FBS was kind of an informal coach-in-waiting situation.

Just to be clear to anyone that may have read some of my other posts where I was pointing out observations for discussion about how we have performed or not performed throughout this season, in the overall scheme of things and our "Journey" from FCS to a top G5 FBS/consistent top 25 contender, we are making very good progress. I am so proud of our program for the success we have enjoyed through the last 2-3 years and hope we continue to improve over the coming years.

My gripe has been knowing that as our program ascends I know we need to continue to build on the previous success (previous years and previous games in the same year). This year I believe we beat teams we should have beaten but we did not pull any upsets. We basically played almost good enough to be 10-1 at this point this year. We did 80-90 percent of the things we needed to do to win but didn't do several things, not just one single thing, but several that ended up costing us two games against two good programs. I would have loved to have seen us close the deal on those two games. I know the team would say exactly the same so I know they are also disappointed.

This being said I don't want those comments to overshadow all the good that they have accomplished. The good news is that we are rising and hopefully next year will improve to win games like these. The satisfaction I do have it that the schedule this year was by far the toughest schedule this program has ever played and we have done very well.

Agree Atl. And just to be clear on my part, this post wasn't meant as a response to you or anyone else. I have the same thoughts you do about this season, as I figure many fans do. Which is why I thought it would be enjoyable to all enjoy a laugh at our various rivals' misfortune as a reminder of how good we have it. Year three and already ambivalent about potentially going 9-3.

AtlAppMan wrote:Just to be clear to anyone that may have read some of my other posts where I was pointing out observations for discussion about how we have performed or not performed throughout this season, in the overall scheme of things and our "Journey" from FCS to a top G5 FBS/consistent top 25 contender, we are making very good progress. I am so proud of our program for the success we have enjoyed through the last 2-3 years and hope we continue to improve over the coming years.

My gripe has been knowing that as our program ascends I know we need to continue to build on the previous success (previous years and previous games in the same year). This year I believe we beat teams we should have beaten but we did not pull any upsets. We basically played almost good enough to be 10-1 at this point this year. We did 80-90 percent of the things we needed to do to win but didn't do several things, not just one single thing, but several that ended up costing us two games against two good programs. I would have loved to have seen us close the deal on those two games. I know the team would say exactly the same so I know they are also disappointed.

This being said I don't want those comments to overshadow all the good that they have accomplished. The good news is that we are rising and hopefully next year will improve to win games like these. The satisfaction I do have it that the schedule this year was by far the toughest schedule this program has ever played and we have done very well.

I've thought the same thing all day. I think we are actually ahead of schedule and I am excited about the future; but the reality is, after 2 dominating seasons in the Sunbelt, we have yet to win the conference, and probably wont win it outright next year even if we go 8-0 because of how the schedule flushes out. In EastHalls weekly top 10 G5, our "best win" is not very great and looks worse every week that goes by. I love the steps we took last year and even though we lost the Miami game, I saw respect granted to App by the national pundits, Vegas and even the opponent (Miami) on a level never seen. We are moving forward which is incredible, but this year we needed a signature moment, almost got it, but not quite. It will happen, hopefully against UGA or Wake (or both) next year. Looking forward to whipping some NMSU this weekend and traveling for a great time at our Bowl location. Not gripping, it is what it is and I love where we are as a program. On a side note, I think our inability to win the conference or have a signature moment this year, helps us keep our coaching staff around for another year. We pull out that Tenn game and beat Troy, we could have been looking at a very interesting offseason.

I agree with what all y'all are saying and want to add as a reminder...if stAte stumbles against ULL (not likely but very possible)...our guys will share the SBC championship assuming we beat NMSU. The fact that we've been in title contention right out of the gate (2 out of our first 3 years) in the SBC is amazing. Well done coaches, players, and fans who stuck with the team even during the difficult transition years. Bowls in each of the 2 years we've been eligible...amazing. It's great to be a Mountaineer.

AppOrange wrote:

AtlAppMan wrote:Just to be clear to anyone that may have read some of my other posts where I was pointing out observations for discussion about how we have performed or not performed throughout this season, in the overall scheme of things and our "Journey" from FCS to a top G5 FBS/consistent top 25 contender, we are making very good progress. I am so proud of our program for the success we have enjoyed through the last 2-3 years and hope we continue to improve over the coming years.

My gripe has been knowing that as our program ascends I know we need to continue to build on the previous success (previous years and previous games in the same year). This year I believe we beat teams we should have beaten but we did not pull any upsets. We basically played almost good enough to be 10-1 at this point this year. We did 80-90 percent of the things we needed to do to win but didn't do several things, not just one single thing, but several that ended up costing us two games against two good programs. I would have loved to have seen us close the deal on those two games. I know the team would say exactly the same so I know they are also disappointed.

This being said I don't want those comments to overshadow all the good that they have accomplished. The good news is that we are rising and hopefully next year will improve to win games like these. The satisfaction I do have it that the schedule this year was by far the toughest schedule this program has ever played and we have done very well.

I've thought the same thing all day. I think we are actually ahead of schedule and I am excited about the future; but the reality is, after 2 dominating seasons in the Sunbelt, we have yet to win the conference, and probably wont win it outright next year even if we go 8-0 because of how the schedule flushes out. In EastHalls weekly top 10 G5, our "best win" is not very great and looks worse every week that goes by. I love the steps we took last year and even though we lost the Miami game, I saw respect granted to App by the national pundits, Vegas and even the opponent (Miami) on a level never seen. We are moving forward which is incredible, but this year we needed a signature moment, almost got it, but not quite. It will happen, hopefully against UGA or Wake (or both) next year. Looking forward to whipping some NMSU this weekend and traveling for a great time at our Bowl location. Not gripping, it is what it is and I love where we are as a program. On a side note, I think our inability to win the conference or have a signature moment this year, helps us keep our coaching staff around for another year. We pull out that Tenn game and beat Troy, we could have been looking at a very interesting offseason.

Agree with all this, but I actually rate our best win as ODU, who is 8-3 and a strong favorite to win their last game and finish tied for first in their division. (Of course that fact kind of underscores your point about the lack of opportunities for big wins in the Sun Belt).

We'd all probably to be happy to trounce a 9-3 CUSA team in our bowl game; unfortunately we kind of took it for granted when it happened because no one thought they'd have that good a season.

Rick83 wrote:...if stAte stumbles against ULL (not likely but very possible)...our guys will share the SBC championship assuming we beat NMSU.

That game will be complete by the time we kickoff in NM, so they will know what is on the line before the game starts.

EastHallApp wrote:

AppOrange wrote:

AtlAppMan wrote:Just to be clear to anyone that may have read some of my other posts where I was pointing out observations for discussion about how we have performed or not performed throughout this season, in the overall scheme of things and our "Journey" from FCS to a top G5 FBS/consistent top 25 contender, we are making very good progress. I am so proud of our program for the success we have enjoyed through the last 2-3 years and hope we continue to improve over the coming years.

My gripe has been knowing that as our program ascends I know we need to continue to build on the previous success (previous years and previous games in the same year). This year I believe we beat teams we should have beaten but we did not pull any upsets. We basically played almost good enough to be 10-1 at this point this year. We did 80-90 percent of the things we needed to do to win but didn't do several things, not just one single thing, but several that ended up costing us two games against two good programs. I would have loved to have seen us close the deal on those two games. I know the team would say exactly the same so I know they are also disappointed.

This being said I don't want those comments to overshadow all the good that they have accomplished. The good news is that we are rising and hopefully next year will improve to win games like these. The satisfaction I do have it that the schedule this year was by far the toughest schedule this program has ever played and we have done very well.

I've thought the same thing all day. I think we are actually ahead of schedule and I am excited about the future; but the reality is, after 2 dominating seasons in the Sunbelt, we have yet to win the conference, and probably wont win it outright next year even if we go 8-0 because of how the schedule flushes out. In EastHalls weekly top 10 G5, our "best win" is not very great and looks worse every week that goes by. I love the steps we took last year and even though we lost the Miami game, I saw respect granted to App by the national pundits, Vegas and even the opponent (Miami) on a level never seen. We are moving forward which is incredible, but this year we needed a signature moment, almost got it, but not quite. It will happen, hopefully against UGA or Wake (or both) next year. Looking forward to whipping some NMSU this weekend and traveling for a great time at our Bowl location. Not gripping, it is what it is and I love where we are as a program. On a side note, I think our inability to win the conference or have a signature moment this year, helps us keep our coaching staff around for another year. We pull out that Tenn game and beat Troy, we could have been looking at a very interesting offseason.

Agree with all this, but I actually rate our best win as ODU, who is 8-3 and a strong favorite to win their last game and finish tied for first in their division. (Of course that fact kind of underscores your point about the lack of opportunities for big wins in the Sun Belt).

We'd all probably to be happy to trounce a 9-3 CUSA team in our bowl game; unfortunately we kind of took it for granted when it happened because no one thought they'd have that good a season.

Good point, I recall the stink being our "best win" for quite a while . . . maybe I want paying attention close enough when it changed to ODU.

I'd say at this point the best wins of the season are ODU and Idaho, and those were pretty convincing wins. The team is 8-3, but only 2-3 against Bowl eligible teams. Good to see the guys beating teams they should, though it sure would have nice to hold off Troy and UT. Overall, I think we should be satisfied with the way things have gone the last few years but recognize there is room for improvement.

edited because my autocorrect thought overally was a better word choice than overall!?!?

Figured I'd update this one now that all these teams' seasons are complete. Well, everyone's but ours was over a few weeks ago, but you know what I mean.

APP STATE: 10-3, Sun Belt Champions, Camellia Bowl Champions

Georgia Southern: 5-7

Marshall: 3-9

East Carolina: 3-9

Georgia State: 3-9

Heck of a game, season and couple of years.