9-4, tougher OOC schedule, beat us pretty convincingly H2H, undefeated Sun Belt champions, blown out in their bowl by an 8-4 CUSA team, 0-4 vs. non-SBC FBS opponents (average margin: 26 points)

OR

11-2, won bowl game vs. 8-4 MAC team, 3-1 vs. non-SBC FBS opponents

Maybe it's the homer in me, and I know before the season the conference title was the #1 stated goal, but I think I'd take our year over theirs.

Interesting question. Conference titles are what you play for so its hard to say I wouldn't want that, but how I'm feeling right now v. how an Arky State fan might be feeling, I'm pretty damn happy right now. 11 win seasons are very rare and we've done some things this season that have never been done before (winning bowl game in first year of eligibility, winning 11 games in the SBC) so I'll take our season over theirs THIS year. Let's get the conference championship next year.

Records, biasness, and head to head aside you have to go with App State. Making and winning a bowl game in first year of eligibility is a great accomplishment. I doubt The Stink will neat Bowling Green, which would make us the only Sun Belt team to win a bowl game. Great season, App State football is back!

They won the conference championship. That's what we play for. We'll get more publicity and probably carry more momentum into next year, but they had the better season because they won the prize.

App State! = Gotta give A-State credit that they are Sunbelt Conference Champs though and that is about the only goal missing from our season. I will take our 11-2 record and bowl win over their season...but I do wish we had a mulligan and could play that November 5th A-State game over again in Boone, especially that dang 3rd quarter. Yes, they held onto the ball and we had 3 turnovers that game. I know, we also had 3X more stupid penalties than they did that day. But we gave A-State 17 points in the 3rd quarter and we did not score. Our let down in that one quarter was the difference in that game to me. You take that one quarter out and we out score them and win that game. Our only loss for the year then would be at #1 - Clemson. Top 25 ranking then for Apps? I know that is some "What IFing", but yes I still think App State had a better season than A-State.

Great 2015 Football Season Mountaineers
Merry Christmas to the Team, Players, Staff, and App Nation fans!

Yes it is an interesting question. I would have to agree at least in part w/ Glenn. It is what we play for... I say that b/c many teams play for a bowl game ( which equals just six wins)... We don't.... I will also say that Arky was sooooo lucky that Chapman got hurt right before half.... if not, we wn that game going away. We certainly finished stronger than Arky and that does count for something. We have set a very high bar for the Sunbelt in our first full season. This is something that Arky hasn't done in like how many seasons they have been in the Sunbelt. Also, we were hit by the injury bug most of the second half of the season and still did what we did. All-all a very high "A" season.

The way I look at it: stAte can lay claim to having the better season, and I won't argue with them.

But I doubt anyone here would be willing to trade places. I know I'm not.

I think we did. Sure they won the conference but at the end of the season we are 11-2, including a bowl win. If we didn't leave our mojo in the locker room in the 2nd half of the stAte game, this isn't even a question.

At the end of the day, The Ark State Loss is gonna cost us from cracking top 25 once final rankings are out.

87ASUgrad wrote:App State! = Gotta give A-State credit that they are Sunbelt Conference Champs though and that is about the only goal missing from our season. I will take our 11-2 record and bowl win over their season...but I do wish we had a mulligan and could play that November 5th A-State game over again in Boone, especially that dang 3rd quarter. Yes, they held onto the ball and we had 3 turnovers that game. I know, we also had 3X more stupid penalties than they did that day. But we gave A-State 17 points in the 3rd quarter and we did not score. Our let down in that one quarter was the difference in that game to me. You take that one quarter out and we out score them and win that game. Our only loss for the year then would be at #1 - Clemson. Top 25 ranking then for Apps? I know that is some "What IFing", but yes I still think App State had a better season than A-State.

Great 2015 Football Season Mountaineers
Merry Christmas to the Team, Players, Staff, and App Nation fans!

Not to contradict your opinion here but you also take away the 2nd quarter vs. Clemson and we maybe could have been undefeated and they'd not be #1 right now!

I bet if we ask stAte fans if they'd trade winning the Sun Belt for an 11-2 season with a bowl win, more than a few of them might take that trade.

I think the final coaches poll will indicate that - in their minds anyway - that we had the better season.

For our program - at this particular point - we had a better season. We need this upcoming recruiting class to be excellent and I'm sure the coaches would tell you that a bowl win - and all the footage of the game, the packed App section in the stands - and the trophy presentation makes for an easier time on the recruiting trail than just being able to say "Yeah, we got rolled in our bowl game......but we won the conference."


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That is a tougher question than I thought it would be.

Being the first team to win a bowl in its first eligible year is a huge accomplishment.

As is receiving top 25 votes.

The funny thing is we could have a very similar year in 2016 as Ark. St had this year.

We talked about this on the ride home yesterday.

To me going 11-2 with one loss being to the #1 team in the country, winning our bowl game, and beating teams from 3 peer conferences trumps 8-4 with a blow out loss in the bowl. Yes they won the conference over us, but one quarter of a game does not equal a better season.

We're heading into the off season with tons of momentum while they are licking their wounds, and their star QB who was 80% of their offense is graduating. Christmas in Boone is going to be much happier than Jonesboro.

Here's the thing: I don't necessarily agree that conference championships are "what we play for." Frankly I've never cared much about conference championships, for us or anyone else. When we were FCS, I wanted us to make the playoffs and make a run at the national title. If we won the SoCon along the way, great. But it's a secondary goal; the primary goal is national relevance, whatever that means at a given level.

Even at the P5 level, to me making one of the major bowls has always been a much bigger deal than winning a conference championship (though the conference titles have gotten a lot more important now that they're a virtual prerequisite for the CFP).

As far as App now - yeah I want to win the Sun Belt. But to me, we didn't move up to FBS to join the Sun Belt; we joined the Sun Belt to move up to FBS.

I want our program to be relevant outside our conference. And you know who doesn't care who wins the Sun Belt title? Anyone outside the Sun Belt. This league has been producing 9-4 champions for years, and no one cares or notices.

Going 11-2, I think, can at least start to get us on the radar of people who don't normally notice the Sun Belt.

Here's a good illustration of what I mean: Look at Western Kentucky. They moved up from FCS just a few years ago and joined the Sun Belt. They never won a Sun Belt title. But they moved on to CUSA, and now they're in the top 25 and one of the 3-4 best G5 teams in the country.

They never won the league title - but they've lapped all the programs that were ahead of them in the Sun Belt.

scatman77 wrote:

87ASUgrad wrote:App State! = Gotta give A-State credit that they are Sunbelt Conference Champs though and that is about the only goal missing from our season. I will take our 11-2 record and bowl win over their season...but I do wish we had a mulligan and could play that November 5th A-State game over again in Boone, especially that dang 3rd quarter. Yes, they held onto the ball and we had 3 turnovers that game. I know, we also had 3X more stupid penalties than they did that day. But we gave A-State 17 points in the 3rd quarter and we did not score. Our let down in that one quarter was the difference in that game to me. You take that one quarter out and we out score them and win that game. Our only loss for the year then would be at #1 - Clemson. Top 25 ranking then for Apps? I know that is some "What IFing", but yes I still think App State had a better season than A-State.

Great 2015 Football Season Mountaineers
Merry Christmas to the Team, Players, Staff, and App Nation fans!

Not to contradict your opinion here but you also take away the 2nd quarter vs. Clemson and we maybe could have been undefeated and they'd not be #1 right now!

Wow, that is a good point. Hey, I wonder what would have been our bowl options then or are we committed to the bowls that the Sunbelt has lined up for conference members.

87ASUgrad wrote:Hey, I wonder what would have been our bowl options then or are we committed to the bowls that the Sunbelt has lined up for conference members.

If we were undefeated we would have had an excellent chance of going to the Peach Bowl.

JTApps1 wrote:We talked about this on the ride home yesterday.

To me going 11-2 with one loss being to the #1 team in the country, winning our bowl game, and beating teams from 3 peer conferences trumps 8-4 with a blow out loss in the bowl. Yes they won the conference over us, but one quarter of a game does not equal a better season.

We're heading into the off season with tons of momentum while they are licking their wounds, and their star QB who was 80% of their offense is graduating. Christmas in Boone is going to be much happier than Jonesboro.

Where the Hell is Jonesboro?

In addition to all you mentioned I'll add we have a higher Sagarin ratings than Ark. St. So I say we had the better by far, and the recruiting seasons coming up will validate my opinion. Not to mention The U coming to The Rock next year.

256 days until Rocky Top!