Observations through 1 quarter

[kornegaylw]

This team is going to be really good. But watching the 2nd half I couldn't help but feel that Ponce got too conservative. Case in point the first drive of the 3rd quarter and then giving them the ball back in the 4th. It felt like last year a bit.

Obviously this is nit picky and have faith this will be corrected as both Ponce and the offense get comfortable.

[Gears]

This team is going to be really good. But watching the 2nd half I couldn't help but feel that Ponce got too conservative. Case in point the first drive of the 3rd quarter and then giving them the ball back in the 4th. It felt like last year a bit.

Obviously this is nit picky and have faith this will be corrected as both Ponce and the offense get comfortable.

They are going to be good this year, played a great game overall and this was a good confidence builder going into Miami. Not taking anything away from the team but we have to remember EC is a sub .500 team who has only won four games in the past several years. They had some strong runs but we responded and pretty much dominated the game. Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great. Can’t wait to see how Ponce and Clark fine tune the game against Miami.

[BambooRdApp]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

[kornegaylw]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

100% Agree

Good teams put lesser teams away earlier and I hope that Ponce learns to keep pushing in the 3rd till that happens. That's all I was saying.

[AppSt94]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

100% Agree

Good teams put lesser teams away earlier and I hope that Ponce learns to keep pushing in the 3rd till that happens. That's all I was saying.

What do you mean? They were put away. They weren’t coming back.

[Gears]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

Zack T’s first game was against Penn State. We all remember that game and IMO he showed he could lead this team from the opening whistle. Brice’s first game was against a mediocre team with a losing record. He played great, not taking anything away from him….I want him to lead the team and pick apart defenses with his arm like he did last night…Can he do it against Miami, Marshall and Coastal? I hope so.

[appstatealum]

We dominated. Nothing more to evaluate. Ponce definitely went conservative, but why not, we aren't a Power 5 with 4 and 5 stars waiting on the bench if our starters get hurt. It was nice to see a smoothly called game and have a QB who looked good in the pocket and utilized our talent to the fullest. We are and have been loaded at skill positions, but now we have a QB who doesn't seem to get flustered and makes his reads and has the touch to keep drives alive. Think about it, Corey had a pretty quiet night as our backs and Henni did most the damage in chunks. The competition will get more difficult, but we've seen how someone like Corey can be force-fed and make plays when nothing else is manifesting. Henni and Pearson just get it done when their number is called and Cam has another gear as well when needed.

[kornegaylw]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

100% Agree

Good teams put lesser teams away earlier and I hope that Ponce learns to keep pushing in the 3rd till that happens. That's all I was saying.

What do you mean? They were put away. They weren’t coming back.

That could be...but watching on TV I felt differently. It would have taken mistakes on Apps part for it to have happened and yes I am being nit picky but I would like to see Ponce be a bit more aggressive calling plays in the 3rd.

We played great. Can't wait to see how much better we can get.

[AppSt94]

"Brice played a great first game for the Mountaineers but he is surrounded by great running backs and receivers who have proven themselves over and over again. Noel and Peoples…What can you say, they were great"

Not sure I get this comment. All the surrounding cast will be trotting out for duty for the remaining 11 games and hopefully more after that this year. Brice has cast to be great all year. IMO, the Miami game does not make or break the whether Brice is great or not great for App. St. From my vantage point last night, I have not seen a QB like that on the Mountain from an arm perspective, in a long time.

100% Agree

Good teams put lesser teams away earlier and I hope that Ponce learns to keep pushing in the 3rd till that happens. That's all I was saying.

What do you mean? They were put away. They weren’t coming back.

That could be...but watching on TV I felt differently. It would have taken mistakes on Apps part for it to have happened and yes I am being nit picky but I would like to see Ponce be a bit more aggressive calling plays in the 3rd.

We played great. Can't wait to see how much better we can get.

I don’t think what you are saying is being nit picky. This is how I see it played out. We were controlling them defensively and seemed to be able to do pretty much what we wanted offensively. The decision became to run some base stuff against an opponent to see how they react.

We have never been a run it up offense. It’s not in the Jerry Moore DNA. If we score running the plays, great, but Jerry took his foot off the gas when the outcome was clear. That transferred to his protégés.

[fjblair]

This team is going to be really good. But watching the 2nd half I couldn't help but feel that Ponce got too conservative. Case in point the first drive of the 3rd quarter and then giving them the ball back in the 4th. It felt like last year a bit.

Obviously this is nit picky and have faith this will be corrected as both Ponce and the offense get comfortable.

I was very disappointed we did not go for the gimme first down in that situation. WTF man?

[Longrifle28]

I'll take what I saw last night for a first game against an AAC opponent/possible future rival, every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Question mark at QB went 74% completions for 259 yards (9.6 yards per completion) hooking up with 10 different receivers. He can run when he has too. I thought he made some pretty good decisions. Had a couple he would like to have back, but I'm sure he will watch tape and make improvements.

Ran for 226 yards with two backs over 100 yards.

Defense held the Pirates to 381 yards and 19 points. Even though they only won 3 last year, their averages for yards and points were way more. Blitz packages looked good.

Loved what I saw in the first three quarters regarding how to utilize our capabilities, mix things up, and make the defense guess at what we were trying to do. Brice made some excellent throws and the timing with our receivers looks good. Noel and Peoples complement each other very well and our offensive line did a good job. I think we did get conservative towards the end of the game, but their last touchdown was scored on our two's and three's, and we were trying to run out clock. There's a few things we need to clean up, but I liked what I saw.

It will be interesting to see how Miami does against Alabama. We're probably going to be double digit dawgs, but I would love to go down there and make them sweat.

[AppSt94]

Early commentary from the Miami board on 24/7.

“ Team defense is playing well, and Chase Brice looks night and day from Duke. Team went 9-3 last year. Good talent, hope we don’t have a Bama hangover and they have a few extra days of rest and film. A game we can’t afford to look over.”

“I’m not concerned about playing them at all, but App State is one of the 4 best teams on our schedule this year. Don’t be fooled. Better than probably everybody we play in the ACC except NC and NCST.”

[kornegaylw]

This team is going to be really good. But watching the 2nd half I couldn't help but feel that Ponce got too conservative. Case in point the first drive of the 3rd quarter and then giving them the ball back in the 4th. It felt like last year a bit.

Obviously this is nit picky and have faith this will be corrected as both Ponce and the offense get comfortable.

I was very disappointed we did not go for the gimme first down in that situation. WTF man?

Yes this is what got me. Just go for it. Get the first down, go down and score and break their will.

[APPRIDE]

So what is the rule on targeting for the next game? Is Nick Ross scheduled now to miss just the first half or all of next game?

[BeauFoster]

So what is the rule on targeting for the next game? Is Nick Ross scheduled now to miss just the first half or all of next game?

Penalty occurs in the second half, player sits out the first half of the next game. Therefore Ross is out for the first half against Miami.

[hapapp]

So what is the rule on targeting for the next game? Is Nick Ross scheduled now to miss just the first half or all of next game?

Yes, he will sit the first half.

[asu1978]

My question is,WHY THE HELL SCHEDULE A BALLGAME EVENT AT THE SAME TIME AS THE CHARLOTTE FRIDAY RUSH!!!!I got into downtown Charlotte at 4:45.with all the one way traffic flows turning left,We didn't get to the S.Church parking deck until after 6.I know the regular Charlotte commuters from Honeywell and others were p!$$ed.ESPN rules again!

[Saint3333]

We drove in at 4 and didn't have an issue.

There isn't an event at BofA that doesn't have terrible traffic 2 hours prior to the game.

In the future if you're coming in that timeframe take the light rail.

[appstate77]

I took lite rail from 485. Had no problems getting in and out.

[appstatealum]

Charlotte traffic is not bad at all considering. I left my house at 515, ate at Pinkys, parked and was at the game 20 min before kickoff with ease. Uptown traffic patterns can be a bitch if you aren't familiar, but for locals, I was surprised how well the logistics were done around BOA for this week. I may be singing a different tune when I go to the game tomorrow.

On another note- I liked how it seemed we didn't have to take the leash off of Corey or Camrun and really controlled the game with Noel and Henni as anchors. Shows how much more dominant we were .