Birmingham Bowl

[Stonewall]

The “ team” means about as much as the school these days. Very little. These guys have no idea what they have lost for a lifetime.

[Appstate88]

I see this year's bowl situation as different. We were not bowl eligible. Exit interviews occurred. Players that were considering leaving had probably made plans in terms getting prepared for next stop. I would be disappointed if we were bowl eligible and they exited stage left and elected to not play in the bowl game.
Overall, I believe you should play and finish what you started. Show loyalty to your other teammates.. if not to coaches, etc. However, I have some understanding in this unique situation.

Do we know if the coaches gave them that option? What if some of the players wanted to come back and the coaches encouraged them to enter the portal? Would you want to come back to play for that coach?

I am sure some were communicated that they need to find another school, either directly or indirectly. Annual process by all schools

No school should conduct exit interviews before semester finals and bowl selection Sunday are both complete.

[AppAlum1]

Lots to think about here. The biggie is why is our head coach calling the plays he is calling?? Some were boneheaded. DLo appears to lack a situational awareness. Why not get an OC who sits upstairs and can call the game better ? DLo can recruit and talk to the public and make decisions like go for two or an extra point. But have someone else call the plays. We will have the players next year. I think we actually had the players this year. They just needed better plays called by the coach. Delegate.

[Apptiger]

My biggest disappointment is the starting QB at the end of the season (Kohl) and 20 some other portal players were not willing to play in the bowl game. I commend the players that did. State of college football sucks at our level. Nuff said.

I do not like when legitimate NFL prospects opt out, though I do ultimately understand it and accept it.

Damn near every one of our guys that opted out will be selling insurance in a decade and probably wonder why the heck they didn’t play more games when they had the chance.

Seen a lot of NFL scouts being quoted in the media over here saying that opting out of bowl games is a bad strategy for any college player that is not a solid first round pick. They look at as "me" first instead of team and a lack of love for the game.

[Saint3333]

I agree the situational awareness and continuing to rotate QBs was lacking.

But we didn’t have the players to compete (at least not the depth) and I KNOW we didn’t have the teammates needed.

[t4pizza]

Shawn Clark (God rest his soul) would have produced a better result than DL.

THIS year. Shawn Clark wouldn’t have had to rebuild, and App would’ve won maybe 2-3 more games. App admin rolled the dice that a new coach, after an adjustment period, could make App better.
Think of it this way, if you were a Stink fan, would you be happy with the season that Georgia Southern had this year? Because that’s probably what App would’ve done as well.

Let’s revisit this same time next year.

I disagree. Although we may have kept Joey Dimes. I do not believe we pick up some of the transfers...and our D with Sloan would have been even worse than what we have IMHO

We would have been dire.

Our QB room would have been:

Wiles, Gillon, and Wilson. Probably Estep who is at Pembroke now and couldn’t become the starter there.

Honestly, not sure we would have lost any more games with those QBs then we did with our hired guns. Wiles has proven that he can lead an offense and win games in the Sun Belt (the Belt was worse this year than a few years ago when he was still at So Miss), and Wilson showed today that with work he could be serviceable. Sure, he may not be a starter, but I am sure he could run several packages a game and be very successful as a change of pace QB. It is not like we were starting Manning out there, we had sub-par QB play all year long so I just don't think the guys DLo brought in provided any more wins than the guys that would have been here already.

[BambooRdApp]

I see this year's bowl situation as different. We were not bowl eligible. Exit interviews occurred. Players that were considering leaving had probably made plans in terms getting prepared for next stop. I would be disappointed if we were bowl eligible and they exited stage left and elected to not play in the bowl game.
Overall, I believe you should play and finish what you started. Show loyalty to your other teammates.. if not to coaches, etc. However, I have some understanding in this unique situation.

Do we know if the coaches gave them that option? What if some of the players wanted to come back and the coaches encouraged them to enter the portal? Would you want to come back to play for that coach?

I am sure some were communicated that they need to find another school, either directly or indirectly. Annual process by all schools

No school should conduct exit interviews before semester finals and bowl selection Sunday are both complete.

We were not eligible for a bowl. We were the 7th or 8th asked to play. This was a weird year.

[MAD Doctor]

While I also hate the current state of college football, I believe we have to take a hard look in the mirror. JMU made the playoff, and when their coach was poached, they signed a proven winner and will likely not miss a beat. . EZU, who we recently dominated, beat Pitt in a legit bowl game and are now in a completely different stratosphere than us. We face our first game of 2026 like our last game of 2025- just hoping not to be humiliated and that the team doesn’t quit.
“Hallelujah, Holy $hiff. Where’s the Tylenol?”

[Stonewall]

Someone who played the position tells me that Wilson showed more than enough yesterday to prove that giving up on him was a huge mistake by the staff.

[Bootsy]

Shawn Clark (God rest his soul) would have produced a better result than DL.

THIS year. Shawn Clark wouldn’t have had to rebuild, and App would’ve won maybe 2-3 more games. App admin rolled the dice that a new coach, after an adjustment period, could make App better.
Think of it this way, if you were a Stink fan, would you be happy with the season that Georgia Southern had this year? Because that’s probably what App would’ve done as well.

Let’s revisit this same time next year.

I disagree. Although we may have kept Joey Dimes. I do not believe we pick up some of the transfers...and our D with Sloan would have been even worse than what we have IMHO

We would have been dire.

Our QB room would have been:

Wiles, Gillon, and Wilson. Probably Estep who is at Pembroke now and couldn’t become the starter there.

Honestly, not sure we would have lost any more games with those QBs then we did with our hired guns. Wiles has proven that he can lead an offense and win games in the Sun Belt (the Belt was worse this year than a few years ago when he was still at So Miss), and Wilson showed today that with work he could be serviceable. Sure, he may not be a starter, but I am sure he could run several packages a game and be very successful as a change of pace QB. It is not like we were starting Manning out there, we had sub-par QB play all year long so I just don't think the guys DLo brought in provided any more wins than the guys that would have been here already.

Remember how vocal and undiplomatic DLo has been when making comments about Clark and his staff?

While it seemed not to make sense to many, who was surprised that Gillon got the nod over Wiles earlier in the season?
For argument's sake, let's say that DLo gave Wiles the nod when Swann/Kohl went down. If he came in and performed at least as well as QB1/QB2, how would that have looked? The QB left over from Clark's regime performs as good or better than the touted Portal players DLo brought in?

Perception is reality. And egos are frequently at play.

[ASUFan4863]

Someone who played the position tells me that Wilson showed more than enough yesterday to prove that giving up on him was a huge mistake by the staff.

He has the arm of a D3 QB. That’s not what we are going for.

[appstate24]

Keep in mind there was no tape on Wilson, so GS had to try and adjust on the fly. Once there is tape on a guy, it’s a lot easier for the defense to scheme against him.

That being said, I loved seeing Matt out there. His athleticism is undeniable. Loved his competitiveness. That alone put him over one our former QBs in my opinion.

I do think with full dedicated off season program Matt could evolve into a nice option. Would love to have him stay on the mountain and be given a fair shot to compete against whoever we bring in from the portal. If nothing else, he’s a decent backup and a pretty nice tool to have for certain packages. Matt seems like a loyal, coachable, and competitive guy with the make up of a true Mountaineer. Hopefully he decides to withdraw from the portal and stay put.

GO APPS!!

[AppDawg]

Someone who played the position tells me that Wilson showed more than enough yesterday to prove that giving up on him was a huge mistake by the staff.

He has the arm of a D3 QB. That’s not what we are going for.

He threw an 42 yd dime to Stroman in the 3rd quarter setting up a FG. With protection up front and him buying time in the pocket, I’d like to see what he can do. The pocket comes with experience and feel.

What I want to know is the opinion of our Defense that went against him and the scout team week-to-week throughout the season.

Both QBs I saw youth and inexperience on the INTs.

[AppStFan1]

You can rationalize behavior if you’d like, CFB has a bunch of terrible teammates everywhere now.

It truly is everywhere now. The system has created this. As much as we love Armanti Edwards, Corey Lynch, Dexter Coakley, etc I believe 90% of those level guys would have entered the portal and most of those would not have played either. I have talked to several players from the 2000s, 1990s, and even someone from 80s who said they hated to admit it but they would have entered the portal looking for a pay day and that they would have made business decisions as well. Those options were just not given in those eras.

[WASU 93]

THIS year. Shawn Clark wouldn’t have had to rebuild, and App would’ve won maybe 2-3 more games. App admin rolled the dice that a new coach, after an adjustment period, could make App better.
Think of it this way, if you were a Stink fan, would you be happy with the season that Georgia Southern had this year? Because that’s probably what App would’ve done as well.

Let’s revisit this same time next year.

I disagree. Although we may have kept Joey Dimes. I do not believe we pick up some of the transfers...and our D with Sloan would have been even worse than what we have IMHO

We would have been dire.

Our QB room would have been:

Wiles, Gillon, and Wilson. Probably Estep who is at Pembroke now and couldn’t become the starter there.

Honestly, not sure we would have lost any more games with those QBs then we did with our hired guns. Wiles has proven that he can lead an offense and win games in the Sun Belt (the Belt was worse this year than a few years ago when he was still at So Miss), and Wilson showed today that with work he could be serviceable. Sure, he may not be a starter, but I am sure he could run several packages a game and be very successful as a change of pace QB. It is not like we were starting Manning out there, we had sub-par QB play all year long so I just don't think the guys DLo brought in provided any more wins than the guys that would have been here already.

Remember how vocal and undiplomatic DLo has been when making comments about Clark and his staff?

While it seemed not to make sense to many, who was surprised that Gillon got the nod over Wiles earlier in the season?
For argument's sake, let's say that DLo gave Wiles the nod when Swann/Kohl went down. If he came in and performed at least as well as QB1/QB2, how would that have looked? The QB left over from Clark's regime performs as good or better than the touted Portal players DLo brought in?

Perception is reality. And egos are frequently at play.

His job is to win games. Imagine the story that could have been written yesterday. App State knocks off their rivals with a undermanned 5-7 team by going to the well and winning with a 5th string QB. DLo would get full credit for being an offensive mastermind and coming up with a run heavy game plan that took advantage of Wilson’s strengths to stun GaSo. That would have been his signature win (he doesn’t have one) and a story ingrained with App State culture.
It was a chance to step up and make something special happen. Instead, we received a typical DLo mismanaged performance.
And that’s why we need an OC. Not, because of play calling, but the head coach needs to lead the program and manage the entire game.

[WataugaMan]

Hopefully the program has hit rock bottom and there's no other way but up. Once again, the thing that frustrated me most, other than the play calling, was the lack of improvement throughout the season. Correctable issues were never corrected, we were our own worst enemy, and on multiple games we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The spark is there, just need someone(s) to make it work. To be positive, there's no way things can get any worse. Only way is up from here, fingers crossed.

[Stonewall]

Someone who played the position tells me that Wilson showed more than enough yesterday to prove that giving up on him was a huge mistake by the staff.

He has the arm of a D3 QB. That’s not what we are going for.

I trust the Hall of Famer.

[JTApps1]

You can rationalize behavior if you’d like, CFB has a bunch of terrible teammates everywhere now.

I'm not sure you have team anymore. You have rosters that change constantly, even mid-season.

[JTApps1]

Someone who played the position tells me that Wilson showed more than enough yesterday to prove that giving up on him was a huge mistake by the staff.

He has the arm of a D3 QB. That’s not what we are going for.

I trust the Hall of Famer.

Wilson showed he should have been in the QB room and available to a least run some plays to give defenses a different look. Loggains harped on the need to have a mobile QB yet we put the only one we had at DB. It doesn't make much sense.

[biggie]

He had flashes, but at the current state he looked like a triple option QB. I don't want our offense to be triple option. He may improve with more practice on reads and when to throw and when not to throw to avoid the INTs, but was long from what I would consider a very good overall QB for us. In passing situations I was nervous yesterday, but that went for both QBs we played.

Hope for a very good portal guy right now since I don't think we will be able to throw in a freshman QB and have success either.