Realistic Goals/Accomplishments/Aspirations

[hapapp]

Yes. there is a blueprint for successfully stopping our run game if we don't make an effort to stay ahead of an opposing defense with creative play calling - which we have examples of this season. Yes, there is a blueprint to pass successfully if your team happens to have a QB who can throw.

It's obvious to me that we stick to our tendencies results be damned. I think we try to breakdown a brick wall running into an extra couple of defenders on our stretch plays. Where's the idea of some counter plays and misdirection, or doing something different to keep a defense honest? The times we've made an effort that this season have been successful.

You do what you are good at doing. Historically, that has been running the ball as evidence by the string of years with a 1000 yard rusher. Sometimes, the run doesn't work early but you can continue to test and find the weak spots, or hope you wear the opposition down, which can lead to a big run. You can do that when your defense doesn't let the opposition keep pace. We've had to abandon the run much earlier than we might have in the past because defensively we haven't been as stout as in the past. Against FBS competition we are giving up almost 2 TDs more per game than last season.

[WVAPPeer]

Goals..... Stop losing games we should win. Let's start there.

Doesn't that also go hand-in-hand with winning games we should lose or should we be undefeated every season?

[ASUTodd]

Goals..... Stop losing games we should win. Let's start there.

Doesn't that also go hand-in-hand with winning games we should lose or should we be undefeated every season?

Losing the A&M game would have been expected. Losing the rest.... Well.... Being up 28-3 means we should have won.

[t4pizza]

Since we've been FBS we haven't lost to Texas St., GA St., or ODU and never missed bowl season. Let's keep the last three streaks going.

We also had not lost to CCU, ULL. a bowl game or a conference title game as FBS prior to Clark coaching our team. Sadly, there have been a lot of "firsts" in the past few years. Hopefully these coaches and this team find a way to stop these losses from happening again this season. I fear the damn may well break if Elliot comes up to the Rock and leaves with a victory.

[GSUwasGump’sFallbackSchool]

Since we've been FBS we haven't lost to Texas St., GA St., or ODU and never missed bowl season. Let's keep the last three streaks going.

We also had not lost to CCU, ULL. a bowl game or a conference title game as FBS prior to Clark coaching our team. Sadly, there have been a lot of "firsts" in the past few years. Hopefully these coaches and this team find a way to stop these losses from happening again this season. I fear the damn may well break if Elliot comes up to the Rock and leaves with a victory.

If Elliot does do that he should stay and Clark should head down to Atlanta. Elliot has done more with less at a program with zero positives going for it than Clark has done here.

[Black Saturday]

Yes. there is a blueprint for successfully stopping our run game if we don't make an effort to stay ahead of an opposing defense with creative play calling - which we have examples of this season. Yes, there is a blueprint to pass successfully if your team happens to have a QB who can throw.

It's obvious to me that we stick to our tendencies results be damned. I think we try to breakdown a brick wall running into an extra couple of defenders on our stretch plays. Where's the idea of some counter plays and misdirection, or doing something different to keep a defense honest? The times we've made an effort that this season have been successful.

You do what you are good at doing. Historically, that has been running the ball as evidence by the string of years with a 1000 yard rusher. Sometimes, the run doesn't work early but you can continue to test and find the weak spots, or hope you wear the opposition down, which can lead to a big run. You can do that when your defense doesn't let the opposition keep pace. We've had to abandon the run much earlier than we might have in the past because defensively we haven't been as stout as in the past. Against FBS competition we are giving up almost 2 TDs more per game than last season.

My point is, we are tipping off the direction of the run and defenses are overloading area and we aren't as succesful as we should be if we'd make an effort to keep them honest. We don't have John Riggins running and The Hogs blocking from the 90's - adjustments. Yes our defense is horrible against a good passing QB...both are our Achilles, When you go toe to toe with UNC and A&M, we shouldn't get our ass beat by your conference peers every week or the world is upside down and there is a problem - they plan how to beat us by attacking our Achilles.

[WVAPPeer]

Goals..... Stop losing games we should win. Let's start there.

Doesn't that also go hand-in-hand with winning games we should lose or should we be undefeated every season?

Losing the A&M game would have been expected. Losing the rest.... Well.... Being up 28-3 means we should have won.

Well with about 2 inches the 2pt would have been good and we beat the holes - Where do you place that one?

[Yosefus]

Goals have been stated and unchanged:
Win the conference championship and go to a bowl.
Accomplishments:
Win the games we are supposed to win without embarrassment. Win the toss up games as well.
Aspirations:
At some point stay consistently ranked in top 25 and make a NY6 or better.

We are well on the way to missing all of these opportunities this season. Not throwing blame just stating facts.

[appfanjj]

OK. We are not having the season we hoped for by any stretch of the imagination. We can still win the Sun Belt, host and win the conference championship game, and win a bowl. We are totally capable of achieving this. Look forward to seeing a large and supportive crowd in Boone on 10-19. It still says App State on our uniforms. That hasn't changed.

[BeauFoster]

Our goal should be to win the Sun Belt championship and a bowl game with class, integrity, and academic excellence.

[AppSt94]

My goal for this program is to keep the culture going and growing. Whether CSC is the answer or not, I’m not keen on changing the culture that has made us one of the winningest FBS programs in the last 7 years.

[appst89]

My goal for this program is to keep the culture going and growing. Whether CSC is the answer or not, I’m not keen on changing the culture that has made us one of the winningest FBS programs in the last 7 years.

I agree with this 100%. My question is, do we still have that culture? I ask as someone not around the team on a daily basis. My observation from afar is that we may not still have it. You seem to be someone who has the pulse of the team, so, is the App culture still there, is it waning, and if so, what can fix it?

[AppSt94]

My goal for this program is to keep the culture going and growing. Whether CSC is the answer or not, I’m not keen on changing the culture that has made us one of the winningest FBS programs in the last 7 years.

I agree with this 100%. My question is, do we still have that culture? I ask as someone not around the team on a daily basis. My observation from afar is that we may not still have it. You seem to be someone who has the pulse of the team, so, is the App culture still there, is it waning, and if so, what can fix it?

Fair question. In short, I believe that the culture is still there at its core. The players like playing for Clark.

I think what you are seeing within the program are issues that have been building for a few years now. Did you know that only 1 of the players recruited out of high school to play CB from 2018 to 2021 are still on the roster. Tucker was recruited as a CB but moved to WR. Is that from missed evaluations in recruiting, constant turnover at the CB coaching position, or a combination of both? The only way to fill those gaps have been through the portal and that has proven to be a challenge because of the schools rigid policy on accepting credits.

Another issue is that we are a victim of our own success. We are replacing a multitude of three and four year starters form last years team. That factors into recruiting as well as development of depth due to limited practice reps. This was a rebuilding year that was expected to be challenging. Five new starters on defense and a whole new WR corps. Was a loss to Texas St and JMU expected from fans? No. But it has just gave folks a peak behind the curtain who were blinded by the success or turned a blind eye to the potential fallout of what was coming.

Do I believe that Clark can fix it, yes. But the biggest threat to the culture is out of his hands. We have a couple donors that feel that they need to meddle in the affairs of the program. I’m sure that they mean well, but in reality, they have some sort of ego or sense of entitlement that gives them the right to step on Gillin’s toes and get in the way of progress to get their way. It is playing out much the same way has the donor down at EZU that set them back a decade because he thought his money gave him a seat at the table. We’ve seen it before at App when donors insisted Cobb hire Capel to run the basketball program and we saw how that turned out. Buckle up.

[NoLongerLurking]

Long game - have to keep losing to get underdog status and surprise folks again.

[Saint3333]

The close game vs NC and the A&M win changed expectations mid season.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding season, but the talent level to have those first two games changed my thoughts.

My first inclination was correct.

[AppSt94]

The close game vs NC and the A&M win changed expectations mid season.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding season, but the talent level to have those first two games changed my thoughts.

My first inclination was correct.

Agree. After the first two weeks of play calling, I figured Troy was the only team that could hold us under 40.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Just a different perspective, we have a top 10 win, a win over a good Troy team and a blowout win against an FCS team. We have 1 close loss against an AP #25 team and 1 close loss agains a Coaches #25 team. Minus the Texas St game, that isn’t bad. Maybe we just sh*t the bed once and we’re not as bad as we think we are right now. Maybe this was a wake up call (JMU should have been one IMO) and we play lights out the rest of the season. My realistic expectation is to go 5-1 the remainder of the season, win the conference championship and go to a shitty bowl against a MAC or CUSA team.

[Stonewall]

We were the consensus pick to win the conference.That isn't rebuilding.

[AppSt94]

Just a different perspective, we have a top 10 win, a win over a good Troy team and a blowout win against an FCS team. We have 1 close loss against an AP #25 team and 1 close loss agains a Coaches #25 team. Minus the Texas St game, that isn’t bad. Maybe we just sh*t the bed once and we’re not as bad as we think we are right now. Maybe this was a wake up call (JMU should have been one IMO) and we play lights out the rest of the season. My realistic expectation is to go 5-1 the remainder of the season, win the conference championship and go to a shitty bowl against a MAC or CUSA team.

AGREE. Things are never as bad, nor as good as we think. However, we are at a crossroads. There are issues with this team and it will go one of two ways. We either fix them and get better or not and get worse. We shall see. How anyone feels on which way they are going to go is on them and there isn’t much anyone thinking the other way is going to change minds. People are either in we will get it fixed camp, or we won’t win another game this year camp.

[t4pizza]

Just a different perspective, we have a top 10 win, a win over a good Troy team and a blowout win against an FCS team. We have 1 close loss against an AP #25 team and 1 close loss agains a Coaches #25 team. Minus the Texas St game, that isn’t bad. Maybe we just sh*t the bed once and we’re not as bad as we think we are right now. Maybe this was a wake up call (JMU should have been one IMO) and we play lights out the rest of the season. My realistic expectation is to go 5-1 the remainder of the season, win the conference championship and go to a shitty bowl against a MAC or CUSA team.

If we go 5-1 the rest of the season, there is no way we win the conference championship because we won't even win the East. We need to win out AND hope that Coastal loses at least 1 more conference game to even sniff the East and get a chance at a title. Fortunately for us all the other teams in the East, that are eligible to win the title, have at least 1 conference loss already so as long as we beat them we will be ahead, but that isn't the case for Coastal as they are still undefeated. If we win out but Coastal only loses to us, they will win the East and there is nothing we can do about it. I would say that any expectation of us winning the conference championship if we go 5-1 to finish the season is very unrealistic and virtually impossible.