FB at No. 24 JMU, 3:30 p.m., ESPN+

[311neers]

We lost a defensive recruit commit during the game. Need to win the last 2 to “save the season and recruiting”

[EastTNMountaineer]

It has been extremely disappointing to see the lack of progress offensively. Defense played well yesterday, but you have to move the ball offensively to give your team an opportunity to even stay in the game. There is only so much they can do when you are down 3+ scores with zero fight or progress.

It’s okay to admit there are talent deficiencies in year 1, but it’s not okay to look like a lifeless FCS team. Dowell will be forced to relinquish play calling by Doug, and that may save both of their jobs in 2026.

Didn't the D give up over 600 yards in offense?
I do not rate that as playing "well"

They played hard but just couldn’t get off the field

[WASU 93]

ESPN projects a 2 loss Navy team as the playoff team for the lowly G5. It makes zero difference to even discuss this especially now but if they get the nod over JMU what does that say about the Belt? Basically our champ will about have to go unbeaten.

Although JMU is good, they have not beaten anyone of significance.. Lost to Louisville..which lost to an average conference team. I realize OOC games are scheduled well in advance. JMU needed a game and win against a "name" top 25 team. The Ville is not it. Some of it is luck in scheduling. In addition, JMU, early in the year, did not look this good on offense like the team until the last several weeks
Season not over, they may get it in the end I thought navy still has a few difficult teams left. UNT seems to be frontrunner if they won this week.

If ECU wins out, with a conference championship game victory, they may get in ahead of JMU

[Saint3333]

Not with three losses.

ECU winning the AC would be the best chance for JMU to make the CFP.

They are likely behind NT, Navy, and even Tulane though.

[AppStFan1]

Listening to the "cup cake" post game interview with DL. By the way, DL said we need to play better again. His answers are nothing, but, "blowing smoke/bull crap".

He doesn’t even seem phased that they just got their ass kicked. No wonder most of the players don’t have a fire in them because he clearly doesn’t. I get you have to be PC with media, but if that was a coach who cared, he’d be giving that interview pissed off.

He is much more measured because most in the NFL are. Some up there let it show like Herm Edwards and others but the idea is not to come off so emotional and become a meme. We all know where "we let them off the hook", "I'm a man I'm 40", "They are who we thought they were, we let them off the hook", etc all comes from. I am pretty sure he is trying to prevent that from happening to himself.

Being professional and “measured” is just fine. Playing with your kid on the sidelines while your team is getting completely embarrassed and then having a good laugh with the opposing coach is neither measured or professional. This man is making 7 figures and in my opinion acting like he really doesn’t give a crap. Professional and measured is something I should be able to expect from this guy. But even giving the appearance of not giving a crap is intolerable.

That does not look good. I was fair to Shawn and did not really start to call for a change until 2024 so I want to give Loggains a fair amount of time. Regardless, unless not giving a crap is something you can fire for cause we have to give it some time. People saying we need to fire him are wasting their time unless they have the money to give to Gillin to pay for the buyout.

[AppStFan1]

ESPN projects a 2 loss Navy team as the playoff team for the lowly G5. It makes zero difference to even discuss this especially now but if they get the nod over JMU what does that say about the Belt? Basically our champ will about have to go unbeaten.

Although JMU is good, they have not beaten anyone of significance.. Lost to Louisville..which lost to an average conference team. I realize OOC games are scheduled well in advance. JMU needed a game and win against a "name" top 25 team. The Ville is not it. Some of it is luck in scheduling. In addition, JMU, early in the year, did not look this good on offense like the team until the last several weeks
Season not over, they may get it in the end I thought navy still has a few difficult teams left. UNT seems to be frontrunner if they won this week.

If ECU wins out, with a conference championship game victory, they may get in ahead of JMU

If JMU wins out they should get in because they are going to be the highest ranked G6 this week. Navy, North Texas, and Tulane are the best contenders at this point. I don't think the MWC is going to get the spot unless the AAC and JMU fall apart.

[ASUFan4863]

It has been extremely disappointing to see the lack of progress offensively. Defense played well yesterday, but you have to move the ball offensively to give your team an opportunity to even stay in the game. There is only so much they can do when you are down 3+ scores with zero fight or progress.

It’s okay to admit there are talent deficiencies in year 1, but it’s not okay to look like a lifeless FCS team. Dowell will be forced to relinquish play calling by Doug, and that may save both of their jobs in 2026.

Didn't the D give up over 600 yards in offense?
I do not rate that as playing "well"

In my eyes they played well when the game was competitive. I don’t really fault them for having no answers down 4 scores with a lifeless offense. No defense will be successful when the offense goes 3 and out 80% of the game

[appfanjj]

And 58 points.

[BambooRdApp]

ESPN projects a 2 loss Navy team as the playoff team for the lowly G5. It makes zero difference to even discuss this especially now but if they get the nod over JMU what does that say about the Belt? Basically our champ will about have to go unbeaten.

Although JMU is good, they have not beaten anyone of significance.. Lost to Louisville..which lost to an average conference team. I realize OOC games are scheduled well in advance. JMU needed a game and win against a "name" top 25 team. The Ville is not it. Some of it is luck in scheduling. In addition, JMU, early in the year, did not look this good on offense like the team until the last several weeks
Season not over, they may get it in the end I thought navy still has a few difficult teams left. UNT seems to be frontrunner if they won this week.

If ECU wins out, with a conference championship game victory, they may get in ahead of JMU

They should win out regular season.

[ASUTodd]

We lost a defensive recruit commit during the game. Need to win the last 2 to “save the season and recruiting”

Well that's not good..

[BambooRdApp]

It has been extremely disappointing to see the lack of progress offensively. Defense played well yesterday, but you have to move the ball offensively to give your team an opportunity to even stay in the game. There is only so much they can do when you are down 3+ scores with zero fight or progress.

It’s okay to admit there are talent deficiencies in year 1, but it’s not okay to look like a lifeless FCS team. Dowell will be forced to relinquish play calling by Doug, and that may save both of their jobs in 2026.

Didn't the D give up over 600 yards in offense?
I do not rate that as playing "well"

In my eyes they played well when the game was competitive. I don’t really fault them for having no answers down 4 scores with a lifeless offense. No defense will be successful when the offense goes 3 and out 80% of the game

Sorry, I do not buy that philosophy. Does the offense on the field longer help D rest? , sure, to a certain extent. However, that is not a Savior or excuse for 600 yards and 58 points. You have to have the "will" to stop. If the D stopped playing due to the O not being productive, that is a sad testament of the mentality and culture we are instilling on D.
If O cannot score, make it a 6-3 game for example. If the D gave up due the O not score, sad day for App. St. D side of the ball
In the first half alone, JMU could have scored 40 if Barnett was a more accurate passer. He had several slants that he was either off target or too much heat on the ball

[Mjohn1988]

It has been extremely disappointing to see the lack of progress offensively. Defense played well yesterday, but you have to move the ball offensively to give your team an opportunity to even stay in the game. There is only so much they can do when you are down 3+ scores with zero fight or progress.

It’s okay to admit there are talent deficiencies in year 1, but it’s not okay to look like a lifeless FCS team. Dowell will be forced to relinquish play calling by Doug, and that may save both of their jobs in 2026.

Didn't the D give up over 600 yards in offense?
I do not rate that as playing "well"

In my eyes they played well when the game was competitive. I don’t really fault them for having no answers down 4 scores with a lifeless offense. No defense will be successful when the offense goes 3 and out 80% of the game

Maybe the measurement for the D should be yards given up per minutes on the field. They played about 2.5 games worth of snaps yesterday.

[appgrad95&97]

I said this a month or so ago and I'll say it again. This team lacks talent. This is particularly true on the offensive line. I don't know enough about football to know how you can effectively play call around an o-line that can't pass or run block. This is just a bad Appalachian football team. And I would argue that we have completely lost the "brand" we had a few years ago.

[Bootsy]

It has been extremely disappointing to see the lack of progress offensively. Defense played well yesterday, but you have to move the ball offensively to give your team an opportunity to even stay in the game. There is only so much they can do when you are down 3+ scores with zero fight or progress.

It’s okay to admit there are talent deficiencies in year 1, but it’s not okay to look like a lifeless FCS team. Dowell will be forced to relinquish play calling by Doug, and that may save both of their jobs in 2026.

Didn't the D give up over 600 yards in offense?
I do not rate that as playing "well"

In my eyes they played well when the game was competitive. I don’t really fault them for having no answers down 4 scores with a lifeless offense. No defense will be successful when the offense goes 3 and out 80% of the game

Sorry, I do not buy that philosophy. Does the offense on the field longer help D rest? , sure, to a certain extent. However, that is not a Savior or excuse for 600 yards and 58 points. You have to have the "will" to stop. If the D stopped playing due to the O not being productive, that is a sad testament of the mentality and culture we are instilling on D.
If O cannot score, make it a 6-3 game for example. If the D gave up due the O not score, sad day for App. St. D side of the ball
In the first half alone, JMU could have scored 40 if Barnett was a more accurate passer. He had several slants that he was either off target or too much heat on the ball

The defense wasn’t perfect, but it’s tough to keep the energy up physically and mentally when the offensive is so profoundly ineffective.

[APPdiesel]

I remember saying we should hire Mike Jacobs from Mercer. They’re 8-0 this season. He’s 19-4 down there. Spent time at Lenoir Rhyne where he went 32-9. Hopefully he’ll still be available in 2027.

[AppStateDieHard]

In hindsight, it’s INSANE that DG took a chance on someone with ZERO head coaching experience and a mediocre coaching record — at best.

[Stonewall]

It does fall on DG.

[appst89]

In hindsight, it’s INSANE that DG took a chance on someone with ZERO head coaching experience and a mediocre coaching record — at best.

Three straight hires with no head coaching experience. Two didn’t work at all and the one who had success started the downward slide.

[appgrad95&97]

What has he gotten right since 2019?

[AppStateDieHard]

In hindsight, it’s INSANE that DG took a chance on someone with ZERO head coaching experience and a mediocre coaching record — at best.

Three straight hires with no head coaching experience. Two didn’t work at all and the one who has success started the downward slide.

…I guess I should have added: In *this* era of college football.

At our level, the successful path seems to be to hire successful lower-level head coaches with a long history of winning. That’s what JMU did.

Temple is another such example this year.