Without starting the debate that everyone should be past by now (FBS vs FCS) I wanted to express my bitter sweet feelings towards Saturday's game.

Very happy we made a bowl game and finished the regular season 10-2, but hate knowing that after Saturday, I will be without ASU football for awhile. I miss the playoffs. I don't miss FCS, but I damn sure miss the playoffs.

The playoffs were fun, and it always sucks to end the season, but does anyone know if we've ever played a game later in the year (/season) than this? Because our FCS championships were wrapped by now back in the day.

appchicago wrote:The playoffs were fun, and it always sucks to end the season, but does anyone know if we've ever played a game later in the year (/season) than this? Because our FCS championships were wrapped by now back in the day.

Pretty sure those championships were all played on the Friday night around a week before Christmas. So exact same weekend I think.

I know the first championship was on 12/15/2005 and the others were around that time or a few days later, so yes....the same time of year for wrapping up the season.

the playoffs were not fun getting bounced in first round.

sixtoes9134 wrote:the playoffs were not fun getting bounced in first round.

Three straight years we didn't get bounced.

NewApp wrote:

sixtoes9134 wrote:the playoffs were not fun getting bounced in first round.

Three straight years we didn't get bounced.

The last 3 straight years (10-11/11-12/12-13) we appeared in the playoffs before the transition were no longer fun. Getting embarrassed at home 3 straight years.

sixtoes9134 wrote:

NewApp wrote:

sixtoes9134 wrote:the playoffs were not fun getting bounced in first round.

Three straight years we didn't get bounced.

The last 3 straight years (10-11/11-12/12-13) we appeared in the playoffs before the transition were no longer fun. Getting embarrassed at home 3 straight years.

In 2010, we didn't get embarrassed in the first round. We hung 42 on Western Illinois.

Not me. I am so happy we are in SBC.

I still follow JMU a little as I would like to see them join us in Sun Belt.

I compare our year with theirs and there is no way I would trade. Other than that Game Day Exposure, they were hardly on the radar even though they went 9-3 and made the playoffs losing in the first round to Colgate at home. I guess their signature win was over SMU who ended 2-10.

We had a great year and will be rewarded with a prime time bowl game broadcast on THE ESPN channel. The ESPN promos should be super.

I do not miss FCS in any way.

We accomplished EVERYTHING we could at that level, time to embrace a new challenge. Saturday is the next step, really looking forward to it!


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/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09 wrote:Without starting the debate that everyone should be past by now (FBS vs FCS) I wanted to express my bitter sweet feelings towards Saturday's game.

Very happy we made a bowl game and finished the regular season 10-2, but hate knowing that after Saturday, I will be without ASU football for awhile. I miss the playoffs. I don't miss FCS, but I damn sure miss the playoffs.

Funny how 3 years out of 100 in the history of Appalachian football have an ability to color all of the FCS history for some fans. Many years we did not get in, or when we did, we had to travel to empty stadiums on thanksgiving weekend, or at home in front of the smallest crowds of the year.

Personally speaking, I didn't follow the playoffs when we were not in them. Never watched a FCS national championship game when we were not in it. Couldn't tell you who is in it now, or what round it is. I really can't. But, all my life, I've watched bowl games. Even if they were just "on" while at a holiday party or while decorating the tree, I've always enjoyed bowl games... And now, AppState is in one!

I'm glad we won those three years. We broke a glass ceiling for the program back in 2005 that was 30+ years in the making. But as a fan, I haven't looked back since.

This board never fails to disappoint.

Couldn't resist.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-eavMSBnk

I wasn't able to go to the Championship games but went to several first round home games and even though we won many of them the nearly empty stadium was a little depressing as those games were typically on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I also enjoyed watching some of the playoff games in local sports bars with local App fans, although the Villanova game was horrible. The championship games were thrilling since that was the pinnacle of what we could achieve at the time. If I recall you still had so scroll down the ESPN.com page to even find a write-up about any of the championship games as they didn't create much attention. Even though we knew we had some special teams to many outside of our world we were "D2". It got tiring spitting out FCS Championship Division (or whatever it was called). I only miss the extra three or so games and hate when the season ends. When the championship game moved to Frisco (had honestly never heard of the city) I knew that some shine had worn off. I proudly displayed my back-to-back-to-back license plate for years on the front of my car. Those years of dominance were awesome but I will gladly take our current situation and our possibilities for the future. GO APPS!

I was fortunate to be around for them all--from the Infamous Ice Bowl win at KBS against GaSo and Krazy Erk Russell to the one-point OT loss to Illinois State--also at KBS. It was a nice run--overall, but it took a tremendous toll on FCS players--just too many games. (Too many unless it was one of a team's "one-and-done" seasons, of course. )

That's in our rear-view mirror now, and I'm at peace with it. The whole football "thing" will come unglued sooner than later. We're in a better place to land on our feet than we would have been staying where JMU is.

The Big Duke Dog (EWithers) is already job-shopping. He's learned that FCS ain't his thing. He got a courtesy interview at ECU--but no offer.

/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09 wrote:Without starting the debate that everyone should be past by now (FBS vs FCS) I wanted to express my bitter sweet feelings towards Saturday's game.

Very happy we made a bowl game and finished the regular season 10-2, but hate knowing that after Saturday, I will be without ASU football for awhile. I miss the playoffs. I don't miss FCS, but I damn sure miss the playoffs.

Look at it this way. In 32 years as an I-AA/FCS team we made the playoffs 20 times. Of those we made it to the Semi-Finals 6 times, and in only 3 of those years we made it to (and won!) the Championship. So in 37.5% of those years we only played 11 games, in 25% of those years we played 12 games, in 19% we played 13 games, in 19% we played 14 games, and in 9% we played 15 games.

In FBS we are guaranteed 12 games every year, and we have a VERY good chance to play 13 games by going to a bowl. Once we add Coastal in 2017 we should add a conference championship game and have up to 14 games a year. A conference championship game would be a new and exciting experience for all of us.

JTApps1 wrote:

/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09 wrote:Without starting the debate that everyone should be past by now (FBS vs FCS) I wanted to express my bitter sweet feelings towards Saturday's game.

Very happy we made a bowl game and finished the regular season 10-2, but hate knowing that after Saturday, I will be without ASU football for awhile. I miss the playoffs. I don't miss FCS, but I damn sure miss the playoffs.

Look at it this way. In 32 years as an I-AA/FCS team we made the playoffs 20 times. Of those we made it to the Semi-Finals 6 times, and in only 3 of those years we made it to (and won!) the Championship. So in 37.5% of those years we only played 11 games, in 25% of those years we played 12 games, in 19% we played 13 games, in 19% we played 14 games, and in 9% we played 15 games.

In FBS we are guaranteed 12 games every year, and we have a VERY good chance to play 13 games by going to a bowl. Once we add Coastal in 2017 we should add a conference championship game and have up to 14 games a year. A conference championship game would be a new and exciting experience for all of us.

If I'm not mistaken we never played 12 regular season games while in FCS until maybe our last year? Add in a probable bowl each year for the foreseeable future and even without a league championship game 13 games is still awesome.

Wait and see how awesome this experience is going to be and what could happen in the future. It will be an awesome ride, keep buckled up it is going to be a wild ride.

Turn the page.....