EOM

3 down 1 to go now. Lot of ??? About this GS team right now, I hope we have the fortitude to pull the belt to a .500 bowl record but it won't be easy. Bright side, maybe BG will take us lightly after seeing the SB champ get boat raced and App go down to the wire with a lower rated MAC team. #TogetherWeRise

Looks like the FCS move ups as Huds called them are going to have to carry the conference in our first year of eligibility. Tough task ahead for GS, but we can win if our running game gets rolling.

I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

Sun Belt - It is now painfully obvious we are at the bottom of the barrel collectively in football. The downward spiral continues .....

Together we ......????

There is a statistic for everything.

All-time FBS bowl records for former SoCon teams that have moved into the Sun Belt

Team....................... Record ..... Pct. ..... GB
Appalachian State....... 1-0....... 1.000 ..... --
Georgia Southern....... 0-0 ....... 0.000 ..... .5

Now, go out there and tie this thing up.

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

(12-20-2015 09:26 AM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

Thank goodness App held up their end of the deal - or it would have been really embarrassing this bowl season.

I think Krazy Karl can put away his sunglasses for next football season, the future doesn't look too bright for Fun Belt football.

(12-20-2015 09:26 AM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

I tend to agree about your assessment of LA Tech. I'm not sure any SBC team could have defeated them. Georgia Southern would have to produce long drives and eat up the clock to keep Tech offense out of a rythem and keep their defense refreshed and off the field.

(12-20-2015 09:30 AM)epiccajun Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:26 AM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

Thank goodness App held up their end of the deal - or it would have been really embarrassing this bowl season.

I think Krazy Karl can put away his sunglasses for next football season, the future doesn't look too bright for Fun Belt football.

GS, App and GaSt should be better next year as more of our FBS recruits come into the mix.

I'm not sure who needs this win more in Mobile. Southern needs to get the bad taste out of their mouth after the past 2-3 weeks or SBC to defeat the MAC champ and have another win vs MAC opponent.

Big game.

Big.

Game!

(12-20-2015 09:07 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Looks like the FCS move ups as Huds called them are going to have to carry the conference in our first year of eligibility. Tough task ahead for GS, but we can win if our running game gets rolling.

You guys can troll Cajun fans and "Huds" all you want but at least when the bowl game is on the line on national TV he's found a way to win........ALL OF THEM. No one can fault the man for that.

I mentioned privately to Chiefy that I was most concerned about App being ready for their game due to their end of the year performance. I was so happy to be proved miserably wrong by the end of the first quarter (even though they were up on 7-0) at the time, then had my hopes dashed by halftime. I quit monitoring the game for a short while during the 3rd quarter when they fell so far behind then I look again and they're in the lead. Then they lose the lead again. But by that point I was sure they'd drive the field and the kid who'd missed those early field goals would win the game at the end. What a finish and thanks APP State for repping the Belt so well. You could have folded but didn't.

LaTech vs stAte? I don't even want to talk about it.

Georgia State could have won, could have been blown out, could have been most any result and nothing would have surprised me.

GaSouthern has a legitimate excuse to look like holy hell on the field this week but I believe they pull through for the Belt. You guys have proven it doesn't matter the circumstances, you're going to find a way to win and the debacle against GaState was your one alloted screw-up of the year.

True that Huds has done well in the NO bowl, but he has also wet the bed OOC and against P5s.

No doubt the SBC is the worst conference right now, but if the FCS move ups performed like the bottom of the conference instead of the top, then there would probably be rumblings to boot the SBC out of FBS. GS and App have been 1 and 2 in conference record since moving up so we are no doubt giving a huge boost to the conference.

And if BGSU blows us out then we are part of the problem too.

(12-20-2015 10:34 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  True Huds has done well in the NO bowl, but he also wets the bed OOC and against P5s.

No doubt the SBC is the worst conference right now, but if the FCS move ups performed like the bottom of the conference instead of the top, then there would probably be rumblings to boot the SBC out of FBS. GS and App have been 1 and 2 in conference record since moving up so we are no doubt giving a huge boost to the conference.

Agreed - unfortunately, we all recruit to the level conference we are in. Some with more success than others, but overall we as a conference will be getting Sun Belt level recruits.

Not to say you cant be successful with those on occasion, but it does make it an uphill battle with recruiting when you have to recruit to a conference one level below CUSA and the MAC. And trust me, the recruits and their "handlers" know the difference, and are made aware of it.

Unfortunate reality of Belt football.

The recruiting issue is probably more of an issue for the Cajuns than GS since we don't have a CUSA member in our state. We win a lot more battles vs CUSA teams than we lose for players in our home. Having a great environment at our home games will help us win recruiting battles vs CUSA teams.

(12-20-2015 10:34 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  True that Huds has done well in the NO bowl, but he has also wet the bed OOC and against P5s.

No doubt the SBC is the worst conference right now, but if the FCS move ups performed like the bottom of the conference instead of the top, then there would probably be rumblings to boot the SBC out of FBS. GS and App have been 1 and 2 in conference record since moving up so we are no doubt giving a huge boost to the conference.

And if BGSU blows us out then we are part of the problem too.

I just didn't see the reason to rag on the Cajuns during bowl season and in a thread about Belt bowls when 1) we weren't eligible this year and therefore can't impact the final results and 2) we've repped the Belt during bowl season like no one has ever repped the Belt in bowl games.

App came within a gnat's ass of giving away a game they could have put away by halftime. I'm as happy as anyone that they did because being 0'fer in bowl games sure isn't going to help anyone here.

Now, go out and win yours and feel free to lay the bowl smack on all of us thereafter. I hope you do.

(12-20-2015 09:41 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:30 AM)epiccajun Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:26 AM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

Thank goodness App held up their end of the deal - or it would have been really embarrassing this bowl season.

I think Krazy Karl can put away his sunglasses for next football season, the future doesn't look too bright for Fun Belt football.

GS, App and GaSt should be better next year as more of our FBS recruits come into the mix.

I can definitely see app for sure, GS is getting a new coach so that's a question mark but don't see any other reason you won't be as good but what on gods green earth makes you think GaSt will be better without nick arbuckle?

(12-20-2015 11:32 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:41 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:30 AM)epiccajun Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:26 AM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  

(12-20-2015 09:13 AM)NewJersey GATA Wrote:  I'll admit, this has been disappointing thus far. I anticipated App State to dominate the lesser opponent and have Ark State represent the SBC with a win as well. Georgia State was a toss up, but thought they'd show more fight after the best winning streak in program history.

Now Southern faces the MAC champs. I think they'll fight hard for their intern HC, but his game management and game prep will be tested. Hopefully it rains with heavy winds to give Southern an edge. Mother Nature, eagle nation needs a little help like the Hugo Bowl type of help!

I thought this was generally how things would go too. Our game was a strange one for sure, we dominated at times and completely fell apart at others, good teams find ways to win and at 11-2 I'm confident App State is one of those. Ark St looked overmatched throughout the game, and basically fell flat, not a good performance from our champ. Ga State looked like the same team from the first half of the season and basically gifted a team who shouldn't even be bowling a W.

So as you stated the "FCS" call ups will shoulder the load, but I doubt either of us would have took out LA Tech last night. Maybe gave them a better game overall, but I doubt we win that game.

Thank goodness App held up their end of the deal - or it would have been really embarrassing this bowl season.

I think Krazy Karl can put away his sunglasses for next football season, the future doesn't look too bright for Fun Belt football.

GS, App and GaSt should be better next year as more of our FBS recruits come into the mix.

I can definitely see app for sure, GS is getting a new coach so that's a question mark but don't see any other reason you won't be as good but what on gods green earth makes you think GaSt will be better without nick arbuckle?

From the eye test, GaSt clearly has much more talent on defense than previous seasons and I believe they return most of their players. If they can find a serviceable QB, they can go at least 4-4 in the league.

For the most part, I think the MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt were all down this year. No one team went in and dominated the conference from top to bottom. For that very reason, I think reorganization of the conferences is somewhere along the horizon. If schools struggle to compete and win, attendance will dwindle off. If schools play nearby regional schools (think App State and Marshall; ULL and LaTech; Texas State and Rice; USA and USM), attendance will pick back up and travel budgets will decrease.

I know it won't happen tomorrow, but I think it will happen eventually. Schools will smart up and realize that playing from Idaho to North Carolina doesn't make sense. Playing from Virginia to western Texas doesn't make sense. Things will change and fans will be reinvigorated into their teams.

(12-20-2015 11:44 AM)rknj8993 Wrote:  For the most part, I think the MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt were all down this year. No one team went in and dominated the conference from top to bottom. For that very reason, I think reorganization of the conferences is somewhere along the horizon. If schools struggle to compete and win, attendance will dwindle off. If schools play nearby regional schools (think App State and Marshall; ULL and LaTech; Texas State and Rice; USA and USM), attendance will pick back up and travel budgets will decrease.

I know it won't happen tomorrow, but I think it will happen eventually. Schools will smart up and realize that playing from Idaho to North Carolina doesn't make sense. Playing from Virginia to western Texas doesn't make sense. Things will change and fans will be reinvigorated into their teams.

That would only happen if the conferences were perceived to be equal and the payouts were equal. Even then you have schools that tend to group by athletic budget size.