Appalachian State thread

[bayareabadger]

Wouldn't surprise me if they wind up being a 'Boise of the East' type of deal.  High school schedule and making a good showing during their one big-boy game each year.

Always good to have a reminder of the know-nothingism that so wonderfully permeates our sport.
I think 'Boise of the East' might be too easy of a box to put them in. They generally trip up to one good team in that conference. Last year they somehow lost to UMass. What made Boise was the one-loss teams. I think App State has one two-loss team in FBS, none that swept non-P5 schools. (Plus the character is so different) I assume App will keep on being App.

[bayareabadger]

I want to talk about other things.  Like the video game stats their QB is putting up.  Against Penn State he was nearly impossible to stop, constantly throwing perfect passes.  Then last week Zac Thomas went 14/14 for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He also rushed for a TD.  He is only a sophomore.  This is a guy that was overlooked by everyone - including App State.  He only received his offer after Iowa State poached the previous App St. commit a couple of weeks before signing day.

Here's the thing, I'm not terribly sure what the hook would've been. He was a nice dual threat HS QB with deeply unimpressive passing numbers. He was on mediocre teams, of modest size. Unless he killed it in some passing league, there wasn't a ton of reason to notice him. 

[OrangeAfroMan]

Always good to have a reminder of the know-nothingism that so wonderfully permeates our sport.
I think 'Boise of the East' might be too easy of a box to put them in. They generally trip up to one good team in that conference. Last year they somehow lost to UMass. What made Boise was the one-loss teams. I think App State has one two-loss team in FBS, none that swept non-P5 schools. (Plus the character is so different) I assume App will keep on being App.

Oh, please, educate me on the strength of Boise and/or Appalachian State's schedules.  Pleeeeease?

[bayareabadger]

Oh, please, educate me on the strength of Boise and/or Appalachian State's schedules.  Pleeeeease?

Well sir, there's these things called high schools. They're full of 14-to-18 year olds. They range in size from under 100 to usually just short of 5,000 (I think there are a few that are bigger). And their brand of football is a rather fascinating tapestry across states and classes, public and private. There are many rich subcultures involved, some great, some less so. 
Then there's these things called colleges. Diverse range of courses, cater to folks over 18 for the most part, pricier etc. They range in size too, and quality of football. There's mid-major, and FCS, and D-II, and D-III and NAIA (which feels close to some high schools in some spots), all sorts of odd worlds unto themselves. And many have multi-million dollar athletic departments. The smallest in the Mountain West had $31 million in athletic revenue last year and has 33,000 students. Heck of a high school right there. 
Now I know what you're saying. You're staying a Mountain West or Sun Belt slate is not the quality of an ACC or Pac-12 one. And setting aside a school's lack of control there, I fully agree. Those schedules are not as rigorous. But when we call them "high school" schedules, we announce to the world that this sport isn't a teeming an interesting ecosystem, but instead about 66 or so teams and high schools, depending on your thoughts on the AAC. (I suppose one could close the circle further and only care for the 15 or so teams with a real shot at a title each season).
And that's, to a degree, life in this sport. We assume things we're not interested in should be reduced to a sort of nothingness. I chose to christen this know-nothingness. Did you know a top-5 NFL draft pick came in from high school? Same with Jerry Rice. Florida and Michigan lost to high schools in the past decade plus. 

(One spot this used to be really bad was with the old Harbaugh-Urban resume debates. Because things were bad right before each guy got to his first two jobs, you woulda thought they founded all those programs from scratch)

[rolltidefan]

Here's the thing, I'm not terribly sure what the hook would've been. He was a nice dual threat HS QB with deeply unimpressive passing numbers. He was on mediocre teams, of modest size. Unless he killed it in some passing league, there wasn't a ton of reason to notice him.

he played for hewitt trussville in alabama. they're part of the toughest region in the highest div (now 7a) in alabama hs football, though they're on the smaller end of that 7a scale. this region includes hoover, alabama powerhouse program (won something like 8 of last 10 titles in 7a). ht has won the region the last couple years, though.
i didn't follow him when he was in hs, and i don't know his stats, but he played some pretty good teams. alabama usually get a couple out of that region each year (5 commits this year, which is admittedly high) and other sec and se footprint schools get several each year.

[FearlessF]

so, the recruiting service gurus were wrong?!?!?

shocker

[bayareabadger]

he played for hewitt trussville in alabama. they're part of the toughest region in the highest div (now 7a) in alabama hs football, though they're on the smaller end of that 7a scale. this region includes hoover, alabama powerhouse program (won something like 8 of last 10 titles in 7a). ht has won the region the last couple years, though.
i didn't follow him when he was in hs, and i don't know his stats, but he played some pretty good teams. alabama usually get a couple out of that region each year (5 commits this year, which is admittedly high) and other sec and se footprint schools get several each year.

Ahh, there’s a bit of a hook. Good competition. But they only started winning after he left. I think they jumped from 6-5 to 11-1 after he left. 

[MaximumSam]

Speaking of Boise, they are at #5 in the S&P after they beat UConn 62-7 and gained 818 yards in the game.

[ELA]

Speaking of Boise, they are at #5 in the S&P after they beat UConn 62-7 and gained 818 yards in the game.

Just about 60 yards shy of a half mile.  Never good.  Appy State needs to be big Oklahoma State fans this weekend.

[bayareabadger]

so, the recruiting service gurus were wrong?!?!?

shocker

Not exactly. 
Thy didn’t predict he’d be that good. But there wasn’t much reason to beyond the fact football is weird and uncertain.
He played in what looked like a funky offense, but here are his passing numbers. 
Junior year: 1,738 yards, 9 TDs, 7 picks, 7.9 per attempt, 58.4 percent completions 
Senior: 1,461 yards (in nine games), 12 TDs, five picks, 60.9 percent completions, 8.6 per attempt. 
So he was just a pretty solid high school QB. Good runner as a junior, less so as a senior. You’ll find a lot of QBs with numbers like that and not a ton else. 

[bayareabadger]

Speaking of Boise, they are at #5 in the S&P after they beat UConn 62-7 and gained 818 yards in the game.

I love the guy who runs that, but they’ve been WEIRD early. 

[FearlessF]

Not exactly.
Thy didn’t predict he’d be that good. But there wasn’t much reason to beyond the fact football is weird and uncertain.

don't make excuses for them.  They didn't predict he'd be this good, so they were exactly wrong.
Listening to them talk, they know EVERYTHING.  Even the weird and uncertain

[fezzador]

he played for hewitt trussville in alabama. they're part of the toughest region in the highest div (now 7a) in alabama hs football, though they're on the smaller end of that 7a scale. this region includes hoover, alabama powerhouse program (won something like 8 of last 10 titles in 7a). ht has won the region the last couple years, though.
i didn't follow him when he was in hs, and i don't know his stats, but he played some pretty good teams. alabama usually get a couple out of that region each year (5 commits this year, which is admittedly high) and other sec and se footprint schools get several each year.

The quality of high school football in Alabama is better than any other state IMHO (quantity is a whole other animal though).  If AL were twice as big, it would be viewed as every bit the giant GA, TX, and FL are.

[bayareabadger]

don't make excuses for them.  They didn't predict he'd be this good, so they were exactly wrong.
Listening to them talk, they know EVERYTHING.  Even the weird and uncertain

Ehhh,  i’ve age to a point where I can separate the attitude and the functioning of the systems themselves. 
 I don’t look at them as having the accuracy of a scalpel. I know in general they’re shockingly good predictors, maybe not surgically so, but a useful tool things considered, when looked at in the right light. 
That said, usually there’s a reason they miss. Like the kid is actually really good in some way. Or there’s some skill or position thing  that made it harder for them to get recognized.  But there wasn’t a lot of this kid, which is interesting in itself. He’s the kind of guy that a mid major college picks up, and you flip on his highlights and at best you say, Huh, maybe something interesting there.