Mountaineers rested, ready for playoff run
For the first time in Appalachian State’s 18 years in the FCS playoffs, the Mountaineers didn’t play an opening game on Thanksgiving weekend.
That was due to a new playoff format, and first-round bye extended to the Mountaineers.
Players said that it seemed a bit strange not to be playing last Saturday, but that it was a benefit – replacing an open week before the start of the playoffs in previous seasons and providing time for some rest after an 11-game regular season.
A lot of players went home for Thanksgiving. Bobby Bozzo, a long way from his home in New Jersey, spent time with teammate Ben Jorden’s family. DeAndre Presley, from Florida, went hunting with a friend.
All had plenty of turkey.
“I ate a lot,” Presley said. “It was kind of strange because the past few years we’ve played on Thanksgiving (weekend) but, then again, it was something that was needed for us to get rest for guys with injuries to heal and to get back into the mindset of winning.”
Brett Irvin said: “It was great. The first time in five years. Now we’re ready to go for a four-game season.
“We can focus on winning a national championship now. The Southern Conference is behind us. Florida was a team we wanted to beat, but it really doesn’t matter whether we did or didn’t, but now the focus is on our main goal – to get to Texas to play for a national championship.”
Dominique McDuffie said: “This year a lot of us got to go home, which we usually don’t get to do for Thanksgiving. That was nice, but everybody was back on Sunday ready to go.”
Coach Jerry Moore has always preferred to schedule an open date the weekend before the playoffs.
“The only negative thing about it is that you lose a little bit of your routine, but given the choice you would rather have your kids fresh,” Moore said. “Particularly in our case, we had just come off a really tough ballgame against Florida. We came back and worked hard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then gave them three or four days off.”
McDuffie said: “The extra week was great, because we had a lot of minor injuries. We pretty much have everybody back and we’re 100 percent. We practiced hard early last week but then had some time for everybody to get their legs back. That’s the big plus for having a first-round bye.”
Bozzo said: “It was great to have that time to recover from the regular season. A lot of the bumps and bruises got better. It felt a little weird, because traditionally we’ve been here as a team throughout Thanksgiving, basically the only people on campus, but I think having the time off is better for a playoff run.”
None of the players said that the one-sided loss to Florida in the regular-season finale was a detriment to playoff readiness, and Bozzo said that there might have actually been benefit from it.
“It’s kind of like swinging with a heavy bat before you get up to the plate,” Bozzo said. “We won’t see an offensive line throughout the playoffs that were as big as them. We learned a lot from breaking down film and I feel we learned a lot that will help us.”
Read more on the Mountaineers’ FCS title bid in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal.