Two Early Losses
Appalachian State is 0-2 for the first time since it embarked on a run of national championships four years ago, but how much that matters, aside from a drop to No. 10 in the polls, is debatable at best.
As players are quick to point out, the Mountaineers are 0-0 in Southern Conference play. And, as I will add, as many as three losses can be sustained before playoff chances reach panic-button status.
That said, the margin for error has been reduced and Saturday’s game against Samford is important toward both conference and playoff counts. But until there’s a loss in that game, dire straits don’t apply.
It’s early.
“We all know what’s ahead of us,” said Anthony Williams, a senior and third-year starter at defensive tackle for the Mountaineers. “And the thing is we’re 0-0 in conference play. There’s no need to panic at all. We’re concerned about the little things that need to get done for us to win ballgames, and we play in a tough conference, but we still have confidence and if we come together and refocus, which I think we have this past week, I think we’ll do well on Saturday.”
For sure, the Mountaineers will need to shore up the defense (check today’s Winston-Salem Journal for more on the defense), and won’t have a cheap test against Samford.
The Bulldogs, newcomers to the SoCon last season and a team with a lot of underclassmen carrying over from the OVC, surprised by going 6-5 overall and 4-4 in league play.
The Bulldogs gave the Mountaineers quite a game last October in Birmingham, taking charge early before losing 35-24.
“They were real physical and played very hard,” Williams said. “Last year was Samford’s first year in our conference and nobody really knew what to expect from them.”
Williams said that he got more than bargained for.
“We played hard in that game but I know for me personally, I felt like I got my butt whipped as far as being physical,” he said. “It wasn’t that I played bad, but I was just physically tired. Their guys up front come off really, really hard. I learned from that.”
Other defensive players said that two lessons are in the books – playing poorly and giving up 40 points to McNeese State in the most recent game and having their hands full with Samford.
“That was a tough game last year,” cornerback Cortez Gilbert said. “We had to play them all four quarters. They’re a good team and they dominated a lot of teams in the conference after we played them last year.”
Linebacker Jacque Roman said: “Samford is a big physical team. But our focus has been on them ever since that loss (to McNeese). They’re coming to our house and we’ll be ready.”
If not, 0-3 and the significance of that won’t be debatable.
For the record, the last time the Mountaineers were 0-2 was in 2003.
That year’s team, not quite ready for prime time, opened the season with a warped time-zone loss at Hawaii and followed with a jet-lagged disaster at home against Eastern Kentucky.
Seven ASU teams with three regular-season losses have made the playoffs in Coach Jerry Moore’s tenure: 1991, 1992 (four losses), 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005 (first national title).