APP @ Florida

[Appaholic]

Play the starters the 1st half or until the first injury. If you are down by more than 20 at half, play 2nd- & 3rd-stringers rest of afternoon & rest your starters. There's nothing to prove, it's just a payday....not worth risking an injury to a key starter prior to your playoff run.

[BlackFalkin]

Thats right App St, you go out there and show Florida whos boss. Put those starters in there and make em go as hard as possible, just to prove you can beat a horrid fbs team.

[AppStateAlumQC]

ASU Safety Mark LeGree has been ruled out for Saturday's game. He will be good to go come playoffs.

[Thumper 76]

Thats right App St, you go out there and show Florida whos boss. Put those starters in there and make em go as hard as possible, just to prove you can beat a horrid fbs team.

Your team has the wrong mentality if you don't go out to win, I don't care if your playing the freaking Patriots. Sure your coach can be smart if it starts to get out of hand, but you damn well come with 100% intention of winning no matter who you play, thinking otherwise and playing to "stay healthy" leads to more injuries IMHO.

[jd of de]

Thats right App St, you go out there and show Florida whos boss. Put those starters in there and make em go as hard as possible, just to prove you can beat a horrid fbs team.

Granted Florida is off this year. But 6-4 in the SEC is hardly terrible. Living so close to Washington and Washington State I thought you'd know what bad FBS teams looked like.

[ODUfanRazor]

Thats right App St, you go out there and show Florida whos boss. Put those starters in there and make em go as hard as possible, just to prove you can beat a horrid fbs team.

Granted Florida is off this year. But 6-4 in the SEC is hardly terrible. Living so close to Washington and Washington State I thought you'd know what bad FBS teams looked like.

Pretty much.

[SuperHornet]

App could beat the Patsies.

[Appaholic]

Thats right App St, you go out there and show Florida whos boss. Put those starters in there and make em go as hard as possible, just to prove you can beat a horrid fbs team.

Your team has the wrong mentality if you don't go out to win, I don't care if your playing the freaking Patriots. Sure your coach can be smart if it starts to get out of hand, but you damn well come with 100% intention of winning no matter who you play, thinking otherwise and playing to "stay healthy" leads to more injuries IMHO.

It's that mentality that has led to the rich tradition of dominance that is Eastern Washington football

[Aho Old Guy]

Sometimes I wonder if some of you guys have even seen a football game

[Skjellyfetti]

App could beat the Patsies.

We already played WCU.

[jd of de]

Sometimes I wonder if some of you guys have even seen a football game

Yes I have.

[Skjellyfetti]

Kirk Herbstreit on the game:

I think that Florida is a team that is in a little bit of a position where they are vulnerable. People can say whatever they want about App State. I know they’ve won nine already this year. I think the one they lost was in overtime.

They always athletically have a chance, that if a team like Florida, or in Michigan’s case, if they think, ‘Oh, well, we’re playing Appalachian State. they should be an easy game,’ then athletically they’ve got enough people to be able to make things intriguing.

I think this could be one of those games where if they just kinda go out there and show up and kinda feeling sorry for themselves, then at the very least it can be a competitive game.

Listen this is not the Fla… – Miami of Ohio early in the year went to Gainesville and battled Florida.

I’ve really changed my view. I used to look at these games and say … and I’m not a proponent of saying this is great to see I-AA teams play against powerhouses .. I don’t think it’s good for college football for the high level college football and their fanbase, and I know Appalachian State is a great program, and when they go up against anybody they’ve got a chance, but for me personally, I think these powerhouses need to be playing a higher level of competition.

I do think that Florida, with that being said, I think if they think that it’s a I-AA team, I’m telling ya right now that the athletic ability there can keep it close. In fact if this isn’t a close game for at least three quarters, I’ll be very, very surprised.

PACKER: Maybe an upset alert?

HERB: It could be. It could be.

[Skjellyfetti]

gatorsports.com gives us respect:

Appalachian State prediction time
by Robbie Andreu
I know, I know. I need to stop making predictions because I can’t seem to get anything right these days. I’m on a losing streak — just like the Gators are on a losing streak in The Swamp. It’s hard to explain, hard to figure out, but this is where it’s at.

Thankfully, the season is almost over and I’m down to just a few more picks. I would like to think that this one is a no-brainer, but with this Florida team you never know what you’re going to get. Is the offense going to stink again? Or is this one of those games where they go up-tempo, rotate the three quarterbacks in and out, and go up and down the field, scoring a bunch of points?

I have a feeling the latter is going to happen. Certainly, the offense can’t play any worse than it did last week. Watching the Gators try to get first downs against the South Carolina defense really reminded me of that inept Florida offense of 1979, the 0-10-1 year. Too many times this season, the 2010 offense has been scarily familiar to that inept ’79 offense. It’s impossible to explain, because the 2010 offense has a ton of speed and talent, whereas that ’79 group of pretty much void of both.

The offense certainly has been getting most of the blame for this disappointing four-loss season. But I’ve been saying since early in the season that this Florida defense isn’t much better, and I think we’re seeing that now. The Gators got pushed all over the field by a USC offense that really isn’t anywhere near as potent as it looked the other night. This team can’t make plays on third down, and can’t seem to get opposing offenses off the field. It’s contributed to the low number of plays the UF offense has run in several games this season.

Really, this humbling season has been a total team effort. The sad thing is, I don’t see too much changing here in the last two games. The Gators should be OK against FCS power Appalachian State. The Mountaineers are a very good team, very complete, and very well-coached. But the Gators have too much speed and talent and should pull away at some point (maybe not until the fourth quarter). The following week, that’s going to be a tough one. I see the offense going back into meltdown mode in Tallahassee. But we’ll hold off on that game until next week.

Prediction No. 1: Meyer is going to make some serious changes on his coaching staff after the season (no brainer, right?).

Prediction No. 2: Florida 28, Appalachian State 17.

http://andreu.blogs.gatorsports.com/106 ... tion-time/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Skjellyfetti]

Jerry Moore was struggling at Appalachian State in 2003 and concerned his job was in jeopardy when the football junkie kept watching Utah pile up points late at night on Saturdays with this spread offense perfected by Urban Meyer.

Moore, in his mid 60s and firmly entrenched with the I-formation from his time working under Tom Osborne, decided to make a dramatic change.

Seven years later, after three national championships, a monumental upset of Michigan and six straight Southern Conference titles, Moore's Mountaineers (9-1) are ranked No. 2 in both Football Championship Subdivision polls and an offensive juggernaut.

Meyer will get a close look at Moore's creation on Saturday when his struggling Florida Gators (6-4) host the dangerous Mountaineers.

"I'm proud of him," Meyer said. "He's a heck of a football coach."

Moore and Meyer have become friends, but Moore chuckled this week when he thought back to when he decided to embrace a foreign offense of no-huddle, shotgun snaps, multiple receivers and mobile quarterbacks.

"My whole background was I-formation. We were always under the center," Moore said. "When I saw what they were doing, it was a great combination for what I liked as far as running the ball and throwing the ball."

A FCS school with a much smaller budget than the big boys, Moore didn't have the money to travel to Salt Lake City to talk to Meyer. He also was hesitant to ask him anyway.

"It wasn't Urban so much early as his assistants. They would share stuff with us," Moore said. "We didn't think about asking the head coach. He's busy doing other stuff."

Moore also went to West Virginia to talk to then-coach Rich Rodriguez's staff about the offense. After only modest success in his first year using it in 2004 — 6-5 with no playoff berth and no ensuing contract extension — Moore finally ran into Meyer at an offseason banquet.

"I thought, 'Moore and Meyer, I may be sitting next to Urban,'" Moore said. "Next thing you know I walk in and there he is.

"I said, 'I know everybody asks you about (quarterback Alex) Smith, but I want to know about your right guard. Urban kind of smiled and I knew I may have hit a key note right there with him."

Meyer was soon on his way to Florida, a much easier place for Moore and his staff to visit.

"When he went to Florida I said, 'Oh man, this is perfect,'" Moore said. "I've been down there the three previous years. I think our relationship has grown pretty significantly. We were together at the ESPY awards."

And soon Moore's offense starting clicking in ways he never could have imagined.

Athletic quarterback Richie Williams led the Mountaineers to their first national title in 2005, just as Armanti Edwards chose to attend Appalachian because of the new offense.

Edwards would soon lead the Mountaineers to two more national titles and break numerous records. With Edwards now playing for the Carolina Panthers, the undersized DeAndre Presley has 2,793 yards of total offense this season and threw 14 touchdown passes before his first interception.

Appalachian State averages 37 points a game, fourth-best in the FCS.

"It's fun, especially when you have the ability to run," Presley said of the spread. "It's big, really, really big, because a defense can't key on just one person."

Florida, has had its own success with the same offense that includes tight end sets, winning national titles in 2006 and '08 with the help of Tim Tebow. The big difference is Appalachian State's offensive line is much smaller.

"In the SEC, they couldn't play a 265- or 270-pound guard. And we love them," Moore said. "They're fast, they're quick kids and they're able to do what we want to do. The biggest test, obviously, was Michigan. We matched up good and we did some nice things against Michigan that had the big linemen."

Ah, Michigan. The stunning, 34-32 win over the fifth-ranked Wolverines in 2007 forever changed this mountain campus and Moore's life. It soon helped upend Michigan, too, with a coaching change that saw Rodriguez leave West Virginia to run the same spread offense with the Wolverines.

Now Moore and Meyer meet for the first time on the field. But while the Mountaineers are among the favorites to win another FCS national title, Meyer's Gators are struggling. They've lost three in a row at home amid QB woes as offensive coordinator Steve Addazio has been the target of criticism.

For the moment it's Moore, now 71 with two replacement knees, who is considered a go-to guy for all things spread offense after transforming his program thanks to his late-night TV watching of Meyer in Utah.

"He's been very, very helpful and very open," Moore said. "We're more like them than anybody else."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationwor ... 3851.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Skjellyfetti]

I live 2 blocks from Florida Field- so far I've seen more Appy State fans tailgating than #Gators

http://twitter.com/GatorRIVALS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Skjellyfetti]

double post

[ToTheLeft]

App goes 3 and out, and UF drives down the field easily for a TD.

PAT good. 7-0.

[Skjellyfetti]

Pretty good drive down to the 30 or so. We go for it on 4th down and it bounces off Jorden's fingers... ugh

[Skjellyfetti]

They're just straight up destroying us in the trenches. No surprise, really.

14-0

[DBlue]

FCS love, live streaming of App @ Florida
http://fcsfootball.yolasite.com/.

[ChetSteadman]

We can certainly move the ball on the Gators, but I don't think we'll have enough to overpower their O-Line advantage.

[Skjellyfetti]

Wow. Ed Gainey and Florida's #9 got in a pushing/shoving match after a play. Both players ejected.

Gainey will have to sit out our first playoffs game.

[BlueHen86]

Wow. Ed Gainey and Florida's #9 got in a pushing/shoving match after a play. Both players ejected.

Gainey will have to sit out our first playoffs game.

That sucks.

[EWURanger]

score?

[BlueHen86]

score?

48-10 Gators, with about 5 minutes left.