It's GAME WEEK!!!! The long offseason is behind us. After months and months of hype videos, trash-talking Florida players, analysts that think we're great one week and horribly overrated the next, and awaiting an open practice date that never came, we have finally arrived. Now it's time to talk some message boards.
Appy State fans have plenty to say. I have to admit, I was quite impressed with the Mountaineer fanbase. They know football. I saw plenty of discussion on schemes, Shoop's successful history, our choke-jobs last year, and their performance against the P5. They get just as frustrated as anyone else when the infamous Michigan game gets brought up, and they are excited about taking the field this year and seeing what they can accomplish. They play UT and Miami this year, both are great opportunities to move their program in the right direction.
Without further ado, here's what the Mountaineer faithful are saying about Thursday night's matchup in Neyland:
_____________________________________________
-Let's start with a few who think they can win. They don't make up the majority, but their arguments are entertaining:
-I am seeing a ton of questions about their WR Corp. Seems they lost a lot from 2015. They consistently refer to their "brand new group of receivers."
-None of us probably would have bothered to actually do the research on this, so it was good to come across it:
(I see someone actually did end up making a thread about this)
-They got really excited because Bleacher Report "pulled a Bleacher Report" and wrote this article (summary: BR says they will be a Top 25 team in the next 10 years):
Predicting the Top 25 College Football Programs of the Next 10 Years | Bleacher Report
-Not relevant to this game, but they nickname their stadium "The Rock"
-I saw a thread where they were upset about their LB's being left off the Butkus Award watch list. They named 4 (Law, Boggs, Stringer, & Gilchrist) that they claim will "wreak havoc" on defenses this year.
-One of their best defensive players, Corner Latrell Gibbs, has been ruled ineligible for the season. They are calling this a major blow.
-Decent preview of the game from one of their posters:
-One of their boards has a Georgia fan posting on it, running his mouth about UT. He doesn't seem to have much respect for Dobbs, even after he shredded their defense last year:
-They play us and Miami this year and they believe the will split the two games. Although to be fair, the majority think they split with a Miami victory.
-I was very impressed with how well they follow recruiting. They have as many threads on commits/prospects as they do the team itself.
-Naturally those that believe they can win believe so in hopes that we will be overlooking them, thinking ahead to Bristol. I did see a great response that basically said "I don't think they're overlooking us, a team they're not scared of, just because the following week they are playing another team they're not scared of."
-Much respect for Butch Jones' preparation:
-This is a reply to a Vol fan who said we would primarily run...... I like this guy:
-General score predictions have us winning by 14-21
___________________________________________
Should be a fun time and hopefully a great start to a potential Championship season!! Let's get loud in Neyland for our home opener and strike fear into the hearts of any team that plays here.
GBO!!!!
