First I made a remixed version of ECU’s logo. Next I put Yosef and a Montana Grizzly Bear together in a fight to the death. This week I thought we could use a visual depiction of Appalachian State & The Citadel’s place in the SoCon…everyone’s gotta have a doormat.
Overview
The last time The Citadel won at The Rock was 20 years ago. Suffice it to say – I don’t remember it. In their first game this season, The Citadel beat up on lowly Charleston Southern 49-14. Then they shocked everyone with a 23-21 upset of Georgia Southern. If you didn’t think that was surprising, maybe you need to be reminded that they hadn’t beaten a team ranked that high since 1988. However, in this instance, I think it was a matter of Georgia Southern being overrated more than The Citadel being the real deal. We’re about to find out.
Negatives
The Citadel beat Georgia Southern by forcing a lot of turnovers early. If you were to simply look at the stats from the game (minus the final score) you would think Georgia Southern won the game. Once again, avoiding those big mistakes will be key.
They are a pass first team, so our defense will have to prevent big plays in the air. The Citadel’s defense did hold Georgia Southern to only 57 yards passing, but if you factor in that they had 0yds the week before, it’s not that impressive.
Positives
The Citadel isn’t very good on 3rd down. They were 3 for 14 last week. That might stem from the fact that they are only average at running the ball. They’re going to rely on mistakes from us, and judging from our play last week we’re not going to give them any. Our offense is going to score plenty. If our defense shuts them down the way I think they will, this won’t be a game for long.
Conclusion
Congratulations to The Citadel on their win last week, but they better enjoy it while it lasts. The downside of that win for them is that they now have our full attention. This time they’ll have to play on the road against a much better than The Stink. We’re about to make last week look like an even bigger upset than it was.
Prediction
The Citadel 17 / Appalachian State 34
Did you just call The Citadel a pass first team? You do know they run the triple option, thus all the talk about pass first and passing stats above are for null.
Your comment brings up a valid question, does pitching the ball during an option run count as a pass in regards to statistic reporting? I’ve never really thought about that. In any case, statistically their pass numbers far exceeded their rushing numbers and that’s what I was referring to. If pitches count as passes, you’re right that could screw up how the numbers would be construed.
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