Tag Archive for carolina
AUDIO: Former Mountaineer/Panthers WR Armanti Edwards on Panther Talk
(If audio player above doesn’t load, click HERE)
Former App State QB Armanti Edwards was on Panther Talk earlier this week. Skip to 37:08 for the interview.
This was of course after his now infamous 82-yd catch/run. He says in the interview that he treated the catch like “catching a punt”. He also talks about learning from teammate Steve Smith and keeping in touch with former App State players like Brian Quick.
The most interesting thing to me was that he says catching punts is harder than being a QB or WR. That quote gave me some new respect for punt returners everywhere. He also talks about the intricate mechanics of being a WR that even hardcore football fans may never even consider. Make sure to give the interview a listen.
VIDEO: AppState Legend/Panthers WR Armanti Edwards Catches 82-Yard Bomb
(Click image to open video in new window)
Armanti is WIDE open and catches the 82-yard pass from Cam Newton. This comes at a good time since he is in danger of losing his roster spot.
CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: Davidson Decides to Stay in the SoCon?
Bob Morrison, editor of the College basketball magazine Blue Ribbon Yearbook and writer for NBA.com & SECDigitalNetwork.com, tweeted the following today:
After pondering a move to the Colonial, Davidson decides to remain in Southern Conference, which retains a marquee hoops program.
@cdortch
Chris Dortch
If you haven’t been paying attention, Davidson & College of Charleston have basically been invited to the CAA and have been considering the move for some time.
That’s a decent source we have there, but we’ve been burned before. It ain’t official until it’s official obviously. But having followed this pretty closely, I expected Davidson to stay put. They have a lot of history in this conference and they are the top dog here. A move would increase their travel and make them a small fish in only a slightly bigger pond. The TV exposure and possible money increase were the only reasons to even consider it.
The worry that App State and Georgia Southern will leave soon affects football a lot more than basketball. Actually, basketball in the SoCon might get even better if we leave (hate to say it). The SoCon will be able to reload easily enough with some Big South schools, if and when we leave, so the instability argument isn’t as real as some may think.
This decision (if it’s true) decreases the odds that College of Charleston will leave, but like Dortch says it’s still 50/50. CoC’s Board of Trustees have meetings scheduled on Thursday and Friday of this week, with the athletics talk supposedly being done on Friday. So hopefully we’ll know by the end of the week one way or the other. I think the SoCon needs to be proactive, regardless of the outcome, and invite a few more members. Coastal Carolina, in particular, is a no brainer. In any case, if this news it’s true, it’s great news for SoCon hoops.
Category: Basketball, ConferenceRealignment |
Tags: appalachian, caa, carolina, charleston, coastal, coc, college, conference, davidson, realignment, socon, state
APP STATE WEEK 5: What Did We Learn?
How cool did those alt-uni’s look? It almost makes me think we need to bring something similar into our regular rotation.
I had a rough week on my predictions going 3-4 (31-12 overall). But I don’t mind one bit because those upsets helped us out tremendously in the conference title race.
Coastal Carolina 14 / @ #17 Appalachian State 55
I predicted a blowout win, but our guys exceeded even my expectations this week. Incredible job!
OFFENSE
399 Rushing yards and 285 passing yards. What else can I say? We absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage. We had the ball 13 times and on 9 of those times we scored. We did throw 1 interception but that was our only turnover of the game. If you told me we could play all of our games with only 1 turnover I would take it.
Steven Miller averaged 11.9yds a carry. Insane. He had 218 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. His longest was an incredible 75yd touchdown run.
Sean Price showed up again today with 8 receptions for 128yds. The longest being a 69yd touchdown strike. He had 2 touchdowns on the game.
DEFENSE
For me, this was the question mark going into the game. Sure our defense did an awesome job against Chattanooga, but Coastal was supposed to have a really high-powered passing offense.
Minus two long drives for touchdowns in the 2nd quarter, I have nothing to complain about. They held Coastal to 114yds on the ground and a 190 in the air. Keep in mind, Coastal put up 356yds in the air against FBS Toledo just last week.
Jeremy Kimbrough had his usual excellent game with 11 tackles. Brandon Grier threw in 6 more. Stephen Burns did a nice job of forcing a fumble.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Although they’re expected, Drew Stewart & co did a nice job of making all their field goals and extra points.
Our worst play of the game was also somehow my favorite. In the 4th quarter, Sam Martin kicked-off 65 yards to the 0yd line. Then Coastal returned the ball 87 yards to the App 13. But it would have been a touchdown if Sam Martin hadn’t made an incredible tackle. I love that the kicker didn’t give up. Coastal would soon after fumble the ball back to us.
I think one of our biggest problems right now is kickoff coverage. I think Sam Martin is doing a good job of kicking the ball so hard that that there is no chance of return. However, I think that’s masking the fact that our kickoff coverage has holes. I’m sure we’ll be working on that this week. Overall, fantastic game!
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#6 Wofford 49 / @ Elon 24
If I told you Wofford would only have 16 passing yards, you would tell me that they lost in blowout fashion right? Well, on top of that they had 500 rushing yards. That’s pretty amazing.
Meanwhile, Elon had the opposite strategy. They had 361yds in the air but only 49 on the ground. I thought they would do a little better after almost beating Georgia Southern last week. But I guess Wofford is as good as advertised.
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Western Carolina 24 / @ Furman 45
I actually thought Western would get their first D-I win of the last two seasons here. What was I thinking? They’ve got a looooong way to go if they were beaten this badly by lowly Furman. WCU actually put up a decent number of yards, but it was like their defense never came out of the locker room.
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Samford 16 / @ #10 Georgia Southern 35
I had a chance to watch most of this game live after the App game ended. This was really a game of momentum. When it started, these two teams looked really evenly matched but with different styles of play. Then GSU caught a pick 6. The crowd and their defense responded off the energy from that big play.
Like the Wofford/Elon game this was a tale of two styles. GSU only had 34yds in the air, but 360 yards rushing. Samford, who usually has more of a balanced attack, had 291 yds in the air, but only 63 yds rushing. Once again Rushing > Passing when you can only do one well.
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Chattanooga 28 / @ #11 The Citadel 10
THANK YOU CHATTANOOGA!!! They gave us our first conference win of the season last week. This week they put the conference race back in our hands. Now we control our own destiny for at least a share of the SoCon title. But we need The Citadel to lose again to control our own destiny for the autobid.
Just like I was clueless when The Citadel destroyed us, I’m clueless as to how they lost to Chattanooga. The stats were almost identical between the two teams across the board. The big difference I see is that Chattanooga won the turnover battle 2-0. The Citadel also had 2 drives end on downs. Chattanooga’s only major mistake was a missed field goal early in the game.
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UTEP 18 / @ East Carolina 28
Our loss to ECU doesn’t look so bad anymore. Each team traded 3 interceptions a piece in this sloppy game. UTEP threw in a fumble for good measure. I guess their excuse is that it was raining and the ball was wet. In any case, I hope ECU keeps on winning.
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#21 Montana 26 / @ #7 Eastern Washington 32
Wow, what a heartbreaker for Montana. I really thought they were going to win this one. E Washington was up 17-10 at the half. But Montana roared back and was up 26-24 with just 2:19 left in the game. But E Washington recovered their onsides kick and turned that into a touchdown with only 00:53 left on the clock. Montana was able to move the ball to the EWU 29 but just didn’t have enough time left to score.
GAMEDAY: Coastal Carolina @ #17 Appalachian State
Couldn’t find a good picture of it, but I had to make sure to use the retro helmet today! Make sure to join the in-game conversation on Twitter by using @AppStateNation
Kickoff: 3:30PM
TV: None
Online Video Stream: GoASU TV
Live Tweet Conversation: @AppStateNation
Live Audio: GoASU
Radio: Appalachian IMG Sports Network
Resources: Game Prediction & Other Games to Watch
Live Stats: GoASU
WEEK 5: The OTHER Games App State Fans Should Watch
App State has a key game tomorrow towards ensuring an at-large playoff berth. But in terms of winning our conference, it’s the games that we’re not playing in this week that are more important. Actually, we’re the only SoCon team not playing a conference game tomorrow. Let’s take a look:
Saturday, Sept 28
1:30PM #6 Wofford @ Elon
Elon gets the home advantage after NEARLY taking down Georgia Southern last week. That recent experience playing against the triple option should help them. However, Wofford has the bigger advantage in that they had 2 full weeks to prepare for this game. They should be healthy, well-rested, and well-prepared. The only thing that gives me pause is that Wofford hasn’t really played anyone yet. Upset alert?! (I hope so!)
Viewing Options: TV – None / Streaming Video / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: Wofford 30 / Elon 24
1:30PM Western Carolina @ Furman
Western Carolina had a 4pt heartbreaking loss against Samford last week. They’re still looking for their first D-I win of the season (they didn’t have a D-I win last season either). If they’re going to get one, this is the week. Furman lost to Samford by a similar score of 3 earlier in the season. Last week they got their first win against a lousy Presbyterian team. This is the “Battle for the Bottom”. At this point, I’m slightly more impressed with WCU and I don’t think Furman’s homefield advantage is that big. It could go either way though.
Viewing Options: TV – None / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: Western Carolina 27 / Furman 24
6:00PM Samford @ #10 Georgia Southern
This is the “Underrated Vs Overrated” game of the week. Samford is the best they have ever been. They’re undefeated and actually ranked in some of the polls (not in the Sports Network poll). Georgia Southern lost to The Citadel. Their best win is a 3pt marquee victory over Elon . If there was a way for both of these teams to lose I would wish for that. But either outcome helps us in a way. I think Georgia Southern wins at home, but they have their hands full.
Viewing Options: TV – ESPN3 / Streaming Video / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: Samford 21 / Georgia Southern 27
6:00PM Chattanooga @ #11 The Citadel
The Citadel is, as of the right now, the best team in the SoCon. You can throw out their 52-14 loss to NC State last week. Meanwhile, Chattanooga will have to do everything this season just to prove it hasn’t fallen all the way to the bottom of the conference. They won’t prove that this week (but I wish they would!)
Viewing Options: TV – None / Streaming Video / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: Chattanooga 13 / The Citadel 41
7:00PM UTEP @ East Carolina
The ECU game feels like a distant memory at this point. This week they face UTEP, a team that has struggled against tough teams so far. Their 3 losses were to Wisconsin, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma. They did beat NMSU. It’s hard to tell where they’re at, but they’re going to be excited to play a team they have a good chance of beating. ECU is likely demoralized after losing so badly to UNC last week.
Viewing Options: TV – WITN / Streaming Video / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: UTEP 28 / ECU 14
7:15PM #21 Montana @ #7 E Washington
Montana is 1 or 2 losses away from making our win against them seem mediocre. A win here from them would really help our strength of schedule. E Washington is ranked so high, partly because of their FBS win over Idaho. But then again, Idaho hasn’t even come close to winning a game this season. Last week, E Washington beat a winless Weber State team by 6. I think you can throw out the rankings for this one. In reality, E Washington hasn’t beaten anyone yet. I like Montana here.
Viewing Options: TV – Root Sports / Live Audio / Live Stats
Prediction: Montana 34 / E Washington 24
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NOTE: All rankings are based on Sports Network’s weekly FCS poll.
WEEK 5 PREDICTION: Coastal Carolina @ #17 Appalachian State
Well it’s been a busy week, but it’s almost time to watch the Chanticleers vs the Mountaineers! It’ll be extra fun because we’ll be sporting our throwback jerseys. Tip of the hat to anyone who can name the animated classic that featured this week’s mascots head to head.
Overview
Coastal’s got a new millionaire football coach and a criminal cheerleader coach. Honestly I think their old coach was doing pretty well for them, but such is the way of things. If we ever play at their place, definitely make the trip. Their school is sort of up and coming but it’s hard to beat the location. Personally, they’re my #1 pick for any future SoCon additions…and this is their audition.
Coastal Carolina’s Offense
The Chanty’s bring in the country’s 15th ranked pass offense to battle our 28th ranked pass defense. They’re also ranked 20th in pass efficiency and 36th in overall offense. They run what their offensive coordinator calls a “multiple spread attack”. Don’t confuse that with the spread option that we run. You won’t see their QB running all that often, and they like to switch up their formations and player sets. They were able to put up 47pts in a win over Furman if that gives you an idea of how potent their offense is. Really only Eastern Kentucky has been able to stop them somewhat, holding them to 17pts in that match. Even FBS Toledo had trouble last week.
Coastal Carolina’s Defense
Their defense is their weakness. In the last 3 games, opposing offenses put up 45, 35, & 37 points on them. They’re better at stopping the run than the pass, but they’re not particularly good at either one. The bottom line is, we will be able to score if we can avoid the turnover bug. We’ve got the 30th ranked offense in the country and they’re going to have their hands full.
Conclusion
If we avoid mistakes, like the ones in the Citadel game and the first quarter of the Chattanooga game, we should be fine. That’s far from a given though. I’m going with the assumption that we show up ready to play. If it turns into a shootout or a turnover battle we could be in trouble. Make no mistake, this is a good team that we are playing. If we sleep on them we are screwed. But I expect the most likely scenario is that we will put up a ton of points and our defense will dampen their high-powered offense enough to where we win comfortably.
Prediction
Coastal Carolina 23 / Appalachian State 41
Category: Football |
Tags: appalachian, appstate, carolina, chanticleers, coastal, mountaineers, state
