[SumItUp]

If we win, it’s against the worst team in FBS.

UMass beat Akron. They can't be the worst team.

[jinxy]

This place is hilarious. In the last week ive read the following.

-we should beat rutgers handely and were way behind if we dont.
-umass is basically a boring game that generates no interest and we should deck them
-rutgers is much bigger and stronger and still out classes us
-app state is a juggernaut and were yearssss away from being similar to them.


Thats just the easy ones. I cant keep up its so dizzying around here. Bottom line is this. Freeze wouldnt be here if didnt think he could turn us into app state within 5 years. Rutgers while bigger is still a game we should have won. Injuries and poor d caused us to lose. Any road fbs win is a big deal at this pt. Sometimes you lose games you should win and win games you should lose. Every week is new and each matchup is different.

Ap state promptly loses to a mediocore gsu team at home i believe. Baylor who was totally gutted and we beat just 3 years ago is now undefeated and top 15.

We are headed in the right direction and faster than we thought.

Feel free to hop back on the weekly wave of emotion if you want but its crazy to do that.

[ballcoach15]

The UMASS game is a game as big as any on the schedule. They are FBS, thus a win is a must, towards becoming bowl eligible. Much bigger than the Maine game a couple weeks ago, or whenever it was.

I believe every season we have lost a game we were favored to win and should have won. Hopefully Rutgers was that game for 2019.

[Jonathan Carone]

This place is hilarious. In the last week ive read the following.

-we should beat rutgers handely and were way behind if we dont.
-umass is basically a boring game that generates no interest and we should deck them
-rutgers is much bigger and stronger and still out classes us
-app state is a juggernaut and were yearssss away from being similar to them.

Three of those four things are true. The only one that wasn't was that we were way behind if we didn't beat Rutgers. The reason that's not true is because the third thing on there is: they've still got the bodies that we don't have yet.

App losing a rivalry game in the rain on a Thursday night doesn't disprove that they're a juggernaut that's years ahead of us. They're having this type of success under their third different coach. We're hoping for one coach to get us to that level in five years. They've been doing it for 15.

Bottom line is this. Freeze wouldnt be here if didnt think he could turn us into app state within 5 years.

Or Freeze came here because it was his only head coaching offer and he had to start somewhere. He might stay and turn us into App State (and if he stays, I think we can have that quality of a team) or he may leave. We don't know.

Rutgers while bigger is still a game we should have won. Injuries and poor d caused us to lose. Any road fbs win is a big deal at this pt. Sometimes you lose games you should win and win games you should lose. Every week is new and each matchup is different.

-- --

We are headed in the right direction and faster than we thought.

I agree with this completely.

[tyndal23]

Rutgers was a nice little smack across the face for a reality check, however we have yet to play solid on both sides of the ball for 4 quarters since Buffalo - this team has the capability of big upset if we can put the right 11 guys on D at 90 percent healthy. That has crushed us in 2 of our 3 losses. Still blame our D coaching for not adapting quickly to Rutgers but still get it somewhat - right when u would bring in an extra lineman they would throw a perfect pass ( 1st all year for Rutgers ) and keep us having to respect pass. I expect D to be solid this week.

[Man_the_kay]

UMASS game is not a big game and not an interesting game for people who follow NCAA college football.
But we need to pile up firewood to go to a bowl game. So it is really important game for us.

[Kricket]

It's funny how people emotionally react week after week. I doubt App State was thinking they are so far ahead of us 5 years ago when we beat them in their transition year to FBS.

Of course the years after that have been great for App State, and good for them. Our journey is much different and I'm not sure it's fair to compare. They have a longer history and an actual conference. We're a new team relative to most other FBS teams and could swing up or down wildly.

App State is like investing in a utility company that's stable and pays nice dividends and Liberty is more of a tech startup that has caught the eye of a billionaire investor.

Neither is better than the other, just appreciated differently. Since I'm not an old retiree I'd rather go with the tech start up in Liberty, but I can't fault the older conservative posters who envy the stability and dividends the utility App State produces regularly.

[thepostman]

I am not a huge fan of comparing us to App State but they are years ahead of us. Could we catch them and pass them? Of course. I just don't see that happening any time soon.

[Jonathan Carone]

I was waiting for someone to bring up when we beat them. Because the only reason we beat them was because they’d been redshirting the majority of their team that season and decided to pull the shirts that week and the week after. Once they did and their talent got their legs under them, they rolled off six straight wins and went to a bowl.

But yeah, I’m emotional week after week.

[TH Spangler]

All I have to say about App is ....... they cant touch GA Southern

[FlamesHighontheTide]

Love this quote from 247sports preview of the game:

"UMass has already played their best game this season against Akron and if they were ever going to get a second win it would have been last weekend against UConn. The harsh reality is that this UMass team is one of the worst in FBS this season and not equipped to handle playing even a middling team like Liberty at this point. They don’t have the bodies, the talent, the experience or the coaching necessary at this point to contest any opponent, and their final four games are going to be tough to watch, starting with Saturday."

40 minutes till kick-off boys and then the blowout starts!!

[Kricket]

I was waiting for someone to bring up when we beat them. Because the only reason we beat them was because they’d been redshirting the majority of their team that season and decided to pull the shirts that week and the week after. Once they did and their talent got their legs under them, they rolled off six straight wins and went to a bowl.

But yeah, I’m emotional week after week.

I wouldn't say you are overly emotional every week. I'd say you lean slightly pessimistic consistently. The board in general has major mood swings.

[thepostman]

That is the story on a lot of fan message boards. Nature of the beast. Most on the board are pretty level headed. The ones that aren't tend to just stick out.

Jon isn't typically someone who swings one way or another very easily but there certainly are those that do.

[jinxy]

Thats why i used the baylor example as well. They are more similar to us than app state. They were competely kod just 3 years ago with a depleted roster and then they won what like 2 games the year we beat them yet look now. I know several baylor fans and they all felt like it would take 5 years min to dig out of the mess they were in and maybe even 10.

Obviously its not completely apples to apples but if you get the right guy in the right spot at the right time and things multiply instead of addition. I think we have all the check marks right now if we can stay the course to multiply instead of add. When gill was here we were adding and subtracting which takes years to get where you want if ever.

[chris leedlelee]

Thats why i used the baylor example as well. They are more similar to us than app state. They were competely kod just 3 years ago with a depleted roster and then they won what like 2 games the year we beat them yet look now. I know several baylor fans and they all felt like it would take 5 years min to dig out of the mess they were in and maybe even 10.

Obviously its not completely apples to apples but if you get the right guy in the right spot at the right time and things multiply instead of addition. I think we have all the check marks right now if we can stay the course to multiply instead of add. When gill was here we were adding and subtracting which takes years to get where you want if ever.

I sure hope you're right. I believe its more likely you're right than wrong!

[Jonathan Carone]

I totally think Freeze is going to build great teams however long he stays here.

Where I contend the others are much further ahead of us is having big sustained success under multiple coaches.

[Kricket]

You're right. Liberty football doesn't have a brand yet. Hugh Freeze has more recognition than Liberty football does. I think a few big wins over top 25 schools and we will be there, but we aren't yet.

[tyndal23]

Just for Purple no one else need respond...
http://advocareclassicfootball.com/hist ... yu-vs-okla