The Final: App St

[Matt Trump]

We've played some very tough teams this year, but App St. might be the best. They claimed the autobid from the SoCon, arguably the biggest challenge in 1AA.

One break we did get is that Richie Williams, this weeks Nealy/Santos/Meyer, will not play Friday. He ruptured a tendon in his ankle against Furman. Unfortunately their backup qb, Trey Elder,is still a difference maker. They have a fast little runningback in Richardson. They also have some outstanding players on defense. These guys are solid all around.

This is a great battle between 2 storied programs who are both making their 1st trip to the final. I still like our chances because we are a team of destiny.

[B.True]

I still like our chances because we are a team of destiny.

3 straight wins by 3 points each.....totally agree!

[UNI Fight]

As much as I love to see us win I'd love to see us blow out appalachian state or I might just blow an artery, I don't think I've ever fealt this tense about football ever, just as long as we keep on chuggin into chattanooga ( i had to make the obvious pun)

[CF Panther]

Elder the backup is good. Richie Williams is excellent. That is going to be huge for UNI. Richardson the RB is tough, averages just under a 100 yards a game. BUT he is their only real option at that position. The next best runner was Williams, and he is most likely out. They like their QB to run, and Elder seemed to have trouble holding on to the football this afternoon. Tough to correct something as troubling as that with only a couple of practices before the next game. ASU's receiving group is very like ours; nobody really stands out statistically, but they spread the ball all over the field. Elder completes a good percentage of his passes, but this is coming mostly in mop up duty. I would like to see us throw a complex blitz package at the backup all night Friday! ASU's field goal kicker is right around .500 on the season, with a long of 39 yards. He's only 3/10 from 30-50 yards. Basically, this again could be a huge advantage for us. Wingert may have missed that extra point, but he put his two field goals right where they needed to be. He has been a kicker on a mission since that WKU game!

On defense, ASU is led in tackles by a freshman corner. Two things I like about that; freshman and corner! When your corner is your leading tackler, it is for a reason... ASU's two DE's are good; they're athletic and get after the ball carrier. However, they will be giving up ~60 pounds to our tackles. Their defense seems to give up about an equal amount of rushing and passing yards per game. I think that this is good for our team, as a balanced attack is ideal for us this season. After watching the big fullback from Furman against ASU today, I like David Horne to have a big night. While he isn't nearly as big as that guy, he runs similarily. Against the pass, ASU has done well throughout the season, but against Furman's QB Martin was finding holes. Martin's arm is stronger than Sanders', but I think Sanders is probably a bit more accurate. All in all, I like how we match up against their defense. Their offense will score points, like everyone else has lately on us, but I think the fact that they will be starting a backup QB and already relied on the run before that fact will play into UNI's favor. Hopefully our run defense that showed up against WKU and YSU will show up Friday night. If that's the case, we'll be sitting good in this one!

[DMPanther]

Their offense will score points, like everyone else has lately on us, but I think the fact that they will be starting a backup QB and already relied on the run before that fact will play into UNI's favor. Hopefully our run defense that showed up against WKU and YSU will show up Friday night. If that's the case, we'll be sitting good in this one!

O agree CF Panther - also if we can 'jump' on top with quick scores I think that puts us more at ease and gives the other team some urgency - which can equal into mistakes here and there....Go Panthers!!!!

[CF Panther]

O agree CF Panther - also if we can 'jump' on top with quick scores I think that puts us more at ease and gives the other team some urgency - which can equal into mistakes here and there....Go Panthers!!!!

Definitely, we get up by a couple of scores like the last two weeks, and this backup QB will have his back to the wall!

[GonzoCat]

I actually believe that of our last six wins against ranked teams (leaving out NAU here) each one was a better team than the last. However, I don't think ASU is better than all six of them, better than some for sure, but not all.

YSU<WKU<SIU<EWU<UNH<TSU>ASU

That's not saying they could not win against us, we will have to do everything as well or better than we have in all those other games to win. All of these teams are good enough to beat anybody else in the country on any given night.

Should be fun! I sure wouldn't mind it not coming down to the last drive, but that seems to be our style.

[JCPanthers]

I'm still waiting for a "run out the clock" kind of win. My heart can't take much more.