Appalachian State Mountaineers Sit 4th in Sun Belt Poll
The Appalachian State Mountaineers entered last season as a lamb. They turned the show over to Taylor Lamb, started running the ball better, and ended last year like Lions. Their reward is a preseason fourth place ranking in the Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll released last month.
The big winners in the upcoming year’s poll are the Georgia Southern Eagles, who won the conference last year with their option based attack. The Eagles, like the Mountaineers, were in their transitional year into FBS and prohibited from post-season play. The Eagles and Mountaineers applied for waivers to get into bowl consideration last year and both were denied.
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Given the limited bowl options for Sun Belt teams, App State will still need to finish better than its predicted fourth place finish if they want a bowl berth. App State fielded no first place votes in the poll unlike the three teams above them. South Alabama, voted sixth, managed to snag a first place vote somewhere.
The team closest to App State in the poll is the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Since they only received one first place vote themselves, the Red Wolves may not be the biggest hurdle to the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers won that game by five last year and play at home this year.
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The Mountaineers will also see the Eagles and the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns on the field. Those are the two teams who finished higher on the poll than the Red Wolves. The Mountaineers will not face fifth place Texas State on this year’s schedule.
Sun Belt Coaches Poll:
1. Georgia Southern Eagles (6 first place votes)
2. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns (3)
3. Arkansas State Red Wolves (1)
4. Appalachian State Mountaineers
5. Texas State Bobcats
6. South Alabama Jaguars(1)
7. Louisiana-Monroe War Hawks
8. Troy Trojans
9. Georgia State Panthers
10. New Mexico State Aggies
11. Idaho Vandals