Just one more day. One. More. And we’ll finally get to see some Black and Gold dishing some black and blue. ‘Nooga is gettin’ more hype than a category 5 hurricane, but come landfall will it actually bring damage or just light wind? App is tested and ready. The Mocs are not.

No, not that event. This one – “App State’s men’s golf (team) arrived in Scotland to prepare for the 2010 International Collegiate Championship at the Torrance Course at St. Andrews this weekend.” They will also play the world-famous Old Course at St. Andrews.

Back .. in the saddle .. uh-gin.

Glorious.

Sure, he only took a few snaps in about three series, but it was enough to be endlessly intriguing.

So Edwards is their quarterback. The Panthers have the ball on their 12. Then comes a welcome-to-the-NFL moment; rookie tight end Jamie Petrowski is called for a false start. Now the Panthers are back on their 7.

On first down Edwards rolls left and hits fellow rookie David Gettis’ with a 6-yard pass.

This is the moment for which thousands of Panthers fans, as well as the 25 who are still watching the exhibition on TV, have been waiting.

Great read. And we agree with the Vick comparison. But dude, Tom, why end on such a downer? /frown

Meanwhile, AE’s employers dish on the Mountaineer.

“It just felt like old times,” said Edwards, a standout at quarterback with the Appalachian State Mountaineers. “Everything just seemed natural.

“We call it ‘Mountaineer’ here. I’ll take whatever name they give it.”

The Panthers lined Edwards up in the shotgun formation for a half-dozen plays in Thursday’s 19-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He ran out of it twice, handed the ball off twice and threw a pair of passes.

The plays gained a total of 4 yards, but that’s not the only way to measure the impact of Edwards’ debut in the role.

“It’s an area he’s done before, and we wanted to take a peek at just a few plays that we put in this past week,” head coach John Fox said. “That’s what he was drafted to do. We had him in on kicks, punts, a little at quarterback and again at wide receiver.

“It gave us a lot of looks, a lot of opportunities to evaluate.”

AE also caught two passes for 10 yards, including “a 6-yard catch and run on a fourth-and-5 where it looked like he would be stopped short of the first-down marker.” He also returned a punt 17 yards and a kickoff 22 yards.

Nine days till we get another look. …. /sighs

The “Mountaineer” … /heart skips three beats

GIVE ‘EM HELL!

* Photo stolen from charlotteobserver.com, where there’s more. Video here.

Not one, but two(!) INTs, last night.

Were they enough?

With safety Sabby Piscitelli losing his starting job to veteran Sean Jones and remaining in Tampa with a concussion, Lynch needed a good performance to make the Bucs’ decision about him tough. He played in 13 games last season but has only one interception is his two seasons.

“The (defensive) line was rushing like crazy. The linebackers were filling their gaps,” Lynch said. “When you do that, it’s easy to get those picks and get those big plays.”

Time for some tough Buc thinking.

Asked tonight whether Lynch played his way onto the final roster, coach Raheem Morris stopped short of a guarantee.

“It was a great game for evaluation,” Morris said. “I never want to tell you that soembody’s made the roster. We always want to go back and evaluate the tape and look at everybody individually and look at everbody collectively as a group and figure out where your team is.

“He had a great game though.”

Lynch’s best shot would be for the Bucs to keep five safeties, but that would be a departure from the past and a different approach than most teams.

* Photo stolen from tampabay.com. A few more here. And here’s video.

We totally spaced on tonight’s final Panthers dry run. And we totally missed AE in the Wildcat Mountaineer Package. Damn it! It went for no gain, but it’s comforting to know Fox wants to play with it. We’re hoping its pulled out again tonight as the Panthers looks to beat the … /deep sigh .. black and gold.

SUH-WEET! First preseason NFL completion. Ahhhh yeah.

Chris Aiken is 310 pounds. He’s an Iraq War vet. He plays defensive tackle. And he wears Black and Gold.

Dude …. we’re smitten! (With video goodness!)

He served two tours of duty in Tikrit and Samarra. At the time, those cities were among the most dangerous in the Middle East.

“When I went in the military, I became a man,” said Aiken.
Mountaineer head football coach Jerry Moore said many of the players look up to Aiken, even nicknaming him “Big Brother”.

“I’m blessed to be here, and I’m blessed to play for App,” said Aiken. “It lets me know tomorrow’s not promised so I thank God each day and take it day by day.”

Give ‘em hell, Big Brother!

As you see, we have a new look atop our humble page. It’s from one of our favorite App State football photos. And it was captured by everyone’s favorite App State photographer. (See the love! No one makes banners for us. /sulks). Thanks for letting us use the photo, and for rockin’ as much as you do!

Brief introduction to the App State team and season.

0 – Times in its history App State has opened a season against a SoCon foe on the road

1 – Career wins as starting QB for DeAndre Presley, who is scheduled to start at Chattanooga

4 – Number of D1 programs with 10 wins in each of last five seasons (Ohio State, Texas, Virginia Tech and App State)

5 – Returning Mountaineers who averaged more than 5 yards a rush last season

7 – Starters returning on defense

8 – Wins for App State in last 10 SoCon openers

9 – Starters returning on offense

13 – Mountaineers named to a preseason all-SoCon team, 10 of which were first-team honorees
(more…)

Gotta be the shoes – “Huesman’s seen several players hobbling around in their new Nike cleats, which were distributed Tuesday, and asked how many were developing blisters or having other discomfort. About 20 players stepped forward, most of them first- and second-teamers.” Uh-oh.

Deep breath, people. Deep. Breath.

No, not you. Them.

The Mocs’ season-opener against third-ranked Appalachian State University is being called the most anticipated UTC football game in more than a decade. Some say it’s drawn the most interest since the 1997 inaugural game at Finley, which pulled a standing-room-only crowd of 22,642.

“I am hearing more about this game than any game since I’ve been in Chattanooga,” said UTC Chancellor Roger Brown, who arrived at the school in 2006. “We’ve had some that were important before, but this one rises to a new level of excitement and interest.”

The UTC marketing department is working overtime to stir up as much buzz as possible for Saturday’s game. Promoters announced last month that the game will be a “whiteout,” with the players in all-white uniforms and all Mocs fans encouraged to wear white.

This for a team that went .. /checks stats .. 6-5 last season, and lost four of its last six games.

/smirk

Of course, the blessing of this week is that every team in the SoCon is undefeated (except the ‘Whee, which by natural law must always be listed below .500)

Much of the ecstasy is due to coach Russ Huesman’s pedigree. He built Richmond into a championship program. There’s faith a’ plenty he’ll do the same in the Dirty ‘Nooga.

In his first season, his Mocs dropped just four league games, and were one of only four .. four(!) .. league teams to finish above .500.

Yet all four league losses were to the three traditional powers of the league, plus Elon. And there’s little doubt that last season was a definite low-point in the quality of SoCon play.

This year Huesman brings in an experienced QB and a respectable defense, but lots of unknowns everywhere else. It’s a mystery how they’ll preform, and everybody luuuuuvs a good mystery.

But don’t peak too soon, birds. Cause the higher you get, the further you have to fall.

Beat ‘Nooga.

Eighth in a series of questions we’re questioning heading into the 2010 App State football season.

309.

That’s the cumulative career catches by three App State receivers – CoCo Hillary (116), Matt Cline (106) and Brian Quick (84).

Has there ever been a Receiving Trio this established at a season’s start? Consider the stats.

Clutch caught 85 passes in ‘09, second most in a season in App State history. It just so happens Quick is sixth on that list with 61 catches last year, and Hillary is 9th with his 56 from 2008.

Now to reception yards in a season. Quick and Cline are Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, in the record book after going for 982 and 981 yards last season.

In career receiving yards, Hillary is 7th at 1,588, with Quick two spots and just 110 yards back at 1,478.

The three have 24 career TDs between them, led by Quick’s 11. (CoCo has 9; Clutch 4).

And each is consistent. Clutch never caught fewer than 3 passes in a game last season (He had 7 or more in 7 games). CoCo had at least two catches in eight straight games before injury ended his year (He also broke 80 yards in his last three games).

And Quick had ball at least once a game, going for 90+ yards five times (including 10 catches for 135 against Montana).

The Tri-Magnets have their specific niches. Quick is all about the long ball. He’s listed at 6-5, but gets higher than a soprano. He’s delivered more tea bags than Lipton.

What CoCo doesn’t have in length he makes up for in thickness. Marble isn’t this hard. He’s a great catch and bulldoze receiver. He ain’t going down easy.

Clutch is just that. Neither a deep ball threat or hardcore runner, he always seems to get free at just the right moment (usually on third down). And last year he got free … uh-lot. While he was one yard shy of matching Quick’s output, he had 24 more catches than the leapster.

That’s a lot of numbers. And a lot of talent. It’s near mandated that any quality team have one star receiver. But three? Will there be enough throws to pass around?

Also consider they ain’t the only targets. Last year Blake Elder caught 24 passes for 311 yards, going for just one yard less on average than Hillary (13.9 vs 13.0). Running back Devon Moore also caught 36 passes (282 yards).

Ben “First Down” Jorden has proven he has great hands at tight end (45 career catches) and BJ Frazier just can’t be left alone (He caught only 7 passes, but four went for 25+ yards).

So when defenses gameplan the App State O, they got a lot of targets about which to worry. You got all these potential ball catchers covered? Great! Now whatcha gonna do about the guys planning to run with it?

“I want to see how well we play.” So do we!

DP speaks. “I’ve been in a winning game and a losing game, and in both of those games I thought too much instead of just playing football and trusting what my coaches asked me to do.”

“He’s as good as anybody in the room.” Call him … Ace Cadet.

Chattanooga football is …. That’s funny. We didn’t come up with any of those answers.

Of course, everyone is excited about the game. The question is who will feel that way afterwards.

Happy. Happy. Happy. Everybody happy.

Not too happy now. Scroll down for Mocs’ “keys to the game.” Duh.

Horsie heaven. We’re rootin’ for ya Sticks.

He’s an yosefianpanther. Heh.

Clubber Lang looks to take AE’s spot. “”I know I can’t reach the platform he did with all the titles he won. But going out my senior year with a conference title, there would be no shame in that.”

A stiff test. Beware the mean right hook.

Look! Baseball news! Awesome.

Remembering the big upset. No, not that one.

Just because. /giggle … /gufaw .. ROTFLOAO

Again, because. Note, written before the game.

All. Time.

The SoCon had its first coaches teleconference today. Moore was asked if he’s ever had a RB stable this good – “Probably not the quality depth that we’ve got right now. I feel like we’ve got 4 or 5 guys that are all pretty good football players.” Also, “The obvious thing we got to do, to improve, starts with our QBs. They’ve got to learn to apply things they got the gift to do.”

SAY WHAAA?: Moore also said, “DeAndre may have more speed than Armanti had. He may not have the quickness to make people miss like Armanti did, but just sheer speed he’s probably every bit as fast as Armanti was. ” No pressure.

Four days … Four! Days! … till we are made whole again. App State kicks butt off Saturday at KBS West to both start the 2010 football season and end the carefree days of summer. /high five

As you all know, ‘Nooga is preparing for its most anticipated home opener since the TO days by preemptively surrendering with a “White Out” theme. More than one Appfan has let us know they fully intend to be there live and Black Out the place. THIS is how our home away from home is gonna look! We hope.

So who’s going? Where ya sitting? Whatcha wearing? And more importantly, how excited are ya?

2010 is almost here .. /big smile … Who’s going to be at the party live?

Now with less Blur – “To get to the 75-man roster limit, the Panthers made five moves Tuesday. They also placed WR Wallace Wright on injured reserve and waived wide receivers Dexter Jackson and Oliver Young.” He could still be picked up for practice squad. Regardless, we’ll always have 2008.