Our win suddenly looks a little less ugly

[Creek Walker]

It does nothing to mitigate the red flags raised by our performance Thursday, but at least we're not the only team with high expectations that struggled mightily this weekend. Let's recap:

• No. 25 Florida led Massachusetts only 10-7 early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s season-opener in The Swamp. The Gators did score a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter, winning 24-7, but it was very ugly. For the record, USA Today ranked Appalachian State as the nation’s 43rd team out of 128 teams in the preseason. USA Today ranked UMass as the nation’s 127th team out of 128 teams in that same ranking list.

• No. 13 TCU was tied with FCS opponent South Dakota State at halftime, and led by only one score going into the fourth quarter. TCU wound up pulling away in the final quarter for a 59-41 win, but, again, it was ugly.

• No. 8 Stanford led Kansas State only 19-13 until scoring a garbage touchdown on a 41-yard run with eight seconds remaining Friday. Kansas State was ranked as the nation’s 68th team by USA Today.

• Like TCU, No. 12 Michigan State played an FCS foe in its opener Friday, and struggled mightily. The Spartans led Furman (which hasn’t made the FCS playoffs in three years) by only one possession until scoring a touchdown with under five minutes to play. Final score: 28-13.

[Tnphil]

What I've seen so far...In the SEC it's Bama way ahead. If we can get lucky and win the East we get the pleasure of playing them twice!!

[Creek Walker]

Alabama looked very impressive today. Unfortunately Georgia looks like the best team in the East at this juncture.

[Tnphil]

Agree.....UGA looked better than I thought. I had no doubt UGA's defense would become a lot more hardnosed under Smart I was impressed with their offense. Chaney turned the true freshman QB loose a lot more than Butch and Deboring does for Dobbs.

Never thought I'd say it....but I'd trade Chaney for Deboring in a heartbeat. Of course Butch would then have to ditch his high school offense.

[Black Diamond Vol]

Alabama looked very impressive today. Unfortunately Georgia looks like the best team in the East at this juncture.

Uga needed a lot of help from the refs to pull that one out.  I thought UNC got screwed a couple times on their final posession.

[HerbTarlekVol]

I respectfully disagree.  I don't think anything that happened yesterday made our poor effort look any "better" or "worse".  It stood on its own merit. 

[tshadow]

It isn't less ugly but any targeting Ut for ridicule is more easily dismissed as hypocrisy. The sec certainly did not defend its crown as the best conference in football. We all (the teams) got a lot of work to do.

[VinnieVOL]

I think we can acknowledge that App St is a better than average team while at the same time admitting that TN played horribly in just about every phase of the game.

[BanditVol]

I think we can acknowledge that App St is a better than average team while at the same time admitting that TN played horribly in just about every phase of the game.

Exactly.  Plenty to improve on from Thursday, and I hope that if Thomas is injured, he either gets healthy in a hurry or gets replaced. 

In a way, it's good that Appy State is a legit bowl team, because they may have done us a favor and exposed a few things.  Not least of which, in this last game at least, preparation and not looking ahead to the next game.