Why I Love My Mountaineers

Donkay Kong — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:38:30 -0500

Living in West Virginia and having season tickets—it's truly great to be a Mountaineer.

Playing for a championship against your rival at home, what could be better?

Unfortunately, the combination of Rich Rodriguez probably looking ahead to his days in Ann Arbor and Pat White dislocating his finger sent WVU into a long, sluggish game. As time expired and Pittsburgh's kicker ran around in the end zone, eventually taking a safety, I thought, how could this happen?

Was it simply the pressure that they were facing? As other teams have done, they could've very well just choked.

Despite these setbacks, WVU will compete against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl—which is still a BCS bowl.

It is upsetting when you become attached to a team and pull for them so much and then you're let down. This is called sports—it doesn't always go your way, and the best thing to notice how many more things you have going than not.

Personally, I believe they will recover after losing a greedy, self-centered coach and finishing out the year in a BCS bowl.

Last but certainly not least, there are the Appalachian State Mountaineers from Boone N.C., where I hope to go in a few years. My sister being an alumni, I've had my share of opportunities to visit their beautiful campus and have attended many of their football teams games.

You may remember Appalachian State being that little school that beat the then-fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines, capping off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. It goes further than just this—next year Appalachian State will be going for their fourth-consecutive National Championship, and in 2009 will be playing LSU and Georgia.

West Virginia and App State both run a no-huddle spread offense, and both of them have been very effective in using it. WVU has won four Big East titles in the last seven years with it. Appalachian State defeated Michigan with it, while winning three consecutive National Championships.

There are many things to be looking forward to from both WVU and ASU, as both schools will try to continue their rich traditions.

How Ready is Appalachian State For FBS Football?

Donkay Kong — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:46:05 -0500

We've all heard about Appalachian State's historical upset over Michigan and how it has changed how we view the so-called cupcakes of college football.

If you look up and down the top 25 teams in FCS they may not exactly jump out at you, but let's face it—the top 20 teams of FCS could easily manage the bottom half of FBS. So why must other sports writers insist on how App State's win over Michigan was the largest of all time?

Take into account the fact that we've won three consecutive National Championships, the first in the history of the division. The weekend following the App State/Michigan game, Greenwood, S.C. native Armanti Edwards was interviewed and asked the question, "What's the biggest difference you've noticed between FBS and FCS football?"

Armanti simply replied that the biggest difference was size, but that they could match up speed wise and athletically. To be honest that's all that needed to be said. FBS teams are given more scholarships so in that regard they are more deep. Even so, if the FCS teams can stay injury free and play their game there will be more shockers from FCS schools—maybe not of the same magnitude, but there will be more.

News of an NCAA sanction that states the soonest there will be another transition of FCS to FBS will be in 2011. What bothers me about this situation is that one of the fastest quarterbacks in all of college football will get minimal opportunities to shine against the so called FBS powers.

I'm talking of course about Armanti Edwards who was the first quarterback since Vince Young to pass for 2000 yards and run for 1500 yards last year—and being a true freshman at that.

I'm not saying Appalachian state would be a powerhouse in FBS right off the bat because they wouldn't be. I do believe that with a few years of more intense recruiting and more scholarships App State could thrive and become a consistent bowl-eligible team.

In conclusion, I would just like to say that if you ever get sick of the waste of a system in the BCS tune to the D1 playoffs in December and you might be lucky enough to see Appy State win a fourth consecutive National Championship.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Donkay Kong

Why I Love My Mountaineers

How Ready is Appalachian State For FBS Football?