You hoped for something different. Despite all the disadvantages, you hoped for a bowl win. You wanted Vulcan Ass Man to be in the trophy case.

Then, the most unique bowl game possible with new potential heroes was lost for the same reasons games were lost in September, October and November.

Running the ball? It worked. Matt Wilson, Alexander and Lewis were picking up big gains. But when it got into scoring territory? Time to throw the ball! And guess what? Four turnovers and 10 total points. Similar to Southern Miss. Similar to various points across the season. The NFL Man wants to run NFL plays, so there are passes, and the passes don’t work. They rarely worked all season.

NFL Man called red zone passes in Hattiesburg that led to more points for Southern Miss than App State with a QB who did not play in Birmingham. He called a fade route on 1st and Goal versus Coastal because that’s what you do in the NFL. And he called passes here because that’s what Matt Hasselbeck and his rolodex of NFL contacts would do.

NFL Man is Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State University head coach. App State is not an NFL team. The Birmingham Bowl is not the NFL Playoffs. Georgia Southern is not an NFL divisional opponent. Yet Dowell thought playing Georgia Southern again was just like the Carolina Panthers playing the Atlanta Falcons again.

That’s Dowell’s entire frame of reference. The NFL is his North Star. And at times, it might work for players who think their talents and skills can get them there.

To someone like me, a fan who will root for this team long after NFL Man is gone, it’s a cheap pop by a pro wrestling fan favorite. It cheapens the very real rivalry between App State and Georgia Southern.

Georgia Southern? They put DEEPER THAN HATE on their helmets. It means something more than an NFL Divisional game. When was the last time Giants fans stomped on the pizzas delivered to the Eagles? When was the last time the 49ers planted a plunger at the 50-yard line in Seattle? When was the last time someone stole an ambulance during a Bears/Packers game?

Take the rivalries seriously, Dowell. Charlotte is coming to town next year and they hate App State. ECU is itching to finally beat App State at the end of this four-game series. Coastal wants five in a row against “The School in Boone.” Billy Napier has wanted to beat App State for almost a quarter-century and he has an annoying purple vehicle to do it. Georgia State always plays better in Boone than in Atlanta. And of course, Georgia Southern, despite likely only winning 6-7 games yet again, will want four in a row.

App State, like much of college football, is like 20% of what the NFL is, which is up from 10% it was just five years ago. It’s not as pure as high school football or pee-wee football, but it’s not the NFL. It’s wonderfully weird while the NFL is a set of norms and parody. College football is what it is because it’s unfair to most and unique to everyone. You don’t have young adults sliding down mud hills inside the stadium, even in Buffalo.

I might be a jerk is saying all that and a reason Dowell tells the trustees he hates the media, but this is important to people and the economic ripple effect is real. Will App State sell out season tickets in 2026 after two straight five-win seasons? Each of those unsold tickets means an empty seat at a restaurant, one less head in a bed of a cabin or hotel room and one less concession item sold. It adds up. The coach who makes a million dollars to coach App State Football should be open to criticism, especially from a season-ticket holder. I don’t hate Dowell, I just want him to win and I’m frustrated that it didn’t happen this season.

Oh yeah, the Birmingham Bowl.

You’re gonna have the QB you turned into a DB throw passes in the red zone when he runs like Armanti Edwards?

Gillion was the passing QB and did….OK, I guess? He looked like a true freshman catching up to the speed of D1 FBS. His decisions were mostly late and as the window was closing.

The defense? Giving up 29 points while shorthanded was admirable. 14 of those came on the opening offensive drives of each half by the Eagles, so I don’t know if that’s script or motivation or what? That’s a problem that’s transcended App State coaches, so it’s not worth being that mad over. If you say before the game that Georgia Southern scores 29, you might take it.

All you can do is hope for the future. You have to hope Dowell has a good plan for the portal in January. Hope there aren’t any more defections and there’s a plan for the players coming in. The HSFB recruiting class was impressive. There have been rumors of a bigger war chest for 2025. Results need to come. Dowell spoke at times in 2025 about how these current players couldn’t win. Well, they still haven’t won, by his admitted standard. It’s up to him to reverse it.

On Signing Day, Dowell talked about needing a dual-threat QB. It seemed the writing was on the wall for Kohl and Swann by that point. Wilson offered a glimpse of what a dual-threat QB could bring in his run game. If he or whoever can string together passes, that unlocks the offense.

If I call for assistant coaches to be fired, I’ll be accused of wanting to throw these men and their families out, and how dare someone like me do that? But you know who needs to be fired? The Offensive Coordinator, who is Dowell. It’s time for him to become a true head coach, be the face of the program and let an OC from the booth call the offensive plays.

Now that all the immediate angsty, jerkish reactions are out of the way, there needs to be commemoration for these 68 players plus staff out there today. They came back and stepped up. They are the embodiment of what Phillip Rivers said on Sunday when he talked about how everything we do matters. This game mattered. Notre Dame and a host of other teams with budgets way more than App State thought so. But it matters to App State. Better to have dared and lost than not dare at all. Dowell deserves massive kudos for the “Walmart parking lot” mentality. It’s one major aspect of App State culture he already embodies. I hope he comes to embody how anti-NFL the App State experience really is.

September seems so far away. I hope we get the Spring Game again. And maybe some basketball and baseball fun in the meantime.