App State did not beat anybody but us. We made them into Goliath, that ranking is accurate. Minnesota at 39 is a joke.

They beat Georgia Southern who crushed BG who crushed us.

BG played their worst game of the season. We did not play so well and almost beat them. They are a bottom 50 team with a cupcake schedule.

And no offense to anyone but so are we.

How many tickets did we sell?

Remember Minnesota was supposed to win the Big Ten West after they beat us or sorry we beat ourselves.

I don't know why you have such a negative impression of App State. Before the game I predicted they would be about a 12 point favorite, if I recall, based on how they had played all season. I was surprised, and Vegas opened App State as only a 9 1/2 point favorite. That's still a substantial margin, and it would have been a definite upset if Ohio had won. Nevertheless, Ohio was getting a lot of players healthy, so the point spread closed to only 7 by game time, and I thought Ohio had a chance to win, and I think that Ohio played well in the game, though the first quarter was a little rough as the team got it's timing back after a month off.

Turning your statement around, please, lets stop with these fake moral losses. For some people it seems to be important to run down any team that Ohio beats, and say that they are garbage, and thus the win was meaningless, such as Akron and NIU. Then, they also run down any team that beats Ohio, again with the apparent purpose of making the Ohio players look worse.

Instead let's be honest, and look objectively at the teams. App State finished 11-2. Even if they play in the Sunbelt, they are a good team. While you feel that they sucked, the national consensus, as reflected by the point spread, is that they did not.

The Ohio players worked hard, and played well this season, most of the time. They did have a 1 1/2 games in the middle where, to me, they did not play well (2d half of WMU and Buffalo), and they certainly did not achieve all their (or our) goals. Let's let them keep the accomplishments that they did achieve, without feeling a need to take those away, too.

As for the subject of this thread, Steele being prescient, his track record shows that he is clearly the most accurate forecaster out there, year in, and year out.

Not to mention the Sun Belt was a solid conference this year at the top. Arkansas State, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State were the torch bearers but there were some other good wins for Georgia State and South Alabama. And this was in a year where ULM and ULL were awful.

FWIW, I'm super glad Ohio didn't play Georgia Southern in a bowl. No way, no how did I want the Bobcats going up against that gauntlet.

First of the term "mind-state" on this forum? That says all I need to hear -- I think we have moved off the topic

I expect the best, that is why I am not celebrating a loss to App State. Challenge yourself and overcome that defeated mind-state and don't attack me for bringing the truth to the forefront.

Maybe it's the holiday spirit that lives deep within me coming to the surface for a quick gulp of oxygen, but I agree with Alan :)

I thought App State should have received bcs bowl consideration, they beat that juggernaut Georgia Southern, only three other top five teams can say they did that this year.