By Matt Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com

Follow us at Twitter.com/SouthernPigskin.  Become a fan at the SouthernPigskin.com Facebook Page

Here are three keys for Appalachian State to end up at the Sun Belts best squad in 2016.

After coming one win away from winning its first ever Sun Belt title last fall, the Appalachian State Mountaineers have been picked as the preseason favorite to bring home the conference crown this fall.

In order for that prediction to become a reality, though, the Mountaineers must address a couple of key issues.

Here are three keys for Appalachian State to end up at the Sun Belts best squad in 2016.

1. Finding Capable Receivers

The Mountaineers may have finished tenth in the Sun Belt in passing offense in 2015, but that was a product of schematic design than it was an indication of an inability to throw the football. Quarterback Taylor Lamb completed over 60 percent of his passes on the season, and finished his sophomore campaign with 31 touchdowns and just nine interceptions.

Though the offense is built around the running game, balance is still critical to maintain in order to achieve success. In order for App State to have the same semblance of balance in 2016, it must find a way to replace the production of three of its top four receivers from a year ago.

Junior Shaedon Meadors is the teams leading receiver having hauled in 21 receptions for 439 yards last fall. The Mountaineer coaching staff feels good about the talent and potential of the group as a whole, but there is a serious lack of experience at the position. App State will need at least three receivers to step up and emerge as legitimate targets this fall in order to keep opposing defensive coordinators from focusing all of their attention on stopping the ground game.

2. Replacing Defensive Stars

Eight starters return to an App State defense that was the best in the league last season, allowing an average of just 314.5 yards per contest.

While returning eight starters is obviously a great thing for defensive coordinator Nate Woody, he will have the unfortunate task of replacing a pair of superstar talents in defensive Ronald Blair and cornerback Latrell Gibbs. Blair was selected in the fifth round by the San Francisco 49ers after winning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year in 2015, while Gibbs was recently declared academically ineligible for the upcoming season.

The Mountaineers return plenty of production both in the pass rush and in the secondary, but finding replacements for superstar players is never easy. Opposing offensive coordinators were forced to tailor their game plans to constantly account for Blair and Gibbs last fall. All-conference linebacker John Law arguably demands the same type of attention, but he will have a hard time making as much of an impact as Blair and Gibbs simply due to the position he plays.

3. Beat Georgia Southern

Appalachian State and Georgia Southern play in one of the more intense rivalries in college football that people nationally likely dont know much about. These programs have a long history against one another, and the contests are always filled with passion and intensity.

With the good fortune of avoiding Arkansas State on the schedule this fall, it certainly appears on paper that App States title chances rest squarely upon its Thursday night showdown in Statesboro on October 27.

The Mountaineers handled the Eagles handedly last season in Boone, but Georgia Southern easily got the better of its rivals two years ago when the game was at home.

It is always dangerous to boil a season down to just a single contest, but given the immense disparity in talent between the top and bottom of the conference, it appears that there is a very good chance that the Mountaineers would be able to win the league title by simply winning its biggest rivalry contest.