Appalachian Football @ Louisiana-Monroe

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Charles

Appalachian State (5-3, 4-0 Sun Belt) vs Louisiana-Monroe (3-5, 3-3 Sun Belt)

Saturday, November 4th, 2017 3:00pm est

TV/Video: ESPN3

Radio: WKBC 97.3 Wilkesboro, Charlotte, Winston Salem, Hickory & High Country; WATA 1450 Boone, Blowing Rock; WGVZ ESPN 730 Charlotte, Rock Hill, Salisbury; WCOG 1320 Winston-Salem, Greensboro; WCMC 99.3 Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill; WZGM 1350 Black Mountain, Asheville; WDNC 620 Durham, Raleigh; WHKP 1450, WHKP 107.7 Hendersonville; WAZZ 1490, WAZZ 94.3 Fayetteville; WPWT 870 AM, 100.7 FM Bristol/Johnson City, TN

JPS Field at Malone Stadium

Surface: FieldTurf Revolution

Capacity: 30,000

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 64.28

Monroe: 52.05

Home: 2.14

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 10 points (rounded)

Sportsbook: App State -9.5

Series: App State leads 3-0

Last meeting: App State 42, Monroe 17, November 19th, 2016

What is they say about winning? Plenty of people have said many things about winning over the years. Vince Lombardi called it a “habit”. Lombardi called it the “only thing”. Kareem-Abdul Jabbar said you can’t win unless you learn how to lose. Mia Hamm was quoted, “Whoever said winning isn’t everything, never won anything”. All those are great, but my favorite line ever is by Vin Scully: Losing feels worse than winning feels good. That nails it every time. As Mountaineer football fans, over the years, we have walked out of a lot more stadiums with a smile on our face, than we have with a frown. But those frowns, they are the worst. They can ruin a lot more than the next few minutes, but sometimes the next few hours, and sometimes it can linger for a couple days even. Luckily, there are more games to play. Strike that. Thankfully there are more games to play. Truth is, the Mountaineers have been tight roping it for the last month. All it was going to take was a slight lean one way or the other, and it was going to come crashing down. But, there is plenty left at stake. Plenty of time to pick up the pieces, and plenty of time to figure out how to get back up and start the next streak. The pride of Appalachian will not allow this little bump in the road to get the best of us.

Although the Monroe season started with losses to Memphis (7-1), and Southern Miss (5-3), they looked good in those losses and it appeared that Matt Viator was turning it around. A game with Florida State was cancelled as well, and is doubtful to be played unless the Seminoles need a win for bowl eligibility. After that start, the Warhawks followed with three straight wins in Sun Belt play, most notably over Louisiana, and were averaging nearly 51 points per game in those contests. But then, the bottom fell out. Three straight losses followed and the Warhawks were scoring less than 28 points per contest. Their defense was allowing fewer points, but the offense was not sustaining their earlier success.

The story for Monroe is their offense, plain and simple. The Warhawks are at the top of Sun Belt in many offensive categories, including 2nd in scoring, total offense, and rushing offense. They rank third in the Sun Belt in passing offense. Freshman Marcus Green is second in the conference in all purpose yards, and is the only freshman in the top ten of that category. He does it all, returning kickoffs and punts, and has carried the load in the air, leading the team with 455 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Not far behind Green is quarterback Caleb Evans, who has 1,710 yards passing, and nine touchdowns to just two interceptions. Where Evans gets you is on the ground. He’s their leading rusher with 412 yards and nine more touchdowns. Evans makes them go, but is not perfect. He an be found lobbing up passes lazily, and its a wonder more have not been intercepted. Balls floating around in the secondary could mean big plays for the App State secondary.

For all the good that Monroe delivers on the offensive side of the ball, their defense is the exact opposite. They are gruesomely bad. They are 12th of twelve teams in pass defense, and total defense and opponents first downs. They are 11th in run defense and 9th in scoring defense. In two specific games I was able to watch, the Warhawk defenders appeared uninterested in pursuing ball carriers and their inability to tackle was almost embarrassing. In the past, Monroe was actually decent on defense, but it was their offense that was the reason they struggled.

With eight games played this season, four on the road, and four at home, an ugly trend has reared its head with the App State offense. In road games, the offense has become incredibly predictable. How predictable you ask? Although Taylor Lamb has only attempted 16 more passes at home than on the road this season, he’s completed just three more passes. The difference is the kind of passes. Lamb’s yards per attempt at home is four whole yards higher than his road split. It’s hard to explain how the play selection could be that different. Last year that difference was one yard, which is still a huge discrepancy. But, Lamb also threw for over 300 more yards on the road last season than at home. In 2017, Lamb has thrown for nearly 600 more yards in home games, which is a 900 yard swing from one year to the next. This is not the result of a one game or two skewing the data. This is a complete flip in philosophy.

So here we are again. The Mountaineers will take to the road for the second straight week for the only time this season. In every road game, the Mountaineers have failed to score first. Opponents have scored 71 combined points before the Mountaineers in such games. Monroe is not the type of team you want to chase all afternoon. They will wear you down. You have to get them uncomfortable, getting them away from their ground game. If the Mountaineers cannot find some offense this weekend, I’m not sure when they will. Last week was another example of fantastic adjustments by the defense to give the offense a chance to climb back, but they fell short in the final two minutes, allowing UMass to drive 54 yards in twelve plays for the tying field goal. It was the longest scoring drive the defense gave up. The defense will give up some points this weekend. That’s not in doubt. The question is whether or not the offense can score enough. Sure, thats the backbone of every game in any sport that is ever played. For me, Taylor Lamb and the Mountaineer passing game has to step up and extend the field. Monroe runs a 4-2-5 defensive set, that likes to pressure the line of scrimmage, more out of annoyance than to make a big play. Those passes App dropped out of the backfield last weekend need to be caught. Obviously the ugly parts of the game, penalties, and turnovers can’t be like last weekend either. This is as big as it gets this weekend for the Mountaineers as far as confidence goes for the rest of the season. I expect App to respond in a big way,

The First Pick

Former Indians 20

Mountaineers 34

Appalachian Football vs New Mexico State

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Charles

Appalachian State (2-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) vs New Mexico State (2-3, 0-1 Sun Belt)

Saturday, October 7th, 2017 3:30pm est

TV/Video: ESPN3

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Surface: Fieldturf

Capacity: 23,150

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 67.40

New Mexico State: 58.11

Home: 1.94

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 11 points (rounded)

Sportsbook: App State -10.5

Series: App State leads 1-0

Last meeting: App State 37, New Mexico State 7, November 26th, 2016

The last two weeks, have felt like years. Bye weeks can be like that, forget what happened in the previous game. Forget that the last opponent was a long lost rival, a game that had been eagerly anticipated, and ended with an unfortunate thud. I’ll never look at the number 19 the same ever again. The 19th amendment of the US Constitution gave women the right to vote, but I’ll be thinking about Wake Forest. Adele’s debut album was titled “19”, but I’ll be thinking about untimely penalties against Wake Forest. The atomic number of Potassium is 19, which has the oddest symbol of the periodic table; the letter “K”. In that football game we all love, the letter K stands for kicker, and of course the kicks we didn’t convert against Wake Forest. So the next time you eat a banana, you’ll think about Wake Forest. Try and forget that for the time being, and lets turn our focus to an improved New Mexico State team that looks to make a statement on their way out of the Sun Belt. Their sites are set on a bowl game, and they have an offense that can make that happen, especially in a down year for the Sun Belt. It’s rare that Appalachian loses a Homecoming game, but the Aggies are just the kind of team that can make it interesting.

Even though New Mexico State sits below .500 on the season, their losses are extremely respectable. Arizona State & Troy were lucky enough to get by in one possession games, and Arkansas got up early and held serve for the remainder of the game last weekend. The wins the Aggies have under their belt are against New Mexico and UTEP. Two teams that mean so much from a rivalry perspective, that wins over those schools were included in Doug Martin’s new contract that didn’t increase his salary but was very incentive laden. A victory over either school gives Martin a $5,000 bonus. He’ll also receive an additional $20,000 bonus for six wins or a bowl invite.

New Mexico State was trending up last year. Remember, the Mountaineers and Aggies teed it up in one of the final games of the 2016 season. New Mexico State beat Louisiana last year, and should have beaten Georgia Southern. They played South Alabama within a touchdown on the road in their final game. This improvement was in the works last season. Now they had their blowout games, but that hasn’t been the case this year. They lost to Arkansas by 18 points. In 2016, they had six such losses of 18 points or more.

The Aggies employ a typical three headed monster on offense, a tall pocket passer behind center, a very experienced running back and big target to throw to down the field. Tyler Rogers missed the App game last year due to a injury in practice the week of the game. Rogers is in the top ten in the country in several passing categories. Not in the Sun Belt, in the country. This is a team that likes to toss the ball around the yard. Rogers trails only UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph in passing yards. He’s fifth nationwide with 15 touchdown passes. His favorite target, Jaleel Scott has 543 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Scott can catch the ball all over the field and has sure hands. His lanky frame doesn’t have blazing speed, but his wide catch radius makes it easy on Rogers to find him. Larry Rose III ranks in the top ten for active FBS running backs in his career. Despite averaging just over four yards a carry, Rose III also an impact with his receiving skills, as he has snagged twenty-two passes this season. As Rose III goes, so do the Aggies. He has 38 carries for 243 yards in two Aggie wins, and just 33 carries for 154 yards in their losses.

Appalachian took the lead away from Wake Forest on three different occasions the last time out. They had nine more first downs, nearly two hundred more yards passing, and still outpossesed the Deacons by nearly eleven and a half minutes. It was a game that featured fewer than forty points, but only four punts, and zero turnovers. Taylor Lamb had a big day, with 372 passing yards, spread out among eight different receivers, all catching at least two passes. The Mountaineer running game is still a work in progress, but Terrance Upshaw worked hard for 86 yards whole Jalin Moore struggled and was clearly not 100% healthy.

A lot of the talk leading up this game has centered around the New Mexico State offense, and how much better they are. A good offense can help a defense improve just by default really. More time to rest and adjust, and you can pay defense a lot looser with the lead. While Appalachian was resting last weekend, preparing for the Aggies, the New Mexico State defense spent 41 minutes on the field defending the Razorbacks. Arkansas churned out a balanced 494 yards of total offense. At halftime of that game, Coach Doug Martin was interviewed, and mentioned that he was surprised how much Arkansas threw the ball. Immediately, all I could think about was him perhaps saying the exact same thing the following week. Out of necessity, the Mountaineers have been putting the ball up in the air more often. Now, that New Mexico State defense doesn’t really do anything exceptionally well. They are ranked in the mid-80’s in total defense, which is below average, and that team has a lot of travel miles on them between games. They have forced a few turnovers, but most of those came in their blowout of UTEP where they snatched five interceptions. UTEP started 0-5 this season and their coach just resigned. To quickly summarize, that is where this game is going to be won and lost. I have no doubt that New Mexico State might get a bunch of yards, but they have to be able to finish. App State has one of the best red-zone defenses in the country, allowing just five touchdowns in twelve attempts on the young season. The Aggies will have some drives, but App has also done well in forcing three and outs all season. The Apps must cut off those drives quickly and keep the New Mexico State offense off the field.

The First Pick

Toy Guns 21

Mountaineers 34

Appalachian Football vs Savannah State

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Charles

Savannah State (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) @ Appalachian State (0-1, 0-0 Sun Belt)

Saturday, September 9th, 2017 3:30pm est

TV/Video: ESPN3

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Surface: Field Turf

Capacity: 24,150 (est)

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 68.75

Savannah State: 13.03

Home: 2.41

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 58 points (rounded)

Sportsbook: n/a

Series: Appalachian State leads 1-0

Last meeting: App State 41, Savannah State 6, September 17th, 2011

Occasionally, it’s not your day. Forget about how well you prepared, how rested or how healthy, or what you had for breakfast. Sometimes that moment you walk into work, someone says something to you the wrong way, or messes up the report despite telling them how important it was to make it right. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t work out. So you rise and grind one more day, guzzle coffee the same way and hope the result is different. That is essentially what happened to the Mountaineers last Saturday. For every positive play, a negative closely followed. Now it does not matter what happens this weekend. No amount of touchdowns or scoring margin will help us change anything that has happened in the past. But we can look forward to the future. The athletic department has installed it’s largest set of temporary bleachers for the 2017 season and oh yeah, a brand spanking new video board awaits the fans this Saturday. This weekend also presents itself as a tune up game before conference play starts next weekend. It’s the last chance for the Mountaineers to get it right before the games really start counting. The foremost goal for this program every season is to win the conference championship and this season, it starts a week earlier than it ever has while Appalachian has been in the Sun Belt. One more game for certain true freshman to get the kinks out and gel with their new teammates and one last first time to start a season for outgoing seniors who have been a part of one the most memorable runs in program history.

Savannah State presents a bit of an unknown quotient for the Mountaineers. They only played ten games last year, and have yet to play a game this season. Last year the Tigers won three games, none of them on the road. They lost 54-0 in their opener at Georgia Southern in 2016, before anyone knew how terrible the Eagles were. The Tigers have won a total of seven games since the last time they played Appalachian in 2011, so getting three wins last year was a major improvement. Second year head coach Erik Raeburn was 78-13 at Wabash College, a Division III school located in Indiana, and led his squad to five playoff berths in eight seasons.

The strength of the Tigers is more likely their defense. Despite only two defenders being named to the preseason MEAC third team on defense, those two defenders made the second team last season at the end of the year. They like to blitz and will do whatever it takes to get to the quarterback. The offense leaves something to be desired, averaging just 14 points in 2016, and rushing for fewer yards last season as a team than App State’s own Jalin Moore. The Tigers managed just 12.1 first downs per game and just 3.9 yards per play over the course of the season. Expect improvements from Savannah State as they know the offense needs work. Quarterback TJ Bell returns as a dual threat option and will handle a load of the offensive burden.

Last week the Mountaineers were without two of their main playmakers in the passing game due to injuries. Having known that last week, might have made this prediction a little different. Although passing the ball is not a huge part of the App offense, it is a part that needs to be a threat. As the first half grew on last week, it was evident App had zero intentions of throwing the ball vertically down the field, opting for safer attempts to the sideline or to running backs in the flat. A vertical threat is essential and without it, the Mountaineers became very predictable as the game progressed. It appears that Shaedon Meadors might be out for an extended time while Darryton Evans could be back much sooner. That leaves a lot heavy lifting in the hands of some true freshman to get a lot of experience early in their career.

Because the passing game was so inept and careful, it took a major toll on the App ground game. Georgia made sure that Jalin Moore didn’t beat them. Much like last year, after Moore replaced an injured Marcus Cox, he was a little impatient waiting for his running lanes to develop. Timing is everything in the zone blocking scheme and Moore seemed too excited last weekend. Sometimes it takes a few games to really start clicking. I would expect to see Moore get back to form this weekend, and hopefully we can see some depth at the running back position later in the game.

There is not a ton to be said about analyzing a game that will more than likely lead to a very lopsided score. Before those who panic get my attention, I am fully aware that Howard beat UNLV this past weekend. Yes, that same Howard the Mountaineers have played in the past, but UNLV is nothing near as talented as the App State is. If UNLV were to come to Boone, you are more than likely looking at a three score margin. Some indexes have UNLV rated behind several, as in closer to twenty, FCS schools. Its not happening this weekend. Just as App can be a bought game for some schools, it works the same for Savannah State. I would like to see the Tigers win the rest of their games, after Saturday of course. The question is not how, but by how much. I do not believe in the fifteen years I have been writing this little Wednesday night think piece that I have seen the Sagarin rankings have such a large spread between App and its opponent. When App faced Campbell in 2014, the expected margin was 34 points. The Mountaineers went on to win 66-0 in a game that was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm. In 2011, the Apps had 49.5 point expected margin, and didn’t get there against Savannah State. I can’t bring myself to pick something outrageous, but if App is running base plays and the Tigers cant stop them, it will get out of control quickly. Usually the App coaching staff is not one to run up a score for the sake of it. We tend to get the game under control and coast. I feel like that is a more likely outcome. Give me the Mountaineers by six …. touchdowns.

The First Pick

Tiggers 6

Mountaineers 48

Appalachian Football @ #15 Georgia

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Charles

Appalachian State (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) @ #15 Georgia (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
Saturday, September 2nd, 2017 6:15pm est

TV/Video: ESPN

Sanford Stadium

Surface: Natural Grass

Capacity: 92,746

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 70.30

Georgia: 83.70

Home: 2.41

Georgia is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 16 points (rounded)

Sportsbook: Georgia -14.5

Series: Georgia leads 1-0

Last meeting: Georgia 45, App State 6, November 9th, 2013

The last time Appalachian opened a season with Georgia on the schedule, not as the opener, but on the schedule, it was Scott Satterfield’s first year as head coach. It has been a quick five years since 2013, and a lot has changed on the mountain. That 2013 squad wanted to finish their final season in the FCS with a 12-0 record despite being ineligible for any sort of post season play due to FBS transition. That dream quickly vanished, as Appalachian had one of their worst seasons in program history. At that point, App was forced to hit the reset and fast forward buttons at the same time. The purpose of the decision to accelerate experience among young players, brought visions of being in this exact scenario in 2017, with a chance to spring an upset, and build what could become a special season. It’s difficult to tell that story quicker. Presumably, two games this season could tell the story of this team, and define how good this Mountaineer squad really can be. One of those opportunities presents itself this weekend in Athens. The Bulldogs are coming off a sub par season, for Georgia standards, but a leap in results is expected now that Kirby Smart is in his second year as head coach. A healthy recruiting class and a boatload of returning talent has the experts thinking Georgia could make a run, but are cautious at the same time placing the the ‘Dawgs in the middle of the polls. Not too high, not too low. They could go anywhere from there, but its the Mountaineers who are looking to move up, and could move in that direction in a big way on Saturday.

Mark Richt could haunt the Mountaineers twice in as many seasons pending the result this weekend. Last year, Richt coached up his alma mater to big a win over Appalachian in Boone. This season, Smart’s alma matar could take most of Richt’s former players and humble the Mountaineers. Could be that Richt’s players are just made to beat Appalachian. Regardless of what happens, Richt has played a heavy part in these games. Richt was run out of town, and yet Georgia gave a Kirby Smart a bit of a leash while the ‘Dawgs regressed in 2016 finishing 4-4 in the SEC East, in a three-way tie with the likes of Tennessee and Kentucky. You know, that same Tennessee team that App pushed around on the opening Thursday night in 2016 despite losing.

Catching Georgia on the opening weekend would seem to give Appalachian a better chance of catching lightning in a bottle. But, that Tennnesee/App game last year could work in Georgia’s favor given the recency of that game. Kirby Smart has mentioned ad nauseum how he was able to watch tape of Appalachian last year while preparing for Tennessee, and spoken highly of how well the Apps played defensively. Smart knows a good defense when he sees one, as he coordinated the Alabama defense for eight years.

With an entire offseason to wander about a teams weakness or strengths, especially this Georgia team that has plenty of them, you won’t read anything groundbreaking before Week One. The “Dawgs have two very good tailbacks who they rotate in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Both could have opted for the NFL draft this past spring, but both were recovering form injuries from the previous season and wanted to improve their stock. Both would have been drafted. Chubb is fifth in active FBS rushing and Michel is 15th. Chubb has more career rushing yards than Todd Gurley, who many of you might be foolishly selecting in your fantasy football drafts. Appalachian’s run defense is no slouch and will be up to the challenge, considering how they contained Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara almost exactly one year ago.

The real question mark of the Georgia offense is what Jacob Eason does to improve off of his freshman season. Constantly harassed last season, Eason was either sacked or threw an interception in every game in 2016. He had a stretch in games two through six, where he threw an interception each week. He was sacked twenty-one times last year and posted four games with passer efficiency ratings under 100. He finished the season completing 55.1% of his passes, good enough for 10th in the SEC. Two Florida quarterbacks finished higher in that category. Needless to say, there is plenty of room for improvement for Eason.

We are all very familiar with the Mountaineer offense. You know about four year starting quarterback Taylor Lamb, and Jalin Moore, who looks to defend his Sun Belt offensive player of year honor in just his junior season. After 731 yards as a freshman, Moore exploded for 1,402 yards last season, giving him 2,133 yards in just just two seasons. You know about the offensive line that has three preseason all-Sun Belt honorees, including Colby Gossett and Beau Nunn on the first team. Last, but not least, Shaedon Meadors returns for his senior season also garnering a first team All Sun Belt honor coming off a forty-five reception campaign last year.

Although most of the fall news revolved around the offense, the Appalachian defense is locked and loaded for another spectacular season. After a season in which they allowed just under 18 points a game, and intercepted twenty passes, this group also returns a lot of talent. The defensive line is loaded with season veterans in Tee Sims, Myquon Stout and Caleb Fuller. Anthony Flory and Rashad Townes will step in for the departed John Law and Kenan Gilchrist. Clifton Duck, AJ Howard and Josh Thomas have also seen significant playing time while on the mountain. A lot of the newcomers, such as Flory and others who will get repetions in the secondary just needed to wait their turn. This Mountaineer defense doesnt rebuild, it simply reloads.

Just about anything and everything that can be said about the first week of college football has been printed or spoken over this long summer stretch. The college game lost a lot of great players last year to the NFL and graduation. This could be one of the more wide-open seasons we have seen in awhile. Nobody knows if Georgia has what it takes to ascend to the top of the SEC or remain in the middle of a crowded SEC. A lot was said about Tennessee last season before the games actually kicked off. The Vols were the potential title contenders. It wasn’t to be. Georgia could make a run, and I hope they do, you know after losing the first one, right? I like the chances the Mountaineers have on Saturday. Georgia likes to be a balanced team, and to extent, so does Appalachian. But both squads have the ability to punish you if they see a weakness. Speaking of weaknesses, I can’t stop thinking about that Georgia offensive line. It’s easily the most glaring going into this game this weekend on both teams. Even this week, the ‘Dawgs have been rotating lineman during practice, in the name “getting guys reps”. Thats good fluff for the media, that I believe translates to this: We’re going to be grading our guys from the first snap, and whoever plays well during the game will get more playing time”. I truly believe Georgia is concerned. Before the season is done Eason is going to need time to throw. Georgia simply can’t ask Chubb and Michel to carry the load all season long. It might be enough this Saturday, but not for the duration of the season. If App wants to be successful, I think they follow a very generic “Tennessee” game script, playing possession football and leaning on their defense. Taylor Lamb is going to need a big day, whether with his legs or his arm, and I don’t have a preference.

The First Pick

Hair of the Dawg 27

Mountaineers 24

Appalachian Football @ Georgia Southern

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Charles

Here we go with Week 8

Appalachian State (5-2, 3-0 Sun Belt) @ Georgia Southern (4-3, 3-1 Sun Belt)

Thursday, October 27th, 2016 7:30 est

TV/Video: ESPNU

Paulson Stadium

Surface: Shaw Legion 41 synthetic turf

Capacity: 25,000

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 70.59

Ga Southern: 62.73

Home: 2.42

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 5.5 points (rounded)

Sportsbook: App State -5

Series: App State leads 17-13-1

Last meeting: App State 31, Ga Southern 13, October 22nd, 2015, Boone, NC

Robbed of anticipation and talk, both smack and small, is the main issue for fans when they deal with midweek football. Especially, when the next game on the schedule is your most hated rival, that time to relax before the next game does not exist. The last win was, literally, almost yesterday, and it’s time to get geared up for another one. But, this one is not just another, it’s Southern. Dust off all your cliche rivalry talk, because it all applies. Is there another rivalry that has been so intense in such a short amount of time? These two schools have only played thirty-one games in their history, and only twenty-five games in the modern era, yet it seems every time they tee it up, it’s like the Hatfields and McCoys. The faces may change, but the disdain remains. This group of Eagles are enduring the strife of a new coaching staff that wants to do things differently with the same ingredients and get the same results. It’s not working out like they wanted. Appalachian enjoys its snugness of a tight coaching staff that maintains their winning ways and the proof is in the pudding. The Mountaineers are a win away from being bowl eligible, and Southern needs this game even more, as their schedule just gets tougher down the stretch. Thursday night might not be a turning point in this rivalry, but the winds are blowing a different direction this season in the Sun Belt.

It’s hard to imagine a Georgia Southern team with three losses before the end of October. The first true sign that the Eagles were stumbling occured about a month ago. Southern was visiting Western Michigan, a team they had handled easily in Statesboro a year before. The Broncos suffocated the Eagles rushing attack, limiting the big plays and keeping Matt Breida and Kevin Ellison below four yards per carry on the night. Since then, Western Michigan continues to row the boat as they find themselves ranked 20th in the country this week. Perhaps, the ultimate “uh-oh” moment for Southern came in their loss to Arkansas State. The Eagles were thoroughly dominated by the Red Wolves, but were able to hold a two score lead into the fourth quarter, thanks to five turnovers committed by Arkansas State. The Eagles play calling was their ultimate demise, electing to pass late in the game with a lead compared to milking the clock. Arkansas State scored in the closing seconds for a stunning come-from behind win.

Southern picked up a win over NMSU last weekend, just like Idaho did the week before playing Appalachian, to end their three game losing streak. However, the road victory did not lack for excitement. The Eagles did just enough for a 22-19 win over the now 124th ranked defense in college football. Both Southern and NMSU turned the ball over three times while The Eagles were outgained by the Aggies by a 432-404 margin. Matt Breida was held to 41 yards on fifteen carries. Kevin Ellison completed all eight of his passes, seven to Southern receivers and one to NMSU.

The fact is that Southern is slowly moving away from Willie Fritz football, who bolted to Tulane, into the offensive style of Tyson Summers, which calls for less option based running plays and a more run-pass option dimension. It’s not Georgia Southern football. We all remember Chris Hatcher and Brian Van Gorder and their efforts of modernizing football down in east Georgia. It didn’t work and they didn’t have a job long. The Eagles have three 100-yard rushing efforts on the season, two by quarterbacks. Not LA Ramsby. Not Matt Breida. Not Wesley Fields. Demarcus Godfrey ran for 124 yards against Savannah State, but has not carried the ball since.

Southern still employs the two quaterback system, generally starting the game with Kevin Ellison, and working in Favian Upshaw and rotating the two as the game allows. Unfortunately, the Southern offensive line has dropped off severely and Ellison and Upshaw have taken many hits in the last few weeks. Arkansas State made a point to gang tackle Ellison at every chance, while Georgia Tech used Upshaw as a punching bag. Upshaw did not play against NMSU and Tyson Summers did not show any of his cards when updating the media on the health of his signal callers ahead of this week’s game. Summers went so far as to say he could play three quarterbacks on Thursday night.

The defensive strategy the Mountaineers rely on was on display, front and center. Idaho could only manage a late touchdown and four field goals. It was the exact struggle we mentioned last week regarding Idaho. Not enough touchdowns, too many field goals. Appalachian may have allowed 295 passing yards, but it was a very quiet 295 yards. Appalachian was constantly disruptive, picking off Linehan three times and sacking him on four instances. The secondary occasionally gets up a bad reputation, but they remain in the top thirty in the nation in passing efficiency defense, having only allowed eight passing touchdowns in seven games. The Mountaineers twelve interceptions are also good enough for seventh nationally.

Georgia Southern will return home to Paulson for the first time in forty days. The Eagles spent an extra day in New Mexico for some reason. You would think after all that time away from home, Southern would like to get back as soon as possible. Neither App or Southern resemble their squads from two years ago, when the two faced off in their first ever Sun Belt game, and they aren’t the teams from one year ago either. But, if anything, the one common denominator from 2015 to ’16 is the App defense. Generally, you look at any football team, averaging 265 yards on the ground and think you have a big challenge ahead. This is a regressing Eagle team, averaging just a mere 4.6 yards per carry, and forcing the issue, running the ball just over 57 times a game. The Southern staff wants to throw more, but they don’t have the pieces in place yet to fully commit. The fact that Matt Breida has 378 yards and only one touchdown rushing is criminal. The Eagles have scored 204 points this season, but over one-fourth of those points were scored in their opening game against Savannah State. Since then, the Eagles have been stuck in the twenties for five of their last six games. They have the talent to do much more than they have, but they have not been put in the situation to succeed. Meanwhile, Appalachian has a chance to get a big road win, and they may finally have the services of Marcus Cox back on the field. If Cox is near 100%, his fresh legs will be a huge advantage for the Mountaineers on Thursday, and for the rest of the season.

The First Pick

The Blues 21

Mountaineers 31

Tailgate Menu 2014

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Charles

It is getting close to that time of the year again. Our good friend GreatAppSt has issued his official Tailgater’s Warning which marks the middle of his yearly countdown. What does that mean here? It means it is time to release our menu for the upcoming football season. Some may ask why this is important, to know what food you will be eating on Saturday’s in the coming months? For some, they may have an allergy or a preference not to eat a certain food, and it allows them plenty of time to plan ahead. Another reason to release a menu is that it makes us feel like the long summer is coming ever closer to an end, which brings us to our favorite time of the year.

For our most loyal of supporters, they are very familiar with how our system works. Tailgaters have either paid their “dues” up front at Fan Fest or at the first game for the entire season, or for those who prefer a game by game donation, we are also very flexible in that matter. Although the up front, full donation is always appreciated, and allows for better planning throughout the season, we understand that not everyone can shell it out all at once. Even though inflation has gone up through the years, the dues have never changed. For six full home tailgates, a $50 donation per person, $100 per couple, covers everything from plates and napkins to propane and meat. There is not a better deal anywhere else.

This season brings a twist to our tailgate. We have lived in the past on perfecting at least a dozen main courses, if not more. With Appalachian State’s move up to the FBS and Sun Belt conference, we also have to move up our tailgate game to incorporate more exotic cuisine that is native to our new conference opponents. We have had crawfish boils and jambalaya in the past, so 2014 will not be completely new territory. The eats of the past will not disappear. You will still find some of our best dishes in 2014 and beyond. Without further hesitation, we present the 2014 Tailgate Menu.

The first home game of the season brings the Campbell Camels for a night game. With the extra two and half hours to tailgate from the rather normal 3:30 kickoff, we’ll pull double duty on the food as well. Pulled pork shoulder sliders will be prepared for lunch and our famous smoked baby back ribs will follow in the late afternoon.

South Alabama is the second game of the season but also Appalachian’s first home game against an FBS and Sun Belt school. The Jaguars are located to Mobile, Alabama where the seafood industry is big on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. We’ll honor that area with our Shrimp Po’boy sandwich which will be served on Stick Boy Bread and topped with our own angry mayo. These sandwiches were featured by Taylor Tailgates back in 2011.

Homecoming is the following week and that brings on the Liberty Flames. Another old favorite returns as we will continue with our Thanksgiving tailgate them from past years. Cajun Fried Turkey and a buttery smoked turkey will remain the main dish. We’ll call this Noah Ark’s Tailgate for a nice play on Liberty’s spiritual mission statement. Two turkeys and Noah bringing two of every animal on the ark might be a stretch, but it does provide some light, corny humor as well.

On November 1st, Georgia State comes to town for another Sun Belt contest. Plenty of times in the past we have done our fried chicken wings and nuggets to the tune of colors of Coastal Carolina or North Carolina A&T. The Panthers will get the nod this year, and we’ll throw some blueberries in the batter on the side for a perfect chicken and blueberry waffle tailgate.

Black Saturday brings on the Louisiana Monroe WarHawks. With the explosion of so many swamp oriented reality television shows, we’ll have a typical cajun dish. Alligator Gumbo will makes its debut at our tailgate. Don’t be shy. Alligator in Louisiana is like pigs in North Carolina. They have a ton of them, and one way to control the population is eat them. We promise, it might become one of your favorite dishes.

The Idaho Vandals from Moscow, Idaho come to Boone for the final game of the season. Don’t pronounce it like the Moscow in Russia. It’s pronounced MOSS-koh. I doubt we’ll switch to a clearer spirit for the game, but potatoes are a must. We’ll provide a Potato Bar with all the toppings you can imagine. From cheese and shredded chicken to sour cream and our famous championship chili, we’ll have your spud covered.

Western Carolina @ Appalachian Football

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Charles

Here we go with Week 12:

Western Carolina (2-9, 1-6 SoCon) @ Appalachian State (3-8, 3-4 SoCon)

Time: 3:30 pm

TV/Video: http://www.nmnathletics.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?&&&&&DB_OEM_ID=21500

Radio: WKBC 97.3 Wilkesboro, Charlotte, Winston Salem, Hickory & High Country; WATA 1450 Boone, Blowing Rock; WCOG 1320 Winston-Salem, Greensboro; WMFR 1230 High Point, Greensboro; WSML 1200, Burlington, Greensboro; WCMC 99.3 Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill; WZGM 1350 Black Mountain, Asheville; WTOE 1470 Spruce Pine; WPWT 870 Bristol, Johnston City; WZGV 730 Charlotte, Rock Hill, Salisbury; WDNC 620 Durham, Raleigh; WHKP 1450 Hendersonville; WAZZ 1490 Fayetteville; WLON 1050 Lincolnton

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 23,150

Jeff Sagarin Ratings:  

App State: 45.46

WCU: 36.80

Home: 3.87

Appalachian is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 12 ½ points (rounded).

Series: Appalachian leads 58-18-1

Last Meeting: Appalachian 38, Western Carolina 27, October 27^th 2012, Cullowhee

WXAPP’s Boone Gameday Weather Trends

Early morning rain should give way to marginal improvement throughout the game

Windy and gusty with temps in the mid to lower 40’s. Bundle up!

For the final time, Appalachian will play a football game as a member of the Southern Conference. For the last time in the foreseeable future, the Mountaineers will lace it up against Western Carolina with a symbol of their mountain heritage on the line. On Saturday, Appalachian will recognize their favorite Chancellor who has put his heart and soul into this campus for over thirty years. The Mountaineers will play sixty more minutes of football and the divorce from the I-AA/FCS division will be final. For the first time in decades, the season is complete before Thanksgiving, and we have known it since March. Mountaineer fans have zero excuses for avoiding the cold weather this weekend. Next year, the conference logo on the field changes, and so will all of the opponents. This Saturday is last time you can guarantee seeing the Mountaineers and Catamounts battle it out for a jug that will likely not move for ten years or more. Appalachian will have three players gunning to break or extend school records. More importantly, fourteen seniors and three juniors are getting dressed in the black and gold for their final game having involuntarily sacrificed their vision of chasing a national championship. They deserve your support. We urge you all to show them how much they mean to you, one final time.

It was a typical day in Spartanburg last Saturday as a small crowd filed into Gibbs Stadium. The cool morning gave way to bright sunshine for a couple hours before drifting back behind the clouds. The Wofford offense nearly mirrored the weather pattern for the day. The Terriers ran up 228 yards of offense in the first half and took a four point lead into the half. The Mountaineer defense sealed the deal, stifling Wofford to three punts and a fumble on the Terriers first four possessions of the second half. In turn, Appalachian scored 23 unanswered points in the second half with drives that killed clock and kept the Wofford defense grasping for air. In all the Mountaineers possessed the ball for 37:00 of game clock, running 83 plays, with 49 of those plays coming in the second half. Despite a 3.5 yard team average per running play, the Mountaineers were persistent, running the ball forty times between two players. Marcus Cox ran a remarkable 35 times in the game for 119 yards and added three touchdowns. Kam Bryant spread the ball around to seven different receivers, including him, when he caught one of his passes that was batted back to him for a loss of twelve yards. Hopefully Kam will learn to let ball fall to the ground the next time that happens.

What was lost as the game unfolded was the effort the Mountaineers played with throughout the entire game. On two of Marcus Cox’s touchdown runs, he was dragging Wofford defenders as he powered into the end zone. Late in the second half Appalachian faced a fourth down and five from the Wofford 33-yard line. That area of the field is a virtual Bermuda triangle that provides a difficult decision on the play call. A missed field goal gives the opponents great field position, while a punt could possibly net a very small gain as well. The call was to keep the offense on the field. Kam Bryant completed a pass to Andrew Peacock right at the yard marker, as Peacock stretched the ball out towards the line to gain with two defenders wrapped around him. Somehow, Peacock wiggled free of one tackler and lunged forward for the first down. Perhaps Peacock had enough to gain with the initial stretch, but it would have been to close to call. Certainly the SoCon officials would have found a way to inch the chains past the ball in the backyard of their beloved Wofford Terriers.

The worst joke of this season has been made several times during casual conversations between Mountaineer fans, whether online or in person. “I don’t care how this season goes, as long as we beat Western.” It was then and still now sounds as if Mountaineer fans are speaking like their mountain brethren. We have never heard the words uttered from a Catamount fan, but one would certainly think that could be the motto of the residents of Cullowhee and Sylva, obviously with the names of the schools switched. For the first time since about 2005, Catamount faithful may feel like they can swoop in and steal the jug with a program that has shown improvement on the field, even if does not reflect in their record. The Catamounts could have clinched a SoCon title share on that day in 2005 with a win, but instead it was the Mountaineers who clinched. It will be difficult task for the Catamounts, as the jug has made several trips from Boone to Cullowhee, but not since October 6^th, 1984 has it been in the possession of those wearing the purple and gold.

The biggest hurdle that former Appalachian coach, current Western Carolina head coach Mark Speir has overcome this season is finally breaking the losing streak to SoCon opponents. When the Catamounts beat Elon in overtime on Homecoming, it was Speir’s first win against a Division I opponent and first against a SoCon opponent as well. It snapped a 33-game losing streak to Division I opponents and a 26-game SoCon losing streak, both which dated back to 2010. Since that win, the Cats have dropped games to Georgia Southern and Furman, giving up points in all eight quarters, allowing 33.5 points a game, and surrendered a combined total of 613 yards on the ground, at a clip of 6.5 yards per carry.

The Catamounts have ventured throughout the season with a two quarterback system in which both Troy Mitchell and Eddie Sullivan have played in ten games each. Mitchell has been the primary starter for the majority of the season, and presents a dual threat under center. Mitchell has 1,589 passing yards and 542 rushing yards on the season. Mitchell and Sullivan have combined to throw sixteen interceptions on the season to only fifteen passing touchdowns. Mitchell has been better throughout the season, with fewer interceptions, a better completion percentage, but has been known to fumble. Mitchell averages just fewer than thirteen rushing attempts in games he has played, and burned Appalachian several times last year for long runs as the Mountaineers dropped back in coverage late in the game.

If the Catamounts are going to run on Saturday, it is most likely going to have to come from Mitchell. He has to be decisive when he decides to take off from the pocket and avoid taking hits. The healthier he is throughout the game will improve the Catamounts chances. Secondly, Mitchell needs to avoid giving up the big play. Western quarterbacks have only been sacked twenty times season, but the Mountaineers were able to sack Mitchell seven times in 2012. Appalachian should stick to the offense that has been working for them over the past month. The short passing game has been effective, and could be a vision of the future for the Mountaineer offense. Appalachian has built that attack by remaining committed to the run game. Although Marcus Cox has seen his yards per carry go down throughout the year, his workload has increased, which has opened up the passing game. Kam Bryant has been the most accurate passer in school history this season, and it will take some sort of extraordinary event for him not to break the record currently held by Armanti Edwards. Marcus Cox is also right at the doorstep of breaking another record held by Edwards. Cox needs 119 yards on Saturday to break the record. Cox has already become just the third freshman at Appalachian to run for 1,000 yards in a season. That combination of Bryant and Cox are the present and the future of the Appalachian offense and it would be a great honor for both of them to start their young careers in such fashion. This season may have been one of fewer than expected wins, a younger than expected roster combined with even more unexpected disappointments, but if there was ever time for a season like this one, it was when championships, playoff bids and bowl bids were unattainable. The next offseason will be one filled an announcement of the Mountaineers first FBS schedule, the largest recruiting class and program that is ready to take it to next level. We will all surely miss the short drives and front row parking spaces at visiting stadiums, but the best Appalachian football is still to come.

The First Pick:

Can’t Amounts 20

Mountaineers 38

Chattanooga @ Appalachian Football

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Charles

Here we go with Week 9:

Chattanooga (6-2, 4-1) @ Appalachian State (2-6, 2-3)

Time: 3:30 pm

TV/Video: AppState TV

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 23,150

Jeff Sagarin Ratings:  

App State: 48.56

UTC: 57.06

Home: 3.47

Chattanooga is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 5 points (rounded).

Series: Appalachian leads 26-10

Last Meeting: Appalachian 34, Chattanooga 17, September 22, 2012, Chattanooga

WXAPP’s Boone Gameday Weather Trends for the “Dirty”:

Mix of clouds, breezy, gusty and chance for a shower

Temps in lower 40’s for tailgate, warming to the mid 50’s by kickoff. Low 50’s end of game

For as many bad breaks and bounces, the Mountaineers endured most of the season; it seemed to turn around all at once for Appalachian in a game against its biggest rival. Neither Georgia Southern or Appalachian are the same teams they have been in the past, for various reasons. It was terribly noticeable at times, with countless penalties and otherwise sloppy play. The passion on the field was not missing. You could sense it in the air on Saturday that both teams badly wanted to beat the other. Perhaps the turning point occurred on the Eagles second drive when an illegal block was called on an Eagle lineman, with Southern up 7-0 and driving. This play put the Eagles behind the chains with a 2^nd down and 23 yards to gain. Eventually the Eagles had to punt, and the Mountaineers went to work on the Eagle secondary. Kam Bryant completed three of four passes on the drive for 70 yards and ran twice for fourteen yards, including the equalizing touchdown that tied the game. The Mountaineers struck quickly, in an old fashioned drive that lasted less than two minutes. The following Mountaineer drive saw Appalachian penalized for 40 yards, but in effect they were good penalties. A couple of them were borderline, which forced the crowd into the game. Appalachian persevered through it all, eventually gaining 96 yards on the 15 play drive that technically only covered 56 yards due to penalties. In a strange way, despite the penalties, those extra plays got the Mountaineers in rhythm that carried them to a 38-14 blasting of Georgia Southern. The big thing about those flags that were thrown on that drive is that they were not procedural, but plays of passion and hustle that got the crowd back in the game. So what if Marcus Cox tried to get the crowd going when he was twenty yards away from the playing field? He was not taunting the other team. Shaq Counts may have held a little bit, but it is on the official to make the call. Everyone holds in football, sometimes you just get unlucky. What is important is that the Mountaineers have not quit, because any day Georgia Southern loses is a good day, especially when the Mountaineers win.

Before we get too overly confident and ahead of ourselves, we must understand how this game unfolded. Georgia Southern is down this year, primarily to blame due to the injured list. Without Jerrick McKinnon, the Eagles were a different team. McKinnon is a workhorse, and the attention a defense has to give to him opens up things for the rest of their offense. Without him, the Eagles became average on offense. The Georgia Southern defense played well overall, outside of the yardage they allowed to the Mountaineers. Several Mountaineer passes were well defended and were just beyond the outstretched fingertips of many Eagle defensive backs. On other instances, Eagle defenders were knocking each other down at the spot where a pass was completed which could have resulted in fewer completions for the Mountaineers. At times, Bryant was looking so good it was almost hard to believe how the Eagles didn’t get more hands on his passes.

Last week, our thoughts were that Appalachian could have missed their last chance to win a game for the remainder of the season. It is easy now to come off those statements. Once again, anytime you beat Georgia Southern, it makes you think differently. Looking back after seven games, it’s possible that the new Mountaineer offense needed to use some games to really get their feet under them, after losing two starters that were expected to produce on a weekly basis. Kam Bryant has played well this season, considering he has completed 67% of his passes in seven of the eight games he has played in. In three games, he has completed over 80% of his passes. Saturday was easily his best game, combing accuracy with passes of all distances, throwing for nearly 400 yards, and most importantly, not turning the football over. For the game, eleven of Bryant’s twenty-seven attempts were completed for 15 yards or longer.

Chattanooga has slowly climbed the ranks over the last half decade, trying to return to some level of competiveness in the conference. This year appears to be the year they have made the final push to return to relevancy. The Mocs opened the season with an ugly loss to UT-Martin that put their playoffs hopes in jeopardy, even if it was still August. Chattanooga already had a whale of schedule, with two FBS teams on the road, and two unconvincing non-conference opponents at home. Eventually, they were going to have to win same games that they had not been winning in the past to make a postseason push. Luckily, the Mocs throttled Georgia State in their second game, and have only suffered one hiccup since then, a two point loss to Georgia Southern. Chattanooga now sits at 6-2, but has three road games remaining, one being this weekend against Appalachian, which is followed by a trip to first place Samford, a home game against tricky Wofford, and then a trip to see Nick Saban and his elephants down in Tuscaloosa. The Mocs could easily be 6-6 in a month, or they could be sitting at 8-4, squarely on the playoff bubble. Either way, Chattanooga will be hungry this weekend for their first win in Boone since Ronald Reagan was in his first term as commander in chief.

Chattanooga has always been a tough test over the years for Appalachian. Even though the Mountaineers have won their last four games against Chattanooga, none have been really easy. Two games were decided by a combined three points, and two others were double digit margin of victories for the Mountaineers, but were played closer than the score indicated. The reasoning behind that is improved defensive play for the Mocs. To date, the Mocs have only given up 17.6 points per game, which is pretty good in this era of college football. Granted, their schedule to date has not been a powerhouse one. After allowing 31 points in the opener, the Mocs have held every opponent to 24 points or less, and three teams were held to 10 points or fewer. Chattanooga likes to shorten the game on offense, thus keeping their defense fresh and able to attack the quarterback. The Mocs are second in the conference in time of possession and third in sacks with 13, which equates to a sack every 14 times the opponents drop back to pass.

If you want to stop the Mocs, you must get in the face of Jacob Huesman, the quarterback and son of the head coach. Huesman is the Mocs leading rusher with 127 attempts, but trails injured running back Keon Williams by 39 yards. The ball is going to be in Huesman’s hands on every play from scrimmage, but about 35 times a game, he will be the one making the final decision, whether that be by running or throwing. Huesman rushes less often on the road, averaging 14.6 carries compared to at home, where he averages nearly 17 carries per game. Huesman also has lower numbers passing on the road, as he has yet to hit 100 yards passing in any game. Huesman has four passing games over 100 yards, all at home. It’s all in the numbers. Contain Huesman, and the Apps will have given themselves a chance to win. Offensively, the Mountaineers will have to do what they did last weekend. Bryant does not need 381 yards passing, but he needs to continue to be his accurate self and take care of the ball. The Mountaineers must also remain committed to the running game. Marcus Cox has proven he will get his yards steadily, and sometimes in bunches. It is amazing to think his longest carry of the year is only 23 yards, but we all know he has that ability to break a long one at the drop of a hat. Lastly, this game is all about tackling. The Appalachian defense attacked the ball well and wrapped up against Southern. Six Mountaineers had eight stops or more and none of them were John Law. Doug Middleton had his best game, probably of his career, along with Deuce Robinson. Middleton made seven solo stops, including one tackle for loss, a forced fumble, and an interception. Robinson had the lone sack, which was included in 3.5 tackles for loss and nine total tackles. This game will not be about offense, but which defense plays better. This one could be a high or low scoring game, but neither team is going to walk away with this one. The margin may ten points or greater, but it will be a one possession game in the fourth quarter.

The First Pick:

Locomotives 18

Mountaineers 21

Georgia Southern @ Appalachian Football

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Charles

Here we go with Week 8:

#24 Georgia Southern (4-2, 2-2) @ Appalachian State (1-6, 1-3)

Time: 3:30 pm

TV/Video: ESPN3

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 23,150

Jeff Sagarin Ratings:  

App State: 45.00

GSU: 58.48

Home: 3.76

Georgia Southern is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 15 points (rounded).

Series: Appalachian leads 15-12-1

Last Meeting: Appalachian 31, Georgia Southern 28, November 3, 2012, Statesboro

WXAPP’s Boone Gameday Weather Trends:

Mostly sunny skies

Tailgate: Warming through the 30’s to lower 40’s

Kickoff: Temps in the mid to upper 40’s

End of game: Temps in the mid to low 40’s

It was not the most perfect of scenarios for the Mountaineers in their last football game at Paladin Stadium. The atmosphere was wretched, the skies gray and the only moment where things seemed like they were going well was when you pulled into the parking lot. As soon as the game started, it just felt all types of wrong. Furman’s first five plays were runs, as expected, and covered a quick forty eight yards. Two penalties, a short run, and a couple completed passes later, Furman lined up for a fifty yard field goal. The kick was good which gave Furman a lead in the game it would never relinquish. That is what it has come to this season. The field goal has haunted the Mountaineers this season, losing three times by that margin. Now, the field goals are back breaking scores that doom the attitude and passion of this young Mountaineer team. It doesn’t take much anymore for some to just go through the motions. There are plenty who still care, but they are blinded by the ones who are just ready for it to be over. We can’t blame them. Players and coaches alike decided to bring their futures to Boone to be a part of winning tradition, some just have not realized that they have to sacrifice everything thing for it. The fans who continue to show up are making sacrifices. They are committing to the product, and it is past time for the product to make the same investment in return.

In all fairness, outside of fumble after fumble, the Mountaineers were still in the game late in the half and things were looking up. It was a similar situation to the Citadel game. You were thinking the Mountaineers were going to learn from their mistakes. They were driving late in the second quarter, and although trailing 6-3, were in position to tie or take the lead. The ball was coming back to the Mountaineers to open the second half, as they had won the opening coin flip and deferred their option. Although the situation was not exactly identical to the end of the first half in Charleston, it was close. The idea was a score, a defensive hold, get the ball back early in third quarter and score again. Both situations would have given the Mountaineers some slight breathing room. But once again, with time ticking away, Appalachian made another huge mistake that flipped all the momentum to the other side of the field. Oddly, a play was called, that was the same play that Appalachian had run the previous year against Furman. As we all know, the result was not the same, Furman took a double digit lead into halftime, and the Mountaineers were finished. The drive to start the third quarter for Appalachian also ended in the worst possible way, with another fumble, that Furman pounced and ensued to drive down the field to extend their lead to 20-3.

That might have been one of the last games this season that this group of Mountaineers had a legitimate shot to win for the remainder of the season. Western Carolina still looms as well, but there is not one Appalachian Mountaineer looking forward to that game right now. The next challenge is Georgia Southern who is up to their usual high point scoring ways. As the Mountaineers have had their unlucky breaks this season, so have the Eagles. Georgia Southern is having their own bumpy ride on their way to the FBS and the Sun Belt conference. Southern has been hampered by the injuries to point they have lost over 20% of their scholarship players for the year. Luckily for the Eagles, they have added a few scholarships during their transition to FBS, so the health of their team is better than it could be had they had they been under the FCS scholarship limitations.

Heading into this season, Appalachian and Georgia Southern were headed for a colossal matchup. Two programs that were both leaving the SoCon for the Sun Belt, adding a few scholarships, were going to play a game with the bragging rights, whatever they were worth, of winning the last game between the two schools in the FCS ranks. The magnitude of this game has taken a turn that no one could have predicted. The Mountaineers are lucky to have won a game to be honest. The Eagles have underachieved this season as well with two losses to SoCon opponents, both on the road, and both by ten points. Their two conference wins were over Citadel by a touchdown and Chattanooga by two points. The Mocs and the Eagles have been playing good games for years, but seem to always go unnoticed. Georgia Southern has been outscored in conference play 116-105, and has averaged just a little over 26 points per game in their last four. That makes their season average of 40 points per game quite deceiving. This is a team that is having a similar problem as Appalachian, which is not being able to put the ball in the end zone when they have been close. The Eagles have scored touchdowns on 22 of 29 red zone possessions, but the opportunities are also down. Three other teams in conference play have visited the red zone more often the Eagles. Their offense still has Georgia Southern written all over it; it just isn’t the same Georgia Southern you are used to seeing.

Appalachian’s season statistics are similar to what you could see in the box score on Saturday. There were plenty of bright spots such as running more plays, gaining more first downs, and having more yards overall. Appalachian has plenty of players that are at or near the top in several categories within in the conference, but it is the little ones that have them where they are. Plenty has been mentioned about Marcus Cox, who is second in the conference in scoring and sixth among the leagues leading rushers. Andrew Peacock leads the conference in receptions per game while Kam Bryant leads the conference in passer efficiency. Bentlee Critcher even leads the conference in total punting. Unfortunately it is the small things, one play here and there that have kept the Mountaineers out of the winners circle. Scoring points is the obvious outlier. The inopportune turnovers have also hamstrung the Mountaineers, along with an offense that has sputtered enough to keep the defense on the field for long spells. A lot of things work well most of the time, but it is always that one play or one bad bounce that has killed everything they have worked for in a game.

So what is it this week that has to change in order to beat Georgia Southern? We don’t necessarily feel like something has to or must change. The formula is close to working, it just has not added up. It is similar to a chef in the kitchen. You may have great ingredients, and all the potential for a final product to delicious, but if you leave out one or two ingredients, it changes everything. Appalachian can take care of the ball better this week, but it doesn’t mean that will be the reason they win or lose. The Mountaineers could avoid giving up the big play at the wrong time, but that also will not make the entire difference. It all has to come together at once. Eventually it will, but that might not be in 2013. If the Mountaineers are up to the challenge, they can beat the Eagles this Saturday. Southern has put the ball on the turf an average of three times a game, but have luckily fell on all but four of them. The temperature on Saturday is going to be typical for late October in Boone, and perfect recipe for cold hands to hold onto a football. The Southern defense has given up close to 400 yards a game on defense this season, so moving the ball on them isn’t extremely difficult. The Eagles are suspect to the run, giving up 4.8 yards per carry to opponents. The Eagles also lead the conference in penalty yards per game. The Mountaineers don’t have to take advantage of all of the Georgia Southern shortcomings, but they must do it selectively and carefully. The Eagles surely do not care what Appalachian’s record is, and it is their turn to steal one from the Mountaineers.

The First Pick:

Eagle Creek 27

Mountaineers 22

Appalachian Football @ Furman

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Charles

Here we go with Week 7:

Appalachian State (1-4, 1-2) @ Furman (2-4, 1-2)

Time: 1:30 pm

TV/Video: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/furman.portal#

Paladin Stadium

Surface: Natural Grass/Fieldturf?

Capacity: 16,000

Jeff Sagarin Ratings:  

App State: 47.61

Furman: 45.51

Home: 3.69

Furman is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 1 ½ points (rounded).

Series: Furman leads 22-18-3

Last Meeting: Appalachian 33, Furman 28, November 10, 2012, Boone

WXAPP’s Furple Gameday Weather Trends:

Mostly Cloudy skies with upper 60’s for the kickoff.

Earlier this year, we talked about how much change was occurring around the Appalachian State football program. From conferences to coaches, it has all been covered, but perhaps the last talked about topic of discussion was the small matter of discipline. We didn’t expect much change from one head coach to the next, considering the new kid on the block had learned from the man who was also his own head coach. None thought that player behavior was going to be an issue until it awoke from a hibernation from nearly a decade ago. Student athlete behaviors will always be ridiculed because they are the ones in the spotlight, playing in front of crowds that pay to watch them play. Hollywood actors get their play in national magazines while mostly football and basketball players are gossiped about at the local coffee shops. While these celebrities are in their prime, many look the other way and give those who foul up a second chance. But, when one misstep leads to another and the games or shows are not what they used to be, the public is quick to judge. The behavior never changed, it just became tolerable to extent. The actions of a football player in Boone have hopefully changed for the better. Our former coach was always an apologist, willing to take a negative event and turn it into a positive. Most of the time it worked out, as players got their second chance. However, a new sheriff is in town, and he has simple rules, which unfortunately not adhered to by a former star. But on the back side, there might always be a safety net, for a troubled student athlete to fall into. In an eerily quiet silence in a courtroom in Watauga County this week, a court official directed the alleged: “Son, if you have not had a chance to talk with Coach Moore, I believe he would like to speak with you.”

Finally, we get back to football, after a few days which may have felt like an eternity. Bad football is better than none at all, and that is what we will continue to do here. Appalachian is on the brink of a very unprecedented season for all the wrong reasons. The Mountaineers are breaking offensive records in the worst possible way. Appalachian fans are used to halves of football with 223 yards gained, not full games. A first down is not what it used to be in Kidd Brewer Stadium. The bell tolls on third down and you can actually hear it, compared to not hearing anything. An anemic offense is averaging just over 18 points a game at The Rock. It is something this blogger has never witnessed in over twenty five years of Appalachian fandom.

With such a low offensive numbers, there is not much to review from the week before. The Mountaineers continue to rely almost solely on a true freshman running back to provide some offense. Opposing teams might now be catching up to Marcus Cox. Despite going over the century mark in combined rushing and receiving yards for the fourth straight game, it was his lowest mark of the stretch. Cox averaged just a hair less than five yards a carry on the ground, but could not find a crease in the passing game to break a long one. He was also held without a touchdown for only the second time this season. Cox will be tested once again this week as Furman sports the SoCon’s leading rushing defense, allowing only 3.6 yards per carry.

Looking solely at the final score, you would think the Appalachian defense was dominated all game long. The Mountaineers held Samford at bay as long as possible in the first half before giving up a two late touchdowns in the second quarter. After giving up an opening drive touchdown, Samford punted on four straight possessions. Those punts accounted for all but two of the Samford punts on the game. On those four possessions that ended with punts, Samford could only manage one first down. The flip side is that Appalachian went three and out on three of those four possessions. Nine plays for twenty yards. The defense had to run back on the field quickly way too many times in the first half. The score may have still been in reach at 21-3 at the half, but everyone in the stadium knew that game was over.

Appalachian might be able to learn a lesson from Furman this weekend. The Paladins have talent in spots, but not in a lot of places. Their coaches know it, and have used an approach on offense to play to their strengths. Furman has always been a power running team to their core. They continue those ways even with a somewhat smaller than usual offensive line. On the right side, the Paladins are especially thin, with a 253-pound tackle and a 260-pound guard. That is made up for on the left side of the line with preseason All American tackle Dakota Dozier who is a solid 6’5 and 303 pounds and appropriately named Tank Phillips at right guard, who is 6’1 and 290 pounds. They have been able to clear enough room to run for their leading rusher Hank McCloud, who is well on his way to a 1,000 yard season. McCloud is a traditional running back who has a little bit of everything. He will surprise you with his quickness and his power and knows when to use it at the right time. Appalachian will best served to get him to second guess himself behind the line so the Mountaineers can attack from the linebacker level.

Furman has used three different quarterbacks in its six games this season. Neither has been particularly adept throwing the ball which is dandy for Furman. Reese Hannon is the preference for the Paladins, but has only played in three games this season, all of which he has started in. Hannon has 409 yards passing on the season, with one interception and two touchdown passes. Hannon is not a threat to run on designed plays, and would rather throw an incompletion than to force something that is not there. The Paladins will throw the ball out of necessity, only to keep the linebackers from sneaking up at the line, but they would rather not. Hannon threw two interceptions to the Mountaineers last year while completing nineteen of his thirty six pass attempts.

Furman probably requested one game tape to study the Mountaineer defense. They wanted the tape from the Charleston Southern game, one that fits their offensive strategy like a glove. The Paladins simply put, want to control the clock by keeping it out of its opponents hands. They want to shorten the game, mainly by giving the opposition fewer times with the football in their hands in which to score. It worked well two years ago in Greenville, when the Mountaineers fell 20-10. Appalachian turned the ball over repeatedly and couldn’t score when it counted. This Mountaineer team can’t score either and will be pressed to on each possession if the Paladins have their way. We believe an old school low scoring game will be fitting to end one of the SoCon’s better rivalries over the years. We are hoping the Mountaineers can find their way on offense. Rhythm is the key word for Appalachian on offense. The timing has to be right with the offensive line, quarterbacks and the receivers. One way to keep that timing right is stay disciplined. Too many times last week, the Mountaineers found themselves gaining momentum slowly, until a penalty, or a bad sack forced them into a tough situation. The ball must be moving forward at all times, with an attacking mentality versus a side to side approach. The easiest way to gain ten yards is shortest way, not the longest. Appalachian has a chance to win if they can score, which is a must. We have not seen it yet, or enough, but this Appalachian defense can play better with a lead, and some support, and believe it can happen this weekend. Furman was held in check last year by the Mountaineers in the run game. The Paladins ran for 97 yards on 26 attempts. Appalachian gifted Furman two defensive touchdowns and a kickoff return last year. Otherwise, the Mountaineer defense played well. At times, a punting contest could take place in this game, which will be low scoring. Eventually the Mountaineers are going to come to their senses. A win over Furman seems like as good a time as any to do it.

The First Pick:

Furple 16

Mountaineers 19

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