Appalachian State (1-1) @ East Carolina (2-0)

Appalachian State (1-1) @ East Carolina (2-0)

Saturday, September 14th, 2024 4:00pm EST

TV/Video: ESPNU

Radio: FLAGSHIP 97.3 FM (North Wilkesboro),1060 AM/97.3 FM, & 1030 AM/99.1 FM (Charlotte), 96.3 FM (Greensboro), 96.3 FM (Winston-Salem), 1350 AM/96.1 FM (Asheville), 790 AM/93.7 FM (Johnson City), 1450 AM107.7 FM (Hendersonville), 1250 AM/103.9 FM (Marion); The Varsity Network App, Sirius/XM 990

Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

Capacity: 50,000

Surface: Natural Grass

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 68.50

East Carolina: 66.02

Home: 2.79

East Carolina is favored by the Sagarin ratings by .31 points

VegasInsider Line: App State -2.5

Series: App State leads 21-12

Last Meeting: App State 43 East Carolina 28, September 16, 2023Boone, NC

How about, we not do that again? That was certainly a game that will be hard to forget, even if it was unmemorable. Shall we move on? We’ll try. Whatever the result of last week, the focus would have been on this weekend. A rivalry that has been renewed, playing its third game in four seasons. Remember when this contract was signed, it was such a big deal that East Carolina needed to play in Boone or Charlotte first to hold up their end of the bargain? In a way to hold the Pirates to their word. That seems crazy to think of at this point. Now that the series has shifted to Greenville, not many in and around Pitt County would have imagined that Appalachian would have won the first two contests. Games played in the land of whole hog and vinegar are a lot different than those played in the twilight of a Charlotte skyline or a sunny September day along the Blue Ridge. The Mountaineers have not beaten the Pirates where the soil is sandy since 1959. Can they overcome the flatlands and the humidity for generational win?

The Pirates are off to a better start in 2024 than they had last year. At this point, we did not know that East Carolina’s first opponent in 2023 would become the eventual national champion. The Pirates then hosted and lost to Marshall in a weather delayed game before visiting Boone in the third week of the season. They started 0-3 and finished 2-10 with wins over Gardner Webb and Florida Atlantic. Nowadays, a 2-10 record would typically get a coach in his fifth season fired, but East Carolina has stayed the course, as they are only one season removed from a bowl appearance in 2022. So the Pirates have started the season differently, hosting FCS Norfolk State and going on a quick road trip to Norfolk to face Old Dominion. Norfolk State was a three win team last year and Old Dominion finished the season 6-6 with a bowl loss to Western Kentucky. However, the Monarchs hung with South Carolina a week ago on the road, but remain 0-2 on the season.

Last week, the Pirates depended up on their ground game with Rahjai Harris to move the ball. Harris is a senior, returning after a 485 yard campaign from a year ago. This will be the third time the Mountaineers have seen Harris as he has been with East Carolina throughout his college career. He had eight carries for 22 yards in 2021 while backing up Keaton Mitchell who is in the NFL. Harris scored two of his five touchdowns last year against App State in a 56-yard effort in Boone. It was not until the final game of 2023 when Mitchell was able to break through with 145 yards against Tulsa. He did not see the field much against Norfolk State, but his usage against Old Dominion appears to be a better predictor for his 2024 campaign. Harris is a big back, at 5’11” and 214 pounds. He ran for 131 yards last week on 26 carries, but nearly half of those came on a 63 yard touchdown run in the third quarter. That score gave ECU their first lead that they would never relinquish. Harris’ other 25 carries went for just 68 yards, but ECU was relentless in feeding him the ball.

Yikes. It’s awfully late in the week to go through the motions about last Saturday. Regardless, it happened, and even though we want to forget it, it still happened. There were a lot of things Clemson did that they did not need to do in order to win. They did not need to convert half of their third downs. They did not need to be perfect on five opportunities in the red zone. They did not need to force the Mountaineers to punt eight times, nor rack up over 700 yards of offense or kick a third quarter field goal in order to win. But they did all of those things, and no matter what, Appalachian State was not going to win on that Saturday night. The only cure for this pain is to play another game and be victorious. There is no doubt in my mind that we will witness an appropriate response this weekend. This program only digs in deeper when they have underperformed, and it does not take anyone outside the football buildings to tell them that.

It wasn’t all bad. There are a few bright spots to mention. The running back rotation was very evident. Although carries and catches do not resemble a players true workload in as much as the number of routes they ran, or snaps they played, it does give us something. Anderson Castle and Ahmani Marshall both carried the ball seven times, with Castle running for 80 yards and Marshall for 28 yards on their respective opportunities. Kayne Roberts saw five carries for 18 yards. Makai Jackson handled the ball more than any skill player for the Mountaineers. Jackson caught six passes for 54 yards and carried the ball twice for 24 yards. Over two games, Jackson might be the most versatile player as far as workload is concerned. Jackson is only fourth on the team in total touches with 11, but has scored in both games. His role only looks to increase as defenses have to prepare for him in all situations.

East Carolina has completely reformed their offensive approach. They were one of the worst offensive teams in the country a year ago. They only scored twenty points or more in four games in 2023. The Pirates hired John David Baker from Ole Miss over the offseason, who spent his previous three years in Oxford. Baker serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks for East Carolina, and has quickly improved the output from a yardage standpoint. Quarterback Jake Garcia, who started his career at Miami, transferred in from Missouri this year and has started both games this year. He’s averaging 295 passing yards a game on the young season. However, the number that is sticking out is the number of interceptions he has thrown. Seven interceptions in two games is a lot. It’s worrisome when you throw three interceptions against Norfolk State, and then follow it up with four against Old Dominion. The Monarchs collected just eleven interceptions a year ago and were unable to secure one in the first game against South Carolina. So when you see the low scoring game against Old Dominion, that is why. On top of four interceptions, East Carolina punted five times and kicked two field goals. The touchdowns they scored were on their opening possession of the first and second half, both plays of twenty or more yards by Rahjai Harris. Basically, the Pirates are making hay between the twenties, but are scoring on just 50% of their red zone drives and have converted just three of eight such drives into touchdowns. The Pirates have possessed the ball a ton over two games, and are good at keeping the chains moving, but always seem to become stagnant once the field shrinks and there is less space to work with. When they figure out how to finish in the end zone, they’ll become a dangerous team with their defense that is more than capable of winning games. A lot of the same characters return to an App State offense that did not have much issue putting up numbers on East Carolina last year. Joey Aguilar was getting the feel to being the starting quarterback, and played really well besides an ill-advised opposite field throw that became a pick-six for the Pirates. The Mountaineers trailed 21-10 last year in the second quarter, but reeled off five of the games next six scores and ran away with a double-digit win. The Mountaineers should be able to attack the ECU defense, especially considering what their eyes saw last week dealing with a lot of tight coverage.

The First Pick

Blackbeards 16

Mountaineers 31

App State Football vs East Carolina

Appalachian State (1-1) vs East Carolina (1-1)

Saturday, September 16th, 2023 3:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: FLAGSHIP 97.3 FM (North Wilkesboro), 96.5
FM/1450 AM (Boone), 99.1 FM/1060 AM/1030 AM (Charlotte),
105.3 FM/1320 AM (Greensboro), 790 AM (Johnson City),
107.7 FM/1450 AM (Hendersonville), 103.9FM/1250AM (Marion), Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: Astroturf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 73.14

East Carolina: 64.83

Home: 2.24

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 10.55 points

VegasInsider Line: App State -9.5

Series: App State leads 20-12

Last Meeting: App State 33, East Carolina 19, September 2, 2021, Charlotte, NC

There are several ways to look at it. You can hold your head high and be proud. You could also drag your feet for a couple hundred yards and wonder about another big fish that wiggled away. You might even do both of things at the same time. And then you hear the cries, whining and disrespect. From social media posts, to remarks made by those with the title head coach. “I’m proud of my football team” said one. “I’m glad we don’t have to play them again” said another. Those leaders who receive more praise than they deserve, and more criticism at their expense at same time. Only you can choose your leader. You can run with the guy who will run at your side into battle, or you can run and hide. The Mountaineers will never run and hide from a challenge, but embrace it and learn from it. This weekend will be another challenge. Traffic on the roads and entering the gates will be an adventure. There is going to be a ton of people in the High Country this weekend. A third consecutive in-state foe awaits the home team. Will you embrace it, or run away?

Coming into this season, East Carolina and App State had similar scenarios facing their team. The Pirates have a lot of new faces playing critical roles, and most of those were on the offensive side of the ball. Holton Ahlers exhausted his eligibility and Mason Garcia has been given the start for the first two games at quarterback. Filling in at running back, in place of Keaton Mitchell, has been Rahjai Harris. It’s been an uphill climb in these first two games for East Carolina in filling those holes. Ahlers and Mitchell are both on NFL rosters as we speak. Garcia has had an especially rough time. He has thrown for 142 yards in two games, completing just 51% of his passes, with two interceptions and one touchdown. That one touchdown pass went for 2 yards to a tight end after East Carolina’s defense fell on a Marshall fumble at the three yard line. That was the first touchdown of the season for the Pirates, and it took them nearly 88 minutes to do so. Garcia’s longest completion of the season went a whole fourteen yards. Harris is the leading running back on the team with 51 yards.

In week one, Michigan took it easy on East Carolina, cruising to a 30-3 win. The Pirates had the ball a total of nine times, with three of those drives resulting in a three and out. Just five drives resulted in ten or more yards gained. Those turned into two punts, one turnover on downs, a missed field goal, and a made field goal. The made field goal occurred on the last play of the game. Without getting into too much detail, the Pirates are running a lot of plays, but they cannot get down the field. The Pirates averaged 4.3 yards per play against Michigan and just 3.9 yards per play last week against Marshall. Additionally, the Pirates have been whistled for 23 penalties for 230 yards in just two games. Numbers like that lead to a grossly inefficient 34% on third down conversions, which ranks 101st out of 130 teams on the young season.

Multiple storylines have emerged following another close loss to a P5/P4/Autonomy school on the road. The biggest one, is Joey Aguilar. Plain and simple. His story is just beginning to unfold. One side of the field had one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and Joey Aguilar outplayed him, and not for one second did the moment feel too big for him. He could have completed a few more passes, but that’s being picky. The passes that connected went for 12.5 yards per completion. He avoided negative plays with his arm and legs. Even with an assumed lack of depth behind him, he played big and owned every moment. Throwing for a cool 275 yards and running for 42 more. The one interception he’ll learn from, but it did not account for the loss. Calling Aguilar a game manager does not give him enough credit. Joey Aguilar is a gamer, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next.

App State’s defensive strategy was wise on Saturday night. Try to keep Drake Maye from beating you. For the most part, that worked. For only the third time since 2015, North Carolina won a game without throwing a touchdown pass. The flip side of that, was that big plays in the running game boosted the Tar Heels efforts. Maye routinely checked to running plays to avoid throwing against a secondary that was dropping seven and eight players into coverage. In all, the strategy worked as a team effort. A loss in overtime is nothing to be ashamed of, especially on the road, in games that you are not “supposed” to win. However, the balance could be hard to strike between improving the run defense and the strategy of keeping the play in front of you. That balance becomes especially more difficult after losing Brendan Harrington for the season due to injury.

Perhaps this discussion is slightly premature, but there is some discussion on the banks of the Tar River about whether or not Mason Garcia should continue as the Pirates starting quarterback. Garcia, who is listed at 6’5 and 249 pounds fits the typical prototype East Carolina quarterback size we have seen the from the past. But Garcia is having issues staying in the pocket. The Pirates do call some designed runs for Garcia, on delay draws from the shotgun formation. That has led to Garcia leading the team in carries and rushing yards. But, either his receivers are not getting open, or his pocket is breaking down before they are open, or Garcia is concerned with protection. It possible the game has not slowed down for him yet. Either way you cut it, Garcia has happy feet, and when the throw is not there when he wants it to be, he takes off upfield. This had led some to start clamoring for backup Alex Flinn. Garcia had very little experience coming into 2023, and Flinn has even less. Flinn has played in both games this season, early on against Michigan, and finished the game against Marshall once it was out of reach. He is a fifth year redshirt junior, who played a total of five snaps before this season. At this point, East Carolina isn’t hitting the panic button, but they have been looking at it pretty hard. At some point they have to start scoring some points or else their defense will be gassed come mid-October. The Pirate defense likes to play down hill in the run game, but their secondary have been roasted in two games, surrendering 270 yards passing a game, and 12.5 yards per catch. The Mountaineers are likely to remain patient in the run game to an extent, but the confidence of this past weekend can only propel them forward with Joey Aguilar becoming more comfortable. One would assume that Nate Noel will be looking for an eventual breather after fifty carries in the first two games, but the formula appears to be working for now.

The First Pick

Sinking Ships 17

Mountaineers 35

App State Football vs East Carolina (Duke’s Mayo Classic)

Appalachian State (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs East Carolina (0-0, 0-0 AAC)

Thursday, September 2nd, 2021 7:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPNU

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 600 AM Winston-Salem, 1270 AM Charlotte, 1450 AM Hendersonville, Sirius XM 80, TuneIn App

Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, NC

Capacity: 75,412

Surface: FieldTurf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 73.55

East Carolina: 62.31

Home: n/a

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 11.24 points

Line: App State -10.5

Series: App State leads 19-12

Last Meeting: ECU 35, App State 13, September 1, 2012, Greenville, NC

And we are back. As in college football is back, but most importantly, fans in the stands are back. Hopefully we are past limited attendance and other measures that kept that lifeblood out of college athletics last season. Also back, is a matchup between App State and East Carolina for the first time in nine seasons. For the first ever, these two schools on the opposite ends of the state, will face off on the gridiron as FBS institutions. This will be the first game of a scheduled four game series, with App State hosting the first game in Bank of America Stadium this year and concluding with alternating games on campus sites from 2024-2026. As is normal practice in scheduling college football games way in the the future, this series was announced in early 2017. Since then, East Carolina has fired and hired another coach, while App State has just hired two coaches. The two programs have somewhat gone in opposite directions since the agreement was made, which surprises nobody considering their fans barbecue preferences.

East Carolina and App State were in different places nine years ago. That was the last time these two in-state rivals met. In 2012, East Carolina went 8-5 and lost the New Orleans Bowl to Louisiana. Their regular season schedule included games against North & South Carolina, Southern Miss, UAB and Marshall. Those were the schools App State wanted to play, and at that time, moving to FBS was in the works. In nine short years, App has now played those schools, and beaten most of them. East Carolina was in Conference USA, and App State wanted to be in a conference with the Pirates. But as the college football world turns, now both schools are in difference conferences and their trajectories have changed immensely. The Pirates have played in just two bowls since the 2012 season, defeating Ohio in 2013, and losing to Florida on January 3rd, 2015, after the culmination of the 2014 season. Since App has been bowl eligible in FBS, East Carolina has not appeared in a bowl game.

East Carolina and App State have not shared many common opponents in the last two seasons, and using data from 2020 games for comparisons sake might not make the most sense. Nonetheless, we do have one opponent from last year that was certainly eyebrow raising for both schools. It’s not often you can glean much from many Georgia State games, but its what we have. East Carolina got slapped around by the Panthers last year in Atlanta, to the tune of a 49-29 final score. The Pirates scored first to lead 7-0, but Georgia State answered with four unanswered touchdowns and won going away. The biggest takeaway from this game is how easily Georgia State moved the ball compared to how difficult it was for East Carolina’s offense to get going. The Panthers averaged 3 more yards a play on offense. But this game had a little bit of everything, with six combined turnovers, a punt return touchdown, two interception return touchdowns, and twenty accepted penalties between the two teams.

The Pirates return of a slew of offensive skill talent for the 2021 season. Holton Ahlers returns at quarterback and will be in his fourth year at ECU. Ahlers has 25 career starts under his belt. He started every game in 2019, and all but one game in 2020 due to pandemic protocols. Ahlers is a dual-threat left-handed passer that saw some of his numbers dip in 2020 after a stupendous year in 2019, where he passed for 3,387 yards and ran for another 359 yards. Ahlers has run for over 1,000 yards in his career, but the majority of that was accumulated during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In 2020, Ahlers ran for just 109 yards. Wide receivers CJ Johnson and Tyler Snead are the top returners at the position. Johnson caught 54 passes for 908 yards during his freshman campaign in 2019, but was limited somewhat in 2020 to nineteen receptions. However, Johnson did average 21.3 yards per receptions last year and remains a serious weapon for Ahlers. In the slot, Tyler Snead is a workhorse, logging 134 career receptions in twenty-five games. Snead isn’t much to look at, standing all of 5’7″ and weighing in at 174 pounds, but he is reliable and gets the job done. Snead also serves as the Pirates punt returner and kick returner.

It has been a long offseason, but not a lot has changed, thanks to an extra year of eligibility granted to collegiate athletes. That led to a flurry of graduating seniors deciding to come back and play another year for the Mountaineers, mainly because, last year did not turn out how they wanted, and they did not want to be remembered that way. So when the depth chart was officially released on Monday, you saw a lot of the same faces. Seemingly, four positions groups had little to no change at the top. But new faces have emerged in key spots, and fans and media have talked about them for months. Quarterback Chase Brice and the “new” guys on the offensive line have dominated those conversations. Sure, Brice is new, but he has been here since the spring with “new” offensive coordinator Frank Ponce. The left side of the offensive line is not new to App State, just to the starting roles, with true freshman behind them. Does live game chemistry need to be developed for some of these players? Sure, but we have to stop acting like all of these faces are, well, new.

Under Mike Houston, the Pirates have typically had enough offense to win football games. East Carolina averaged 26.8 points per game in 2019, and 30.2 points per game a season ago. The real issue comes down to defense. In 2019, the Pirates allowed 33.7 points a game and 35.4 last year. The point differential shrunk, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. East Carolina has the same defensive coordinator from a season ago, and they have stressed forcing turnovers. There is trendy train of thought in some football circles that turnovers, and not yards allowed or other metrics, are the key to a successful defense. Obviously turnovers are big, and East Carolina forced 18 turnovers in nine games a season ago. That was good enough for 25th in the country in total turnovers gained. Yet, gaining turnovers only goes so far, when a team also turns it over themselves. The Pirates gave away 21 turnovers, which was 122nd in the country, which is not good. Eventually, you have to stop the opposing offense. The Pirates were not good at that in 2020 either. East Carolina allowed 6.2 yards per play, and 447 yards per game. When you think about all these big numbers allowed on defense, forcing turnovers is just about the only option to give your team a chance to win. Not to mention, that of that 447 yards allowed per game, over 200 yards were given up on the ground. App State eclipsed that mark in eight games last season. With the Mountaineers breaking in a new quarterback, what better way to make him feel comfortable than to hand it off forty times. That’s not my suggestion, and honestly feel that is semi-lazy. It’s the first game, but that does not mean we have time to keep things simple. I’m expecting a balanced attack from the Mountaineers, with a lot of intermediate passing with well-timed deep shots down the field. If East Carolina wants to contend, they are going to have to be better on both sides of the ball after halftime. The Pirates were outscored in the third quarter 79-27 last season.

The First Pick

Scallywags 20

Mountaineers 34

Men’s Basketball 72, East Carolina 82

Pregame:

Appalachian travels to long time stat rival East Carolina tonight in the second game of a three games series with the Pirates. Appalachian and East Carolina agreed to a two and one agreement with Appalachian prior to last season, with Appalachian’s home game in the series being played last year at Time-Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte. East Carolina enters the contest at 3-0, fresh off a comeback win over UNC-Greensboro. The will be the Pirates final home game in a four game homestand to start the season as they hit the road to play Georgia State and Charlotte in the coming week. The Pirates other wins to open the season were against Washington & Lee and Methodist.

Miguel Paul leads a quartet of double digit scorers for the Pirates. Paul did not play in the team’s first two games due to a team suspension, but did score 24 points against UNCG. Paul played his first two seasons of college basketball at Missouri. Maurice Kemp is a lanky post player at 6’8 and 190 pounds. Kemp is a senior who has started all three games on the season and is averaging 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Marshall Guilmette is a 6’10, 240 pound freshman who has averaged 10.7 points and 6.7 rebounds while playing roughly twenty four minutes per contest. Six players on the Pirate roster measure 6’8 or taller on a team that features five seniors and four juniors.

Against High Point and Campbell, the Mountaineers started the game slowly and never held a lead in either contest. Mountaineer opponents are shooting 55% from the field this season and 40% from behind the arc. Despite the Mountaineers averaging seven more rebounds per game, most of that difference has come on the offensive glass, where the Mountaineers have out-rebounded their opponents 47-23. It will be interesting to see what kind of lineup Jason Capel will put together against a much taller team in East Carolina. Is it possible there is a Brian Okam sighting tonight?

On to our in season game of picking a Vegas winner. This is the first game for Appalachian that has been lined this season, despite the Campbell game sneaking in as a pick’em. East Carolina was an 11.5 point favorite against UNCG, but failed to cover despite the come from behind win. Last year, Appalachian was 1.5 point favorite against ECU, but never came close to winning the game. East Carolina is a 14.5 point favorite tonight. Last year, Appalachian was really good on the road covering double digit spreads at the beginning of the season, with covers at Minnesota and North Carolina. However, Appalachian has been trounced by two lesser teams than East Carolina this season and I cannot become a believer in this team until I see it. The smart play goes to East Carolina covering the 14.5 points.

Postgame:

I am not going to pretend that I know alot about this game. Due to home women’s game, I was unable to listen to any radio or video of the game, so this will be a short recap.

Appalachian played much better than expected against what appears to be a better East Carolina team. Appalachian started quickly taking an early lead, that they would relinquish and never receover from. On several occasions throughout the first half, the Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to two points, but were not able to tie the game or take the lead. Appalachian cut the lead to three points late in the second half, but could not get a defensive stop at the right time.

We called on senior leadership from Nathan Healy, and he has responded. After going scoreless against High Point. Healy has averaged 21 points and 8 rebounds his last two games. Jay Canty added a career high 25 points and grabbed five rebounds and added five assists. Canty was 9/11 from the free throw line. As a team Appalachian was 17/20 from the line.

Overall, six players scored all of the Mountaineer points. The same six players played 93% of the minutes. Michael Obacha started, only played eight minutes, but fouled out without taking a shot. Chris Burgess also saw his minutes decline severely on what appeared to be a coaches decision. Burgess was not in foul trouble, nor did he turn the ball over in his 14 minutes of play. Tevin Baskin grabbed ten rebounds in only 27 minutes of play and Jamaal Trice added ten points in 34 minutes off the bench. Both Baskin and Trice fouled out. Tab Hamilton shot poorly once again, managing one made basket on eight attempts. Hamilton is shooting 30% from two point range on the season. Brian Okam didnt leave bench.

Unfurtunately, I made the wrong call on the point spread. I overlooked Appalachian’s decent record in the last two seasons as a double digit road dog. The Mountaineers have now covered three of their last four games in that situation. Sounds like my pick is already made for Friday afternoon’s game against Virginia Tech. However, based on the UNCG-VT game from Monday Night, its possible we may not see a large spread. It is interesting that Appalachian and Greensboro will have had three common opponents this early in the season. Greensboro and Appalachian have both covered against East Carolina. Greensboro did not cover +5 against Virginia Tech, but it was most likely a bad overreaction line from the books. If I had to guess, Virginia Tech will be favored by 9.5, but would not be surprised to see a spread as high as 11.5. Regardless, we fall to 0-1 on the season, and hopefully the Mountaineers can put together two well played games in a row.

Appalachian Football @ East Carolina

Here we go with Week 1:

 #6 Appalachian State @ East Carolina

Time: 12:00pm

TV: Fox Sports Net

Viewing Parties

Radio: WKBC 97.3 Wilkesboro, Charlotte, Winston Salem, Hickory & High Country; WATA 1450 Boone, Blowing Rock; ESPN 730 Charlotte, Rock Hill, Salisbury; WCOG 1320 Greensboro, Winston Salem, WMFR 1230 Greensboro, High Point; WSML 1200 Burlington, Greensboro; WCMC 99.9 Raleigh, WZGM 1350 Black Mountain, Asheville; WPWT 870 Bristol, Johnson City; WTOE 1470 Spruce Pine, WDNC 620 Durham, WLON 1050 Lincolnton

Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium         

Surface: Natural Grass

Capacity: 50,000 


Jeff Sagarin Ratings: 


ASU: 63.56

ECU: 66.95

Home: 3 points

East Carolina is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 6.5 points (rounded).

Series: Appalachian leads 19-11

Last Meeting: East Carolina 29, Appalachian 24, September 5, 2009, Greenville, NC

WXAPP’s Greenville Gameday Weather Trends:

Mix of Clouds. Chance for an afternoon storm. Muggy. Stay Hydrated.

Kickoff: Temperatures in the mid 80’s

End of Game: Temperatures in the upper 80’s to low 90’s

 

            Almost three years ago, when Appalachian and East Carolina kicked off the 2009 season, much hype surrounded the game. Appalachian was one year removed from a historical three year run of national championships and the most decorated player to wear the black and gold was coming back for his senior season. East Carolina had just finished its best year under Skip Holtz, going 9-5 in 2008 and had won Conference USA’s Eastern Division. It had been thirty years since the last time the in-state foes had played. East Carolina was favored again to win Conference USA in 2009 and Appalachian was poised for their final season with Armanti Edwards. However, a decision to mow the lawn in sandals left Appalachian without their star player and for much hope of pulling off a victory. The Pirates raced to a big halftime advantage and looked to cruise to a lopsided victory. Travaris Cadet and the Mountaineers staged a furious comeback in the second half, but fell short by five points. Something else happened that day beyond what occurred on the field. The eyes of those with power witnessed something that day that is still somewhat in the works. East Carolina was amazed by the Mountaineers that showed up the day, on the field and in the stands. Appalachian sold out its allotment of tickets to alumni and students and travelled to Greenville in full force. It was later revealed that Appalachian bought more tickets than any other travelling Conference USA opponent for East Carolina that season. The landscape of college football was slowly evolving with realignments in the not so distant future. East Carolina became in interested in Appalachian and vice versa. To this day, Appalachian is still looking for the right moment to leave FCS football and East Carolina is still trying to convince the schools in their conference that Appalachian belongs in the world of FBS football. In the years since their last meeting, much has changed at both schools. Skip Holtz left for South Florida and the Pirates have struggled under Ruffin McNeill the past two seasons. Replacing Edwards and assistant coaches who slowly migrated to better situations has also been tougher than expected for Appalachian. An 8-4 season used to be the old Jerry Moore status quo from the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but that is no longer acceptable on the mountain. For Appalachian, enter an era of change that is basically the same. Our beloved former walk-on quarterback and offensive guru Scott Satterfield has returned with his up tempo offense that brought Appalachian their many accomplishments from the last decade. A group of players who did not know how to behave and some assistant coaches who surely did not help matters have also moved on. The question remains whether a different culture and a new attitude will benefit the Mountaineers as the season progresses, but we can all agree that figuring it out along the way will be plenty of fun.

             Twice this season, the Appalachian coaching staff will face off against a group of very familiar faces, both wearing the same ugly color that is purple. East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill played for ECU in the late 1970’s when they won the Southern Conference championship in 1976. He was on Jerry Moore’s first coaching staff at Appalachian for three years as a linebackers coach. McNeill returned to Boone after a year at ECU in 1992 to coordinate the defense for four seasons. He helped coach Appalachian to six playoff berths and two Southern Conference championships during his stay. His youngest daughter Olivia is a senior at Appalachian.

John Wiley is the associate head coach and linebackers coach for ECU, entering his third year in that position. Wiley spent nineteen years in Boone as the defensive backs coach starting in 1989. Wiley left for two seasons beginning in 1991, but returned to Appalachian in 1993 to coach defensive backs and eventually defensive coordinator. Wiley was known for adjusting his defensive approach in the middle of the game to match up with opposing offensives. Wiley helped the Mountaineers to seven SoCon championships, twelve playoff berths and 87 all-conference performers. Recruiting Coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick spent five seasons at Appalachian starting in 1984 under Sparky Woods. Kirkpatrick was the wide receivers coach at Western Carolina for two seasons in 2003-04. From 2000-02, Kirkpatrick was the head coach at Chattanooga. Current Mountaineers offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford was a graduate assistant for two years at East Carolina in 2008-09 while also playing for the Pirates from 1995-1998.

            Redshirt junior Rio Johnson (6-2, 203 lbs) was named the starting quarterback for East Carolina against Appalachian. Johnson won a four way battle that lasted from spring ball to fall camp. Johnson has the most experience of this teammate under center, but that experience is somewhat limited. Appearing in four games last year, Johnson completed 69% of his passes for 157 yards and one interception. His longest pass was 17 yards and he averaged 5.4 yards per passing attempt. Johnson completed 58% of his passes in his final two years of high school to go along with 29 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.           

            Johnson has a plethora of returning receivers to help him transition to the starting role. Justin Hardy hauled in 64 catches for 658 yards last season and corralled six touchdown receptions. Andrew Bodenheimer caught 46 balls for 484 yards. Reese Wiggins caught 29 passes for 432 yards. To compare, Appalachian’s returning leading receivers Tony Washington and Andrew Peacock caught 32 and 48 passes respectively. However, that is only part of the offense the Pirates run. The media guide officially calls their offense a “spread”, which is the formation, but not the style. There are several different variations of the spread attack. The Pirates style is an all out passing game of short passes that move the chains Imagine Georgia Southern moving the ball four and five yards at a time, but passing the ball. The Pirates ran 921 offensive plays last season and 524 (57%) of them were passes. However, with those passes, come interceptions; a total of twenty of them in 2011 for the Pirates.

            Appalachian returns one of its most successful sophomore quarterbacks ever. Jamal Jackson started seven games for the Mountaineers last season, posting a 5-2 record, and throwing for 2,001 yards, 15 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Unlike East Carolina, the starting role has been firmly in his hands since he took over at The Citadel last season in his first career start. Jackson will remind some of Richie Williams, with a slightly larger build, tipping the scales at 208 pounds. Jackson has been instrumental during the offseason getting players together for workouts and understands that what happened last season was not a good rendition of Mountaineer football. He has a big arm that he can use to stretch the field and is athletic enough to be able to run when flushed out of the pocket or on designed running plays.

            Jackson will need the help of some young talent to be successful this year. As mentioned, receivers Andrew Peacock and Tony Washington return, but gone are seniors Brian Quick and Ben Jorden and Travaris Cadet. Redshirt freshman Simms McElfresh and Sean Price will man the other receiver positions. Rod Chisholm will return to the field after a year away from football to be the starting running back while Sophomore Drew Bailey mans the tight end position. You will also see some speed from Stephen Miller assuming he is healthy and converted linebacker Michael Frazier in short yardage situations. If included on the travel roster, true freshman Tysean Holloway could see some carries as well, as he is the better all around back.

            Outside of four solid starters on defense, the Appalachian defense is equally as young. Linebackers Jeremy Kimbrough and Brandon Grier return as leading tacklers from a season ago. Strong Safety Troy Sanders was third on the team in tackles last season and defensive back Demetrius McCray led the team with five interceptions and fourteen defended passes last season. On the line, Appalachian might be even younger, with redshirt freshman at the nose tackle and right end positions. Ronald Blair returns at left end where he concluded his freshman campaign with 3.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss. Doug Middleton saw action last season as a true freshman and will man the other corner position opposite of McCray. The belief is Middleton might switch back to the “star” position after dealing with the Pirate receiving corps.  

            With so much newness on the field for Appalachian, one must wonder if this game will come down to the players or the coaches. Most of the rosters have turned over since 2009, as only six Mountaineers that played in the 2009 game remain, none of them on the offensive side of the ball unless you count the converted Michael Frazier. Question marks remain for Appalachian on the offensive side of the ball which include the consistency of the new receivers, and whether or not any of the Mountaineer running backs are in game shape. The one counter to the inexperience will be the speed of the offense between plays. Appalachian has always had a very well conditioned team, which could come into play this Saturday and on what appears to be a warm day. East Carolina was a little weary the last time around playing in similar heat and also choosing to wear an all purple uniform on that day. The Mountaineer defense is good where it needs to be, at linebacker and in the secondary, but depth is a huge issue. Most teams do not have four and five quality cornerbacks to match up against the “Air Raid” attack. Appalachian will need to get in the passing lanes when they can against ECU and apply pressure to the quarterback if a long yardage situation occurs. In 2009, East Carolina pummeled Appalachian on the ground, but the Pirates do not rely on the running back as much in this offense. However, the freshmen need to be up to the task when called upon for the Mountaineers. The matchup between Scott Satterfield and John Wiley will be interesting. Almost every play that Satterfield ran in his previous stint at Appalachian has been witnessed by Wiley several times over. He knows his strategy and his ways. The kicking game will also be interesting to watch. Appalachian has been inconsistent in camp with field goals. Kickoffs will also be fun to watch with the new rules in play. Teams will now kickoff from the 35, and touchbacks will result in the ball being placed on the 25.  There are a lot of unknowns for both teams and Appalachian’s recent performance against FBS teams has been subpar. I think this entire game depends on how much ECU has improved on defense and the turnover battle.

The First Pick:

Our mascot is named after a river                   31                   

Mountaineers                                                 20

Appalachian State Men’s Basketball: Appalachian vs. East Carolina 11/22/2011 (in Charlotte)

The East Carolina game was an exciting one for the Mountaineers. This was the program’s first nuetral court game in North Carolina in many years, and the opponent was their eastern rivals from Greenville, NC. Both teams appeared evenly matched and the Mountaineers were given a slight 1.5 advantage in the game. The Mountaineers were never in the game due to a poor night shooting the ball. I took the Mountaineers considering a decent Appalachian crowd, but they fell at the hands of the Pirates. I fell to 1-1 on the season.