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App State Football vs James Madison

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Appalachian State (2-1) vs James Madison (2-0)

Saturday, September 24th, 2022 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), Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: Astroturf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 72.97

JMU: 71.57

Home: 2.11

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 3.51 points

VegasInsider Line: App State -7

Series: App State leads 12-4

Last Meeting: James Madison 35, App State 32 September 20, 2008, Harrisburg, VA

Caught your breath yet? Maybe we can use a different lede next week. College football has been upside down through three weeks, and it seems as if App State has been in the center of it all. Forty-point fourth quarters? Check. Knocking off a top ten opponent on the road? We have that too. Winning on a hail mary touchdown pass? Why not. App State has played just three games with nearly a seasons worth of moments. What could possibly happen next? We welcome in an old rival that also plays the part of a conference newcomer. The Dukes landed in the Sun Belt East along with Old Dominion and Marshall. This will be the seventeenth meeting between the two schools and first matchup as conference opponents. Among the more recent FCS-FBS transitions, the Dukes have the pedigree, with two national championships, and a winning history. They were rumored to have declined an invitation to the Sun Belt years ago, but could not pass it up a second time. This will be the Sun Belt opener for the Dukes, and their fans could not be more excited to renew a budding rivalry.

For the Mountaineers, this will be the fourth game of the season this weekend, but the Dukes were blessed/cursed with a Week 3 bye after playing Middle Tennessee and Norfolk State at home to begin the season. Having an extra week to prepare for an opponent could turn out beneficial, but having one so early in the season might not be. This schedule is partially a result from existing contracts and changing conferences, and subdivisions with less than a year’s notice. James Madison is still in transition and will only play eleven games this year. That means a bowl game and a Sun Belt championship is not in the cards. The Dukes administration hopes to cut the transition period in half from two years to one year. In the meantime, they are playing for pride knowing that they have just the schedule in front of them to play. Transitioning is hard enough, and during the NIL and portal era, it has to be downright difficult for roster management and recruiting.

We can say that James Madison has played just two games this year, but really, it was maybe one and a half games. Against Middle Tennessee, the Dukes started somewhat slow, with a fourteen play drive to start the game that ended with a missed field goal. That drive ate up more than six minutes of game clock. They turned the ball over on their next drive, but then scored touchdowns on three of their next four drives. Those touchdown drives did not eat up a lot of clock, using less than four minutes each. The Dukes love pouncing on your defense when they think they have you on your heels. The threat of tempo exists, and when the quarterback sees something he likes, he’ll be aggressive and attack single coverage. The run-pass-option offense is still alive and well at James Madison. The Dukes worked the Middle defense early, keeping them on the field for thirty plays in their first three drives, and then sped up the pace with 29 plays on their next six drives. The defense has to stay ready for anything when the James Madison offense is on the field.

James Madison has run up the score and racked up a lot of yardage in their first two games. That includes eye-popping numbers that are likely unsustainable over the course a full season, especially when you get into conference play. Beyond outscoring their opponents 107-14, and giving up just 21 total rushing yards, the Dukes have yet to turn the ball over. Todd Centeio has been flawless at quarterback. He’s thrown for 452 yards in essentially three halves of football, completed 66% of his passes and has nine touchdown passes. He’s hard to get a hold of and will not give up sacks. He can scramble and extend plays. The main job of the defense will be to contain him in the pocket and make sure he does not get his feet set when passing. He’ll run on design plays and also bail quickly sometimes when his first read is not there. Centeio has 139 rushing yards in addition to his near perfect passing stats. His primary target has been senior Kris Thornton, who has already amassed eighteen catches in two games, along with 247 yards and five touchdowns.

At no point this past Saturday, did the Troy game feel like one that would be decided by whoever had the ball last. But that is exactly what it turned into. Each team had nine possessions. Both teams scored four touchdowns. The difference in the game was a field goal made and a safety given. Sure, that’s five points, and the final margin was four. A certain point after attempt was not necessary, nor remotely possible. In a game of who has the ball last, its best not to give the other team points. Troy punted just twice, but ultimately their opening drive interception led to App State points, they missed a field goal, and then gave up a safety. This game really came down to situational football. One play ultimately resulted in the final tally, but it was a mixture of just enough from App State that kept them within striking distance. Consider the Mountaineer defense that came through for three sacks and an interception of Gunnar Watson. On the flipside, Chase Brice was sacked once, threw two touchdown passes, and didn’t turn the ball over.

It’s fair to say, that Madison and App fans are really not quite sure what to think about their teams. And that is just fine. It’s still September. The Dukes have played two games where they thoroughly defeated their opponents. Norfolk State is 0-3 with losses to Marshall, Madison and Hampton. Middle Tennessee sports a 2-1 record, but all they have done is get spanked by JMU, and beaten two teams with 0-3 records in Colorado State and Tennessee State. Based on the App State results, a handful of plays in each game could have changed the trajectory in those contests. App’s record could be anywhere from 0-3 to 3-0, and it wouldn’t shock you. The reason why we watch, is to see if your team eventually evolves over the course of the season. Peaking in September will not do you any favors in November. Well, we also like to win. We want to feel good. James Madison also wants to feel good. They want to know that they made the right decision to enter FBS. They’ll hit some stumbling blocks. There is not a program out there that has not or will not. But they will also have those moments that validate that decision. Their schedule sets up nicely, with only five road games, but they are big ones, and every game is on Saturday. But keep an eye on a stretch of games where they are on the road four out of five weeks with a bye week sandwiched in. But this JMU team knows nothing about App State from the past. This rekindling of a predictive rivalry is among fans alone. Still, players on both sides of the ball have known nothing but winning within their program. Although Madison may have not been tested this year, they have known how to get it done for sometime. Conversely, App State has been tested several times in three games. Are we expecting a game into the fourth quarter? Is that more likely than a multiple score game going either direction? I believe so. But there is one theory at play here not many have touched on. The scoreboard said the Mountaineers scored more points last week. However, I think this team comes out and plays like they lost. Offense will be crisper and the defense will play better. That should be more than enough for a comfortable win.

The First Pick

Miracle Whip 28

Mountaineers 38

Appalachian State vs North Carolina

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Appalachian State (0-0) vs North Carolina (1-0)

Saturday, September 3rd, 2022 12:00pm EST

TV/Video: ESPNU

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), Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: AstroTurf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 75.47

UNC: 74.14

Home: 2.14

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 3.47 points

VegasInsider Line: App State -1

Series: Tied 1-1

Last Meeting: App State 34, UNC 31, September 21, 2019, Chapel Hill, NC

This is not your typical season opener on the mountain. Appalachian State has never hosted a Power 5 opponent on college football’s traditional opening weekend. The Mountaineers have been the visiting team several times at Wake Forest, NC State, and East Carolina for opening weekend. Only Wake can say they came to Boone. Last year’s ECU game does not count, but it does, you get the drift. And now that North Carolina is coming to Boone, it opens the door for the NC State to do the same. How about that timing? Anyway, you have heard the call to action for some time now. The need to describe a game and atmosphere that will certainly be different and perhaps unprecedented. We have been through this before. The University of Miami came to Boone, and we wanted to win that game, probably too much. Wake Forest came to town, and we wanted that one too. That turned into a classic App-Wake game. But in both of those games, the Apps came up short. Is Saturday different? Yes. For one, there will be a few more fans there. Prior to Miami and Wake, we knew the attendance record would fall. Secondly, App is playing that blue team. Most are the opposite of indifferent about North Carolina. You either love them, or loathe them. Most of the alums are dissimilar. We like different things, and that’s why this is different.

Plenty of us remember, the 21st night of September. That was 2019, three seasons ago, and a lot has changed for App State and North Carolina. A slew of new players, a head coach for one side, and expectations. That Tar Heel team that lost to App State in 2019 finished the season 7-6 overall with a win over Temple in the Military Bowl. The 2020 Heels finished 8-4 with a loss to Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl. And last years UNC team limped to a 6-7 overall record and lost to South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Carolina fans are waiting for Mack Brown 2.0 to take off. The recruiting is there, but the development and on field success is not. What good are 4 and 5-star recruits coming out of high school if they never get better in college? The first Mack Brown era at North Carolina came with some bad and some good, a little bit of great. That little bit of great came in his final two seasons, and sent him to Texas for sixteen years. Brown was 69-46-1 at UNC in ten seasons. Since his return to Chapel Hill, Brown and the Tar Heels are 22-17 counting last week’s win over a depleted Florida A&M team. We are not talking about a significant drop off here, and its maybe too early to write off Mack Brown in general. In his first tenure he won 60% of his games, and in his second tenure at UNC, he’s won 56.4% of his games. But at this point in his career, and based on what he has done at North Carolina in the past, you kind of are what you are.

Typically, the first game of the season is the toughest to predict. But for the first time, App State has a Week 1 opponent who played the previous week. This was intentional. Initially, UNC-Florida A&M was to be played on September 17th. In late August 2021, the schools announced a date change to August 27th, 2022. This gives North Carolina two weeks after playing Georgia State next weekend to gear up for Notre Dame in Chapel Hill on September 24th. Sounds like smart scheduling to me. Whether North Carolina benefits this weekend against App State for playing last week remains to be seen. In the meantime, we have seen the tape and have game statistics to share with the masses. Appears the Tar Heel faithful have crowned Drake Maye as the chosen one, after one football game. After winning a fall camp battle over Jacolby Criswell, the son of another former UNC quarterback, Maye, led his team to a 56-24 thumping of Florida A&M. Maye threw four first half touchdown passes, and the Heels needed all of that in the first half. They led 28-14 at the break, and benefitted from a late turnover in the second quarter by the Rattlers to extend their lead. Regardless, this was a ballgame into the third quarter before another costly turnover by A&M that the Tar Heels turned into a touchdown.

Let us dive more into Maye and the Tar Heels offense. The coaching staff has made it no secret how they want to use Josh Downs. They want to get him the ball. Of Maye’s thirty-six passing attempts, twelve, or one-third, of them went in the direction of Downs. Those twelve targets turned into nine receptions and seventy-eight yards and two touchdowns. One of Downs scores went for 27 yards on a play action pass after the aforementioned third quarter turnover by A&M. On that play, Downs suffered an injury to his knee, calling it “just a bruise”, but was favoring it as he ran off the sideline. Outside of that play, the Rattlers did a pretty decent job of containing Downs considering their circumstances. Yes, Downs scored twice, on plays where he caught the ball in the end zone, but on his seven other receptions, Florida A&M limited him to just sixteen yards after the catch. It was the rest of the Tar Heels who exploited the Rattler secondary. The remaining twenty completions by Maye went for 112 yards after the catch, which comes out to very healthy average of 5.6 yards after the catch.

For the Mountaineers, they were able to watch the Carolina-A&M in real time. There has been plenty of debate whether fresh film on an opponent is an advantage or not. Both sides of the argument hold merit. Good coaches fit their personnel into what they do well. Surely UNC defensive coordinator Gene Chizik would have loved to see this App State team, with its fifth playcaller in as many years, once before going in blind. Chizik and every other coach who faces App State knows that this team has an identity. Through several coordinator changes over the past half decade, that same winning formula has been ever present. Strong on the offensive line, deep at running back, play good solid defense and tackle. It’s what we App State does, and its been that way long before the most recent assistant coach hires. This team has enough pieces of that formula to make those things happen. The only unknown for the offense comes from an outsiders perspective. It comes down to an equation of replacing lost production and how returning production can fill those gaps on the perimeter. Dashaun Davis is in his fourth year on the team, and remains a sophomore by eligibility. He has practiced for three years. He played in the 2019 UNC-App game. His career numbers may not pop off the page, but when his team needed him in 2020, in a game that was highly impacted by covid protocols, he caught six passes. Christian Wells is also in his fourth year, and was around in 2019. A playmaker anytime he touches the ball, Wells has seven touchdowns on only twenty-eight career receptions. Christian Horn has not scored, but has averaged 15.6 yards per catch in limited action as he enters his third season. These unknowns have been around, and its a matter of time before they are household names.

North Carolina’s last win on the road occurred on December 12th, 2020. That was a 62-26 win over Miami in which Michael Carter Jr and Javonte Williams combined for 544 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Both of those players are in the NFL. Since, the Tar Heels are 0-7 in road or neutral field games and have given up 30 or more points in six of those seven games for an average of 35.5 points surrendered. In those seven games, they faced all types of opponents and played in some very interesting venues. Four of those stadiums host NFL teams in Miami, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Charlotte. The college campuses included Notre Dame Stadium, an unbelievably lit Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech in last years opener, and Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, where NC State made an unbelievable comeback. All of these places are big time environments, and not your everyday road game. As we all know, the Heels have never been to Kidd Brewer. The sheer volume of people will turn Kidd Brewer into something nobody has witnessed for a sporting event in its history. Since Miami and Wake in 2016 and 2017, Kidd Brewer Stadium has lost the track, added a north end zone building and regraded Miller Hill and brought it closer to the field. Comparing Kidd Brewer as a venue to some of these much larger stadiums might be a stretch, but comparing atmosphere, it certainly can hold its own. A lot of us got glimpses of that last year in games against Marshall and Coastal Carolina. Now add another 10,000 or so fans. Still, a building cannot win a game, players do. That North Carolina defense has not travelled in a long time, and still looked slightly vulnerable at times on Saturday night. The Rattlers passing game was nearly a push against Carolina’s, only separated by a trio of touchdown passes. Drake Maye got the headlines, but A&M threw for 279 yards with a nearly nonexistent running game, and an offensive line that was short on depth. Mack Brown said that the advantage of playing first, before App State, was that they were exposed. He knows what problems his team has, and so do the Mountaineer coaches. He also mentioned winning in road comes with playing better. Mack knows how to win a presser, and how to talk to the media. This game is a total toss up. Both teams can win, and neither team can play poorly and win. The difference comes to down to experience. This App State group may be young on snaps in spots, but they are long on experience, whether that be as redshirts or otherwise. The Heels are a little young for my liking and until they learn to win these tough road games, its easy to bet against them.

The First Pick

Bah Bah Sheep 27

Mountaineers 35

App State Football @ Louisiana (Sun Belt Championship Game)

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Appalachian State (10-2, 7-1 Sun Belt) vs Louisiana (11-1, 8-0 Sun Belt)

Saturday, December 4th, 2021 3:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Cajun Field

Capacity: 41,426

Surface: Matrix Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 77.21

UL: 74.88

Home: 1.71

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by .62 points

Line: App State -3

Series: App State leads 8-2

Last Meeting: App State 13, Louisiana 41, December 12, 2020, Lafayette, LA

We all saw this coming, didn’t we? When the Sun Belt released its preseason poll for the 2021 season, Louisiana was a near unanimous pick to win the west. Someone voted for Arkansas State. App State and Coastal were tied in total points, but Coastal managed six first place votes to App State’s four. Still pretty well done by the coaches, except for maybe one or two guys. Regardless, nobody is surprised we are here again, with App State and Louisiana playing for the conference title, the only two schools to ever play in a Sun Belt Championship game. For the first time, this game is being played in Lafayette. The home team has won both such contests, and also lost their head coach to a Power Five school. For Billy Napier, this is his third appearance. This will be App State’s third different coach in the game. These teams are pretty familiar with one another and pretty much know what to expect from the other side. It all comes down to playing ball.

Since the last time we saw the Cajuns, they have not lost. Same goes for the Mountaineers. On the season both teams have had six common opponents. Both are 6-0 against those teams. Louisiana played those opponents tighter than App State did. The Cajuns outscored those teams 153-119, while the Mountaineers took those games a little more personally. App State outscored those teams 258-75. Five of those six, Louisiana played their foes within one score, with Troy being the outlier. App State closest game came last week, a 24-point win over Georgia Southern. That has been what Louisiana has done most of the year outside of a couple games. Sure, they handled a few teams with ease, but its these six games that are most interesting. Not all of these games have the exact same circumstances. Such as, App played Southern late, against a third-string quarterback, where the Cajuns faced the Eagles during the last game of the Chad Lunsford era in September. App State also avoided Jake Bentley from South Alabama. The Cajuns had to mount a comeback against Georgia State, where App finished the Panthers off in the second half.

From bad quarterbacks and backup quarterbacks to one of the most successful in school history. That is the challenge for App State’s defense this week, when they face Levi Lewis for the eighth time. We discussed it earlier this season, and although he has not started all of those games, he has played a lot against App State. Keeping Lewis in the pocket is a must. Although he is not typical dual threat, he can and will run when he sees the opportunity. Lewis has four rushing touchdowns this year, in four different games. Three of those came against three of the better defenses in the conference, including App State. Since the last meeting against the Mountaineers, Lewis has been really effective in the air, with ten touchdowns passes to just two interceptions. In two of the four games in which Lewis did throw an interception, against Georgia State and Arkansas State, the Cajuns were really challenged. The last game Lewis threw a pick and was not challenged on the scoreboard, was against App State. It appears the Cajuns have been intentional in taking care of the football as the season wound down.

The Cajuns have done a good job spreading the ball among their offensive skill players all year long. In the matchup earlier this season, nine different Cajuns caught a pass, and four players received rushing attempts outside of Levi Lewis. On the year, eleven Cajuns caught ten or more passes and the leading receiver, Peter LeBlanc led the team with 33 catches for 350 yards. He was consistent for eleven of twelve games. Outside of the Georgia State game, where LeBlanc caught nine passes for 118 yards, he was held under 43 yards receiving in every other game. Freshman Kyren Lacy scored on a two-yard catch in the previous matchup against App, and was an end zone favorite. Despite just 21 receptions all season long, Lacy found the end zone five times on the year, and in each of the last three games to end the season. Similarly with the running backs, not one back has a majority of the carries. Chris Smith has 144 carries for 834 yards and Montrell Johnson has 135 carries for 776 yards. They have combined for nineteen touchdowns. In the last two games, Smith has 19 carries and Johnson has 16 attempts. That’s down from their season average. Those carries went to Emani Bailey, who was averaging roughly eight carries a game. Bailey had thirteen attempts in each of the last two games. Wisely the Cajuns have conserved their top two backs for this weekend while giving more work for their third back.

Familiarity in football is super important. It’s the reason why you see teams like BYU struggle with Georgia Southern a week ago. Same reason App State slowly killed off the Eagles last week. Eventually talent wins out. App and Southern know each other all too well. The game was never in doubt, just the final. In the end, App State let up a field goal, which broke their second half scoreless streak. Still, that is four games giving up just three second half points. A continuation of that trend would be quite welcome on Saturday. Thomas Hennigan, Malik Williams and Jalen Virgil were responsible for the touchdowns, all coming on big plays. Virgil going back-to-back on kickoff returns in consecutive years against Southern will become highlights we see for years to come. Yet, it’s the App State defense that has stolen the show for the last several weeks. The Mountaineers have allowed 240 yards rushing in the last four games combined. In October, the Mountaineers gave up a season-high 246 yards rushing to the Cajuns. It is clear that Louisiana wants to run, and App State needs to continue its recent dominance in defending the run.

There are two train of thoughts here. You either believe the first matchup mattered, or it did not. Mattered as in, that data can be used as a predictive indicator of future matchups. Or, it was an absolute fluke, or as some football types would say, just one of those days. App State had a lot of those days this year that were completely opposite of what happened that night. Louisiana, in turn had a couple games this year that resembled that night. But, that game was abnormal. Both teams have played half of a season since then. App State has looked good enough since that night to make me a believer. Both teams have had their offenses struggle at times, but have been carried by their defenses. The Cajuns seem to struggle offensively for longer periods of time. It might take the App State offense some time to wake up, but when they do, it comes in bunches. Despite that, over the course of the season, the Mountaineers scored 100 or more points in every quarter this season. App State scored 223 points this year in the second half. Their opponents scored 227 points all year. This is not an argument for most points scored in the other twelve games wins this weekend, but more to state that several weeks ago, the App offense never got it going. Those are just facts. Had the Mountaineers turnover margin been -2 in that game, it might have had a chance. Being down -4 in that category is undoable. Many statistical models over time have come to a consensus that winning the turnover battle is the easiest path to win a football game. A minus-four turnover margin in a single game sets your chance of winning any game at about 10%. Louisiana is a top five team nationally in turnover margin, but that has more to do with turning the ball over themselves just eight times all year. The Cajuns were +12 on the season in turnover margin, and one-third of those turnovers gained, happened in one game. What is the likelihood of another one-off game like that happening again? Smaller than you can imagine. App State has shown all year it can fight off a turnover or two in hole, depending on the opponent, but anything more than that on Saturday will be too much. We all want to see a game decided on the field between two elite defenses. The Mountaineers have found ways down the stretch to score anyway they need to, whether by special teams or defense. They’ll find their way to lifting another trophy soon after.

The First Pick

Cayenne 21

Mountaineers 24

App State Football @ Arkansas State

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Appalachian State (6-2, 3-1 Sun Belt) vs Arkansas State (1-7, 0-4 Sun Belt)

Saturday, November 6th, 2021 2:00pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Centennial Bank Stadium

Capacity: 30,382

Surface: Geo Surfaces Field Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 74.71

Ark State: 52.90

Home: 2.10

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 19.71 points

Line: App State -21

Series: App State leads 3-1

Last Meeting: App State 45, Monroe 17, October 22, 2020, Boone, NC

Don’t look now, but Monroe just turned the ball over again. It was that kind of day for the Warhawks who were never really in it. The Mountaineers might have had something to do with that. After nearly every Monroe mistake, App State made them pay. That is the kind of stuff good teams are made of. The next challenge arises in one of the least familiar of conference opponents. The last couple games between Arkansas State and App State have not been particularly close. Saturday looks to be similar. There in itself is the challenge. On paper, this one looks fairly lopsided. Keeping your edge and competitive spirit alive for a road trip to face a team that has had some bad results can be difficult. Already, Red Wolves fans are saying that the battle in this game is not on the scoreboard. Luckily for App State, this is Homecoming for Arkansas State, so the atmosphere may not be completely dead for your typical one win team. However, playing the next ring game should be plenty motivation for the visiting team.

Where to start? The 2021 Red Wolves are really taking it on the chin this year. They have one win over Central Arkansas and three one possession losses to Memphis, Tulsa and Louisiana. Other than that, its been pretty bad in Jonesboro. Blake Anderson did all he could to keep that program afloat as long as possible, and Butch Jones is dealing with the fallout. The Arkansas State offense can be good enough to beat anyone on their schedule, but the defense is the main concern. If the game of football was a one-sided game, the Red Wolves can go toe-to-toe with any offense in the league. Even with glaring issues in the running game, the Red Wolves sport an offense that ranks 60th in the country, that is completely propped up by their Top-10 passing offense by yardage. For comparison purposes, consider Marshall, another school that has a Top-10 passing offense, but also had issues on the defensive side of the ball. Yet, Marshall has a running attack, and that is why they are 5-3. Arkansas State and Marshall are the only teams in the top ten in passing offense that have thrown double digit interceptions this season.

Just like Monroe, the quarterback position for Arkansas State is unsettled. The Red Wolves, known in the past for being unable to make their mind up when any quarterback was playing or going to play, have continued the trend under Butch Jones. It seemed that James Blackman, the Florida State transfer, had won the job, but Layne Hatcher, the long ago Alabama transfer was still getting playing time. Blackman’s injury designation was considered as being “out indefinitely”, after suffering a shoulder injury against Coastal. He did not make the trip last week to Mobile. It would seem unlikely that Blackman is cleared before Saturday, which means Layne Hatcher will get his third consecutive start. Hatcher has completed 55% of his passes this season with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions in spot duty. These numbers are a fay cry from 2020, when Hatcher threw 19 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Hatcher threw three interceptions last week alone in the loss to South Alabama. App State accounted for one of Hatcher’s interceptions last year.

This is where it gets bad. Within the conference, Arkansas State is dead last running the ball and stopping the run. The Red Wolves are averaging less than three yards a carry on offense and giving up a mind boggling 6.9 yards per carry on defense. They have allowed 22 rushing touchdowns and have only scored three on the ground themselves. Those national ranks are 129th for rushing defense and 127th for rushing offense. Each facet of the football game has an effect on the next. A lack of rushing production typically finds teams who own poor records. If you cannot run the ball, it’s difficult to sustain drives, which has an impact on possession, and the number of plays your defense defends. It’s not a requirement of winning football, to have an offense than can churn out 200 yard rushing games consistently, but being effective when you do run is important. This game is all out about efficiency. All of this leads to Arkansas State giving up 42.4 points per game, which is also last in conference play and 128th nationwide. That is nearly five points more per game than UL-Monroe, who the Mountaineers just scored 59 points on.

With their second straight 500-yard game, the App State offense is humming. The Mountaineers scored touchdowns on five straight possessions in the first half and distanced themselves from Monroe before they knew what hit them. Chase Brice has 603 passing yards and six touchdowns in his last two games. More importantly, Brice has not thrown an interception or been sacked in the last two games either. Nate Noel continued his steady pace toward a 1,000 yard season. With his third 100-yard performance of the season, Noel needs to average just 46 yards a game with at least five games remaining in the season. Corey Sutton and Malik Williams are also on pace to clear 1,000 yards. Sutton has been more consistent and has touchdown catches in four of his last five games. Williams caught three passes for 72 yards and a touchdown following his outburst against Coastal. While the offense was scoring, the defense was getting off the field early. The first six Warhawk possessions ended in this order: punt, fumble, interception, downs, punt, punt. Those six drives consisted of twenty plays that covered 64 total yards.

It is incredibly easy to sit back, look at an opponents record or recent history and think you can take a weekend off. If anything this season has taught us across college football, you cannot take any opponent lightly. The Red Wolves have won five games the last two seasons. You cannot hide from that. In 2019, Arkansas State won eight games, but five of them were decided by one score. The demise of Arkansas State football was not a nosedive, it was slow descent. Everyone knew it was coming, but it was just a matter of when it hit rock bottom. That time is now. Could the Red Wolves have a couple more wins right now? Sure, but bowl eligibility was never a reasonable goal. Georgia Southern has not been able to get off the ground this year either, and they absolutely walloped this Arkansas State team. Focusing on a close result against Louisiana is doing nothing but searching. Those two teams play weird games all the time. Arkansas State is giving up yardage and points at historic levels. That does not change overnight. It’s likely it takes a couple seasons to get that unit to a respectable level. But in the meantime, the Red Wolves need a spark. South Alabama got back to business last week with a win over Arkansas St, after having Monroe beat them the week before. Arkansas State should show better this week at home after turning the ball over 4 times to the Jaguars. The 224 yards gained last week was a season low. Butch Jones should be able to motivate his team for a big game, and a strong finish to the season with some winnable games. It’s just very unlikely to come this weekend. Just about every weakness the Red Wolves have plays right into the hands of App State, who have found a rhythm on offense as of late. Expect a boatload of sacks from the App State defense.

The First Pick

Huff but no Puff 14

Mountaineers 38

App State Football vs UL-Monroe

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Appalachian State (5-2, 2-1 Sun Belt) vs UL-Monroe (4-3, 2-2 Sun Belt)

Saturday, October 30th, 2021 3:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: AstroTurf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 73.75

Monroe: 54.46

Home: 2.60

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 21.89 points

Line: App State -27

Series: App State leads 5-1

Last Meeting: App State 31, Monroe 13, October 31, 2020, Monroe, LA

It’s hard to explain, why from one week to the next in football, a team can go from world beaters, to looking like they can’t beat anyone in the world. We presume to know what is going to happen from one week to the next, but we’ll never get there, and that is why we keep tuning in. Better than just tuning into the radio or television, is attending in person. Not everyone can do it every week, no matter the day of the week. The smallest crowd this year at Kidd Brewer Stadium was on a Thursday, when 28,377 attended. Intense crowd, great atmosphere. Elon on a Saturday: 30,224. Well darn, pretty good. Coastal Carolina on Wednesday: 31,061. Oh man. The stadium’s capacity is listed at 30,000. The Kidd Brewer average this year is 29,887. Athletics sent out an awesome tweet that included additional information. We are a football hungry school. We missed it last year, and are showing to the country what our team means to us. Just think about those numbers for a minute. Two of games were won by field goals and defense in the fourth quarter. That makes a huge difference in the outcome. We have not had those type of finishes often at The Rock, but it’s no surprise that when the team needed the help, we were there.

The resurgent Warhawks have been buoyed by improved coaching this season. Some were surprised that Terry Bowden found another job after the disaster at Akron, where he coached seven seasons and accumulated a 35-52 record. Fact is, Bowden had been a winner everywhere he coached, so success to date should not be all that newsworthy. Bowden did a decent job at Akron, just couldn’t get over the hump and stay there. That is the same challenge that Monroe faces for the remainder of the season. They are over .500 for the first time this late in the season since 2018, where they went 6-4 before losing their final two games. That was the last time the Warhawks had a legitimate chance of going to a bowl game. That road to a bowl game and six wins is possible, but it will be a long one. With five games remaining on their schedule, Monroe will be traveling for four of those games, and decided underdogs in three of them. Still, games at Texas State and back home for Arkansas State will be tossups.

Monroe began the season with Rhett Rodriguez as their starting quarterback. His father Rich Rodriguez is Monroe’s offensive coordinator. Father Rodriguez and Terry Bowden both played at West Virginia and coached at Salem College, but never at the same time. Rhett began his college career at Arizona, where his father was coaching prior to his dismissal. Rhett continued at Arizona and played sparingly before transferring to Monroe. During the win over Troy, Rhett was injured and suffered a punctured lung, and spent time in the ICU. He has yet to return to the field, which has paved the way for Chandler Rogers, who has appeared in every game this season. Despite starting Rogers against Coastal, Monroe still played backups Colby Suits and Jiya Wright. The same happened the following week against Georgia State. In the wins against Liberty and South Alabama, it was all Rogers. He took all the snaps in both games. All eight of Rogers’s touchdown passes have come in the last three games, along with averaging 267 yards passing in the last three. His 369 yards and four touchdowns were especially impressive against a South Alabama team that been known for a decent defense. Yet, the Jaguars have given up 33 to Texas State and 41 to Monroe in their last two road games.

The running game for the Warhawks can be deceiving when looking at statistics. Their offensive tempo leads to a lot of plays, and they have been scoring sporadically this season. Production has increased the last few weeks, but the first four contests of the season were especially rough. It’s almost hard to believe how bad they were during those games, yet still remained committed to it. Against Kentucky, Jackson State, Troy and Coastal, the Warhawks ran the ball 156 times for just 305 yards. That comes to less than 2 yards per carry. Two! Those next three games, Monroe ran 122 times for 570 yards, for a respectable 4.67 yard average. Conversely, yards gained via the pass also steadily increased in games five through seven. In the first four games, Monroe’s highest passing output was 168 yards against Troy. In the last three games, the fewest passing yards in a game was 225 against Liberty. Makes you wonder what caused the sudden increase in points and yards. The Rhett Rodriguez injury, scary as it was, may have been the catalyst for the offense. Or, Monroe has suddenly got things in gear after being beaten by Coastal, and playing three straight home games.

Flip the page. We are going from not talking about the game from two weeks ago to not being able to avoid the conversation this week. The running game put up the quietist 228 yards in recent memory. No back eclipsed 100 yards, but they didn’t need to. The night belonged to Chase Brice and Malik Williams. Brice provided a huge bounce back game with 347 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also added a very robust 34 yards on the ground on five carries. Malik Williams had a career night with ten receptions for 206 yards. Once the Mountaineers found the matchup they wanted, they exploited it time and time again. Corey Sutton tacked on a perfect night with six catches on six targets for 113 yards and a touchdown. Beyond that 575 yard output by the offense, it was the defense that kept the Mountaineers within striking distance after falling behind. The specials teams obviously played a role with the onside kickoff recovery that completely flipped momentum. The defense stood tall after App turned the ball over on downs, and fumbled in the second quarter, holding the Chants to just two field goals. Coastal scored just one touchdown in the second half, and were held to 30 yards on four possessions outside of that scoring drive.

So, who exactly are these Warhawks that App State will face on Saturday? They have been completely stymied by teams such as Kentucky, which can be expected. The Jackson State win by a 12-7 score was certainly interesting. But it was the Troy game that got the attention of the conference. Then the next two weeks, we saw the Monroe that everyone expected, getting beat handily by Coastal and Georgia State. Really the only outlier on their entire schedule to date is the Georgia State game. It represents their only home loss. Among peer games, there is an argument that Georgia State may be one of the more well-rounded teams in the conference, even though their record does not reflect. And Georgia State might also be the team that most resembles App State, that the Warhawks have played. As in, teams that prefer to establish the run and play sound defense. Among all opponents, every team that Monroe played were able to put some numbers on their defense. Kentucky, Troy and South Alabama all went for over 300 yards passing. Coastal, Georgia State and Liberty ran for 250 or more yards on Monroe’s 114th ranked defense that gives up over 6.27 yards per play this season. Some of those yards have been made up by turnover margin, as the Warhawks are +1.29 turnovers a game this year, which is fifth in the nation. Perhaps it takes App State a possession or two to figure out how to attack Monroe? Or the Mountaineers could come out slow like they did for Elon. App State has lost the turnover battle a couple times this season, which has kept games like East Carolina, Marshall, and Coastal maybe closer than they should be. Finally, the kickoff temperatures of the last three Monroe home games have been 81, 68 and 83 degrees respectively. The forecast is looking pretty icky on Saturday in Boone, with a high temperature in the mid-40s, with rain showers expected. A less than ideal situation for the visiting Warhawks.

The First Pick

ChickenHawks 16

Mountaineers 35

App State Football vs #14 Coastal Carolina

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Appalachian State (4-2, 1-1 Sun Belt) vs Coastal Carolina (6-0, 2-0 Sun Belt)

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 7:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN2

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: AstroTurf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 71.98

Coastal: 76.86

Home: 2.75

Coastal is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 2.13 points

Line: Coastal -4.5

Series: App State leads 6-1

Last Meeting: App State 23, Coastal 34, November 21, 2020, Conway, SC

It’s been a long time since a game has played out like that. That could be a blessing and a curse. We all know that was not normal, and App State could not possibly play that poorly again if they tried. The most important part, is that not one player or coach will let that happen again. Another interesting aspect, is that several players on this team have actually been in this position before. They know what it is like to somewhat have their backs against the wall, knowing that the next loss, could derail any conference championship dreams. Last week was not everything, but this week has become that. After last week, its welcoming to play such a high stakes game in your own house. Only four Sun Belt teams have ever won at Kidd Brewer Stadium in seven seasons. It’s not been a welcome place to play for any opponents for decades. Coastal’s rise to fame will eventually end. Whether it ends against App State is yet to be seen, but they’ll have to earn it, because the Mountaineers will not go quietly.

A lot of fans have been yelling from the top of the mountain, “Coastal has not played anyone!!”. National pundits have said the same, “We’ll see what happens when Coastal is tested.” That time has come. The Chants benefitted from playing four games at home in their first five games. Coastal has also played some rather subpar teams, and that’s not hard to determine just glancing at their current resume. But, how bad is it? Excluding The Citadel, every single one of Coastal’s opponents currently sports a total defense that ranks 98th or worse in the country among 130 teams. On the other side of the ball, Coastal has faced just two top-65 offenses, with the three other teams ranking 116th or worse. Those two offenses were Buffalo and Arkansas State, which just happened to be the two teams that Coastal played on the road this season. The Red Wolves top-40 offense to date is only going to carry them so far, with the worst defense in the country. Buffalo is the school that gave Coastal the most fits, and are easily the best team the Chants have played this season. That’s not scoreboard reasoning, its statistically accurate. The Bulls are the only team Coastal has played with a top-100 offense (64) and defense (98).

Chanticleer quarterback Grayson McCall continues to lead a very explosive offense. In 2020, McCall did it with his arm and legs. McCall accumulated 569 rushing yards last season on 111 carries, seven going for touchdowns. In the first six games of 2021, McCall has just 82 yards on the ground this season on 32 carries. His yards per carry have been cut in half, down from 5.1 yards per tote last season. However, McCall has more than made up for that with his efficient passing. McCall has thrown just 22 incomplete passes this season, completing just shy of 80% of his passes. Numbers like that are completely unheard of. Against Buffalo, McCall threw his only interception of the year, and misfired on six passes, the most in any game this year. Last season, McCall completed 69% of his passes, but was just 12/21 (57%) against the Mountaineers. The sophomore has increased his passing yards per game by about 20 yards per game, but outside the rushing statistics, looks very much like the player from a year ago.

Shermari Jones and Reese White were valuable members of the ground game in 2020, but they were not in the spotlight with CJ Marable getting the majority of carries. Marable exhausted his eligibility and ended his final campaign in Conway with 887 yards on the ground and another 228 yards receiving. Jones and White are now the feature backs for Coastal and have provided the production lost from Marable, and to an extent, McCall. White has played in all six games this year, gaining 455 yards to date and has scored seven times. Jones has played in four games, and has accumulated 401 yards. Neither Jones or White have shown receiving chops on a consistent basis so far this year, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen Wednesday. As far as pass catchers, most of it comes from two guys. Javon Heiligh works as a traditional wide receiver role, and has three 100-yard games this season with four touchdowns. Heiligh also works as a punt and kick returner. Isaiah Likely is a major threat from the tight end position. Likely can block and run, and is a high end NFL prospect. He had a monster game last time out against Arkansas State, who did not realize he was on the field. Likely caught eight passes for 232 yards and added four touchdowns.

There is not much to review from last week. It’s very apparent it was just a bad day for the Mountaineers. Turning the ball over and failing to convert on any third down is going to put your team in a bad spot more times than not. Seems App State had the ability to get by the tired Marshall defense and Georgia State without the full compliment of running backs, but that just won’t fly against everyone. Getting healthy at certain positions is key. The need for a one-two running back punch was never more apparent than last week. Plain and simple, everyone needed to better. If you think losses are hard on fans, just think about how the coaches and student-athletes feel. When the bar is set high, and the expectations are to win each week, those losses can bring you down hard. But losses are needed to appreciate the winning, to remind us all, you cannot have good times without the bad. The Mountaineers will respond appropriately. There is no question they are ready for the task in front of them directly, and for the remainder of the season.

Last week, statistics went out the window. Statistics are not predictive, but can sway anyone’s opinion into how something might play out. Once again they are not absolute. Just about everything that was highlighted last week was a waste of time and space. It happens. That really makes a perfect transition for predictive measures regarding Coastal Carolina. Most of the time, they are one of the more explosive teams in the country. Also, most of the time, in this sample size, six times this season, they have not played offenses or defenses that are explosive. That collectiveness is what Coastal thrives on. The Chants thrive on teams that have difficulties scoring and stopping their opponents. Seems simple, but it can be more complicated. Stay with me here. The term “triple-option” in college football has historically meant a heavy emphasis on running the football, with a quarterback lining up under center, handing off to an upback, or showing a fake handoff and sprinting to the edge with another flanker or wingback in tow. Coastal’s version is a lot different. Sometimes the first and third option is the same player, and often a pass option is used. It’s nearly like the run based triple option and pass oriented RPO were meshed. Occasionally, the mesh point (handoff point between running back and quarterback) is enhanced to further stress the defense, making them stop and think, while the offensive players continue their attack. What we are getting at, is that winning on third down is not enough when you defend Coastal. You have to win on first and second down equally as much. Sure, Coastal is first in the country on third down conversions at nearly 62%. But, they have only attempted 55 third down conversions in six games. That is the lowest mark in the country as well. App State’s job on Wednesday night is too force inefficiency, or to borrow an old triple option term, keep them behind the chains. Offensively, the Mountaineers also provide a tough test for the Coastal defense. Once Coastal gets ahead in games, their defense typically sits back in zone coverage, and plays a “no doubles” defense, to avoid big plays. Against Arkansas State, who has no running game, you saw Coastal let everything happen underneath, and then they attacked the ball. Coastal will have to play downhill against App State, just like they had to when they went on the road at Buffalo. The Bulls ran 47 times for 262 yards on the Chanticleers and were 9/16 on third down. They gave themselves a chance by keeping the ball out of Coastal’s hands. If the Mountaineers can play that patient on offense, I like their chances.

The First Pick

Surf but no Turf 31

Mountaineers 34

App State Football @ Louisiana

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Appalachian State (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) vs Louisiana (4-1, 2-0 Sun Belt)

Tuesday, October 12th, 2021 7:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN2

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Cajun Field, Lafayette, LA

Capacity: 41,426

Surface: Matrix Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 76.31

Louisiana: 70.17

Home: 2.55

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 3.59 points

Line: App State -5

Series: App State leads 8-1

Last Meeting: App State 21, Louisiana 24, December 4, 2020, Boone, NC

For a special group of super seniors, Tuesday’s game is a day they have looked forward to for over ten months. The implications of the App State-Louisiana game have been clear for a couple seasons, 2020 aside. If you want to host the conference championship game, you have to win this game. Reminder, a championship game did not take place last year. Doubt anyone needed reminding. For App State, this is the second game of the so-called revenge tour. Marshall was handled. Louisiana stands in the way next. Similar to App State, the Cajuns returned a lot of from last season’s team, but had some coaching turnover. Louisiana’s season to date from a win-loss perspective was expected, but it’s been a somewhat rocky journey. But really that does not matter. Just about every team in college football in 2021 has their flaws, and the cliché of taking one game at a time might have more meaning than ever. Both teams taking the field on Tuesday night will gladly walk away with a win of any sort.

When reviewing Louisiana’s schedule this season, you will see that the Cajuns are 4-1 with a loss to Texas. A game where some experts thought that Louisiana would give the Longhorns the game, actually turned into a twenty point blowout as Texas pulled away in the second half. The experts may have expected the Cajuns to compete due to their win over Iowa State last year, which was mostly fueled by special teams play. More on special teams later. However, it is difficult to look at Louisiana’s four wins and say, you know what, that game was a coin toss, and they pulled it out. First, we see that they squeaked by Nicholls State at home. Louisiana was up 27-10 late before allowing two fourth quarter scores to Nicholls. Then the Cajuns smacked around once proud Ohio 49-14, just five days after Ohio lost to FCS Duquesne. Not sure what Ohio was thinking with that scheduling, playing a tough road game on a Thursday after playing the previous Saturday. The following wins over Georgia Southern and South Alabama were both tight games. Louisiana held off Southern 28-20 and edged the Jaguars 20-18. Two conference road wins will never disappoint a coach. It’s not easy to win in Paulson, no matter how much longer a coach is hanging around. The South Alabama game was also played in a downpour. However, in both conference wins, the opposing team scored very early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to one possession, yet Louisiana found a way.

Tuesday night will be the seventh time that Levi Lewis has dressed for a football game against App State. Even in 2017, when Lewis appeared in just four total games, one of those games was against the Mountaineers. There has not been another opposing quarterback in the history of this blog, that has been written about more times. We know who he is, what he is capable of, and also, what he is not capable of. Lewis remains a dual-threat quarterback, averaging 24.4 rushing yards per game. That figure is down slightly from last year when he ran more than any other season in which he was a full time starter. Lewis is passing for close to 220 yards per game which is negligibly different from previous seasons. Basically, Levi Lewis has been a very steady quarterback for several years. He has not improved greatly, nor has he regressed either. The Cajuns need him to play well to win, and he usually does.

For teams like Louisiana who spread the ball among three running backs, it helps to look at the overall picture instead of breaking down one player at a time. Those three have 131 carries for 712 yards and have added nine touchdowns. That works out to 5.4 yards per carry between the trio. Chris Smith has the most carries (52), but the fewest yards (231). Emani Bailey has more yards (249), and the fewest carries (34). Montrell Johnson is a freshman, and leads the group with four touchdowns, all those coming against Ohio. All three had light workloads against South Alabama last week. They combined for just 23 carries, but amassed 170 yards. Not long ago, Louisiana was eyeing to have three 1,000 yard rushers in a season. That lofty goal was not achieved, but the Cajuns are a long way from getting there in 2021. As a team, the Cajuns are 59th in the country in rushing offense at 166 yards per game. That’s a rather pedestrian ranking compared to what Louisiana had been accustomed to.

The tone was set from the opening drive last weekend. The Mountaineers were expecting Georgia State to run the ball and shorten the game, but they also knew at some point, they were going to have to score touchdowns. So the Panthers attempted that strategy on the first drive of the game. Incompletion. Interception. The Panthers had a turnover before they gained a yard. Three and a half minutes of game time later, the Mountaineers punched it in the end zone and never looked back. The Mountaineer defense finished the game with three interceptions, and added four sacks. Most importantly, Georgia State was held to a 20% conversion rate (3/15) on third down, and three red zone drives resulted in just three made field goals. The Mountaineers did not run wild, but managed 4.1 yards per carry. Most of the heavy lifting was done by Chase Brice, who arguably had his best day in the black and gold. His 326 passing yards was a career mark and his three touchdown passes were the most in a game since 2018, when Brice helped Clemson beat Louisville 77-16.

Much like last week, deferring any information from the previous years game lends absolutely zero direction as to how this year will play out. If you remember, last year’s game was played in a torrential downpour, both quarterbacks played poorly, and numerous mistakes were made on both sides of the ball. Tuesday night should be clear and mild for mid-October. So just because the Cajuns were able to finally get a win over the Mountaineers last December, does not mean they have figured out App State. The injury bug has settled in around the Cajuns this year, which has decimated their offensive line. That is as much to blame for the struggles, or lack of consistent success Louisiana has had on the ground compared to years past. Those struggles have put the Cajuns in unfavorable third down situations. On the season, Louisiana has converted third downs just 31.7% of the time, which is 111th in the country. The Mountaineer defense has been downright nasty on third downs all season, allowing opponents a paltry 29.7% success rate, which ranks 17th nationwide. On the flip side, Louisiana is one of the worst in the country from stopping their opponents on third downs, allowing a 45% success rate. Staying on the field is important in football, because if you have the ball, and can drive, chances are you can score more points. That leads us into the next telling statistic that derives from said conversions. App State averages 32 minutes of possession a game. That’s the best figure in the conference. Louisiana is the exact opposite, maintaining possession for just 27 minutes a game. That’s the worst figure in the conference. Starting to sound like Marshall a little bit huh? The Cajuns have outscored their opponents in the first half this year 78-50, but are dead even in the second half. Add the kickoff return threat from running back Chris Smith, and you see where this is going. A defense that fades in the second half due to being on the field too much, but has been buoyed by special teams, which gives the illusion of a great team. Marshall has more talent, but Louisiana plays better situational ball, turning the ball over less, and playing within themselves. A lowing scoring 2019-type game would not be surprising, but the Mountaineers might have a better defense than two years ago, and the Cajuns definitely do not have the same defense as then.

The First Pick

Cayenne 21

Mountaineers 31

App State Football @ Georgia State

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Appalachian State (3-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs Georgia State (1-3, 0-0 Sun Belt)

Saturday, October 2nd, 2021 2:00pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta, GA

Capacity: 25,000

Surface: Field Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 72.98

Georgia State: 61.65

Home: 2.77

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 8.56 points

Line: App State -9.5

Series: App State leads 7-0

Last Meeting: App State 17, Georgia State 13, November 14, 2020, Boone, NC

In light of the recent trend that the coolest, most important event that just occurred being the most significant, we’ll say this: Last Thursday night, with Kidd Brewer Stadium covered in black and gold and sprinkled in kelly green, brought back so many emotions, it was hard to contain. It legitimately felt like a big time event. Seeing the Herd run out in all white, just like a quarter century ago, was icing. Seeing the trash talk commence early was exactly what that rivalry was all about years ago. It was special. Now we transition from a rivalry of decades ago, to a friendship that has lasted decades. With each game this friendly competition gets overplayed, overtyped and overanalyzed. The two head coaches just want their players to succeed. The internal battle of Shawn vs. Shawn will be reminisced about around campfires in the Blue Ridge mountains in due time. This weekend is all about getting conference play off on the right foot. In a super competitive eastern division, getting the first win, is the most important.

There is going to be a lot, and I mean a lot of, emphasis placed on Georgia State narrowly losing to Auburn. Talk like that is good to motivate players, and keep them from downplaying an inferior opponent. Georgia State did not suddenly figure it out last weekend. They capitalized on an Auburn team that had their feelings hurt the week before at Penn State. Also, an Auburn team that is working with a new head coach. The Panthers other three opponents were not working with new head coaches in 2021, and those games were ugly for more reasons than one. Army pummeled Georgia State 43-10, and outgained the Panthers 356-177. The next week was worse. North Carolina beat down the Panthers 59-17. The Heels more than doubled up Georgia State in total yards, 607-271. The following game, the Panthers took care of Charlotte by a score of 20-9. The 49ers and Panthers combined for 78 rushing attempts. The difference was that Georgia State was able to run against Charlotte, and stop the 49ers ground game. Georgia State outrushed Charlotte 298-118. After three games, the Panthers were averaging less than 16 points per game.

The Panthers bumrushed Auburn in the second quarter last week, scoring three touchdowns and leading 24-12 at the half. Auburn managed just four first half field goals. Georgia State put together a non-scoring 44-yard drive on their first possession of the second half, but then proceeded to go 3 downs and out on their next four possessions. Their next drive lasted five plays but only consumed twenty yards. Their final two possessions also only covered twenty yards. In all, the Panthers gained 85 second half yards, with over half coming on one drive. Zero points were scored. Auburn woke up, and finished them. Georgia State cannot afford to go scoreless in the second half and expect to beat any SEC school, much less the Sun Belt. At minimum, the Panthers needed to allow fewer possessions to Auburn just by grinding out a few more first downs in the second half, and that might have altered the final score. That is asking a lot from a team ranked 111th in first downs, averaging just 17.5 per game.

The ground game is there for Georgia State, but they are running well for one reason. They have be good at it. It’s just about their only option right now. Quarterbacks Cornelius “Quad” Brown IV, and Darren Grainger have combined to lead one of the worst passing attacks in the country. The Panthers enter this weekend ranked 119th in passing efficiency, 125th in passing yards per game, and 123rd in completion percentage. This is not an option team. You would expect teams like Navy and Georgia Southern to be down there. Brown showed promise last year, throwing for over 2200 yards with seventeen touchdown passes. He also averaged 7.5 yards per attempt. That figure is down to 4.3 yards per pass in 2021, and he has not played the last two weeks. Grainger has appeared in every game, but has started the last two, and his production shows the direction that the Panthers are going. Grainger has 34 rushing attempts for 111 yards the last two games. Add to that, he has dropped back to pass 36 times in those two games, and has been sacked five times.

There were a lot of things that happened in the win against Marshall. When the offense runs 92 plays, your result is a stat padding game. Usually those games are blowouts, and this was not. That Thursday night will be remembered for a long time. Perhaps the most memorable performance came from Nate Noel. After a first half that saw just 18 yards on three carries for Noel, he exploded in the second half. Noel ran for 65 yards in the third quarter, and 104 yards in the fourth quarter. But more than anything, we will remember what Noel did not do. He did not score a touchdown in the closing minutes. In that scenario, possession was more vital than points, as Noel secured a first down, and fell to the ground at the five yard line. That play allowed the Mountaineers to kill the clock and secure the win. Can you say enough about Corey Sutton? It’s possible. Sutton was targeted 17 times by Chase Brice, catching ten balls for 127 yards, while also adding another toe-tapping highlight reel catch for a touchdown. Lest we forget Thomas Hennigan, who also turned in a 123-yard performance on nine catches. And of course, we could not go on with mentioning a tough effort by Cam Peoples, carrying the ball 25 times for 78 yards in just two and a half quarters of playing time. Peoples punched in three touchdowns, and really set the table for Noel in the game’s final twenty minutes.

We all know the series record. Seven games played, and seven games won by App State. The closest games in this series were both played in Boone. In 2016, App State scored a late touchdown for the final margin in an otherwise uneventful 17-3 win. Last year, Jacob Huesman willed the Mountaineers down the field with a late fourth quarter score that gave App State its first lead, and eventually App State held on to win 17-13. That’s it. Those are the two closest games this series has had. Those also represent the fewest points (17) App has scored in the series. Otherwise, the Mountaineers have averaged 42.6 points per game in the five other contests. Additionally, there has not been a close game played in Atlanta, regardless of which former professional stadium or park it was played in. The Mountaineers have averaged 41.3 points across three games in Fulton County. All of this is the past. The 2020 game has no bearing on this Saturday, and neither does Georgia State’s close call with Auburn. This is a completely different game. Unimpressive football is unsustainable for continued success. That is exactly what Georgia State’s offense has shown this season. Listen, the Panthers are going to lean on the running game behind a very experienced offensive line, but until they develop a more consistent passing attack, they will struggle. A lot of the reasons why App State and Georgia State played so close last year are gone. One, obviously being Corey Sutton, and a less than healthy Thomas Hennigan. Those guys are now in peak form, and the App State offense has all the confidence in Chase Brice to get the ball to them. Despite playing three run oriented teams in Army, Charlotte, and Auburn, the Panthers rank just 117th in team passing efficiency defense nationwide. The Panther defense has registered zero interceptions, but have allowed 915 passing yards and eight touchdown passes. The fifteen yards per catch allowed is also eye-popping. The Mountaineers will not forget the way they played last year offensively, and you can expect a little more firepower than what you saw in 2020. I highly doubt Georgia State can score twenty points in this one, and the Mountaineers will score plenty more.

The First Pick

Blue Kittens 17

Mountaineers 34

App State Football vs Marshall

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Appalachian State (2-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs Marshall (2-1, 0-0 CUSA)

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 7:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, NC

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: Field Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 73.52

Marshall: 70.10

Home: 3.00

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 6.42 points

Line: App State -7.5

Series: App State leads 14-9

Last Meeting: App State 7, Marshall 17, September 19, 2020, Huntington, WV

For those who were looking for normalcy in Boone this past weekend, you got it, and then some. It was a busy weekend in the High Country. The eighth-largest crowd in Kidd Brewer Stadium history was treated to a big win over a former foe. It was a great day, but it was not perfect. Several adjustments will be made between games. There were fumbles on and off the field, and although the game day experience might not exactly be like riding a bike, the opportunity to jump back on does exist. That’s the beauty of it all. If everything was always perfect, it would get boring pretty quickly. We didn’t drive to the mountains for boring. We drive to see what we have yet to discover. We hike the same trails to relive an experience, and see it for the first time all over again. A lot of supporters will be doing the exact same thing on Thursday. Most App State students were but a twinkle in their parents eyes the last time Marshall played in Boone, and others have been waiting for this moment for a quarter century. Let us all appreciate it.

If this past weekend helped you relive the memories of the SoCon yesteryear, enjoy the the more vintage and seasoned brand of Marshall this weekend. Elon and Marshall did not cross paths in the Southern Conference, but those schools membership tells a great story about App State’s history in the last 30 years. Marshall left the SoCon in 1996, and became members of the Mid-American conference for eight years. Elon joined the SoCon in 2003. Those two moves along with others got people around App State thinking about FBS, or as it was referred to then, Division I. Marshall joined Conference USA in 2005, about the same time of App State’s resurgence in I-AA/FCS football. The Marshall games in the late 1980’s and 1990’s were intense battles. App State missed those games, and Georgia Southern helped bridge that gap, that Elon and other small private schools could not provide. Marshall went on to great success, winning I-AA titles, which was what they needed to move to FBS. App State’s playoff success in the 2000s stoked the desire to play teams like Marshall again. Last year, App and Marshall scheduled a series to work around the pandemic. This week’s game is the first leg of a separate home and home agreement that was announced in June 2015, and will be completed next year in Huntington.

Last season’s scheduling of the Marshall game was a win on paper, but was not exactly what a coaching staff wants at the last minute. You prep all offseason for the first few games, and then poof, Wake Forest and Wisconsin are gone, insert Conference USA. It did not help that App State had to deal with pandemic issues leading up to the game, and were trying to discover their identity with limited practice times and groupings. Long story short, it was not our best showing, and Marshall stuck to their game plan, and won an old-fashioned game. The Herd took that momentum and won five more games, to start the season 7-0, and then things went south. Marshall lost their last three games, getting shutout by Rice, stymied by UAB 22-13, and falling flat in their 17-10 Camellia Bowl loss to Buffalo. In all three games, Marshall was dominated in time of possession. This season, Marshall has soundly defeated two teams in Navy and NC Central. Navy has scored ten points combined in two games this season. NC Central has scored forty-three points in their two wins over Alcorn State and Winston-Salem State. And then, there is the debacle of last Saturday night. East Carolina scored 21 unanswered fourth quarter points to steal a win on the road from the Thundering Herd.

Seems that Marshall success has gone the way of its sophomore quarterback Grant Wells. The Mountain State native has already thrown for 1,110 yards in 2021, and has eclipsed 300 yards passing in every game, a feat he accomplished just twice last season. However, Wells is streaky, and when he is up, so is Marshall, and likewise when he has a rough game. He threw 18 touchdown passes in ten games last year, and half of those touchdown passes came in two games, against Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. On the the other hand, seven of his nine interceptions last season came in two games, in which Marshall was shutout by Rice, and narrowly won 20-9 over Florida Atlantic. Wells’ touchdown/interception ratio might be leveling out in 2021, with four touchdown passes and five interceptions, but that includes interceptions in each game. Thursday comes down to which version of Grant Wells shows up for Marshall.

App State was somewhat accused of sleepwalking on Saturday, but in the end, Elon never threatened the Mountaineers at all. Sure, Elon was annoying with 14 first downs, which is actually a pretty good number for a defense, but it felt like a lot more. Meanwhile, the Phoenix did not want to succumb to the ground game, and limited the Mountaineers to 187 yards rushing. That forced App State to probably throw the ball a handful of times more than they wanted. Chase Brice put up his largest yardage total (293) of the young season, which lead to big games from Corey Sutton and Malik Williams. Both eclipsed 120 yards receiving on the day, with Williams catching the 50-yard touchdown pass from Brice. Camerun Peoples was limited to eleven carries, which could be a signal that he might have a larger workload this week with the quick turnaround. Nate Noel finished with 73 yards on seventeen carries. The best stat line was produced by the defensive side of the ball. D’Marco Jackson turned in a thirteen tackle, three sack and 4.5 tackle for loss performance that had not occurred in college football in quite some time.

From 1977 through 1996, App State and Marshall played every single season, including twice in 1987. Throughout the 23 games series, neither team has played more than two games in a row in its home turf. Neither team has won more than four games in a row against each other. App had a four game winning streak to start the series, and Marshall currently holds a three game winning streak. It’s a real life cliché. Throw out the records. It has been a while since App State last beat the Herd in Boone. Twenty-seven long years. That night in 1994 was glorious. Scott Satterfield ran the option and pitched it to Chip Hooks repeatedly. Johnny Smith pulled down an interception and took it in for the go-ahead score, that would provide the final margin. Students could not control their excitement as attempts to remove the goal posts began before time expired. Only Jerry Moore could get everything organized long enough for the final seconds to tick away. And once again, the lights will be on at Kidd Brewer for one of the best Group of Five matchups of the weekend. This matchup was one that App State has circled. The Herd knocked App State out of the Top 25 last year and have not sniffed it since. Players and coaches might not care about that, but the fans do. We remember that painful feeling. Marshall has an offense that has the ability to score a lot of points. They have one speed, and that’s go. They like to move the ball up and down the field. The problem is the Herd’s defense. East Carolina blistered them for 561 yards. A very bad Navy team still managed 398 yards. How has Marshall surrendered all these yards without letting everyone score? It doesn’t help that Marshall has thrown six interceptions as a team, and has fumbled seven times, while losing three of them to inferior opponents. That also goes back to that time of possession battle that mentioned earlier. It’s a trend that dates back to last season. If Marshall turns the ball over three times, which is their average this season, it will be a long night in Boone. Mind you, they have been turning the ball over to teams that are clearly not as powerful as App State is on defense. Which leads to another interesting stat. Marshall has allowed just two sacks all season, while App State has nine defensively. It all comes down to how App defends Wells, and he has just been too streaky in his last several games to expect Marshall to come out on top.

The First Pick

Blundering Bessies 21

Mountaineers 31

App State Football vs Elon

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Appalachian State (1-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs Elon (1-1, 0-0 CAA)

Saturday, September 18th, 2021 3:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: 97.3 FM North Wilkesboro, 96.5 FM/1450 AM Boone, 1320 AM Greensboro, 107.7FM/1450 AM Hendersonville, Varsity Network App

Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, NC

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: Field Turf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 74.47

Elon: 38.55

Home: 3.00

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 41.92 points

Line: no line

Series: App State leads 32-9-1

Last Meeting: App State 31, Elon 21, September 21, 2013, Boone, NC

Chalk another one up in the “Close, but no cigar category.” A loss to Miami was probable, but a gut wrenching loss decided in the final moments was not what App State fans had in mind. Have we not suffered this fate enough? The close calls can kill you. They stick for awhile. Almost to the point that nothing matters as we stare into a campfire for moments on end trying to comprehend what your eyes just witnessed. Well, that’s at least what I did. Truth is the last close calls we had actually went our way. How quickly we forget needing to block a field goal at North Carolina to avoid overtime. Remember when everyone’s heart stopped beating as a football fluttered out of the back of a Columbia end zone. That pendulum has swung both ways. We all want them all, but these things have a way of evening out. Doubtful anyone would trade either Carolina game for Miami, or the others. Yet, the result brings outs a complicated range of emotions, and of wanting more. The only way to get past it, is to play ball.

It has been eight years since App State and Elon played, way back in 2013, when the star of the game was some freshman running back named Marcus Cox. It was the final year in the Southern Conference for both schools. Elon has been in the Colonial since 2014, and it was not a pretty start. Elon went 7-27 from 2014-2016. Elon then hired Curt Cignetti, who improved the Phoenix to 14-9 over two seasons before Cignetti was hired by James Madison to the same position. In 2019, Elon elevated Tony Trisciani to head coach after a stint as defensive coordinator. Trisciani was the defensive backs coach at Elon in 2006 when Armanti Edwards made his third career start and totaled 263 yards and added two touchdowns. That stat had little to do with Elon 2021, but why not mention Armanti when you can. Elon went 5-6 in 2019, did not play a fall season in 2020, but did play an abbreviated schedule this past spring, winning one game over Davidson, and losing five games. Among those five losses were a three point loss to #1 James Madison, and two losses to Richmond, and a 42-20 loss to Gardner-Webb. Almost forgot how weird FCS football can be.

Elon stands at 1-1 entering the renewal of the rivalry that never was. The Phoenix have played two barnburners, suffering a two point loss to Wofford, and securing a one point win over Campbell. The Phoenix warded off a two point conversion attempt by the Camels with 11 seconds left in regulation as Campbell went for the win. Campbell also attempted such a feat at Georgia Southern last season. Campbell still has dual threat Hajj-Malik Williams playing quarterback, and he burned Elon for 220 total yards and three touchdown passes. Wofford’s quarterback is Peyton Derrick, who spent his first two years of his career in Boone. Derrick was responsible for a 4th and 2 pass to Dominique Heath at Penn State that set up a touchdown. Derrick ran for 67 yards on just five attempts against Elon and threw for 155 more. After two weeks of mobile quarterbacks, the Elon defense will see a more pocket-oriented Chase Brice. Wofford averaged six yards a carry on the Phoenix defense, and four players logged rushes of over twenty yards. Wofford also completed passes of 33 yards and 71 yards.

Senior quarterback Davis Cheek is in his fourth season for Elon, and he brings plenty of experience with him. He will be playing in his 32nd career game on Saturday, and has thrown for 6,205 yards, with 38 career touchdown passes to just 17 interceptions. His sophomore campaign was cut short due to an injury, but Cheek has started every game in which he has appeared. In 2017 and 2019, Cheek surpassed 2,000 passing yards in each season, and had career highs in touchdown passes both years with fifteen total. He is well on his way to a career year, with four touchdown passes and 581 yards passing in just two games. Cheek did not play in the spring season of 2021. The ground game is not the forte of the Phoenix, as they averaged just 3.4 yards per carry on the young season. Three receivers have caught 33/51 completed passes from Cheek and all of his touchdowns. Jackson Parham leads in yardage with 168. Chandler Brayboy has pulled in 12 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Kortez Weeks touts a 10/121/1 line.

With two games under our belt, the App State offensive and defensive leaders are beginning to take shape. The running back race is a figurative dead heat. Camerun Peoples has 195 yards and three touchdowns. Nate Noel has 177 yards on the season. Both have carried the ball exactly thirty-one times. Peoples is better downhill runner, and is tough to stop once he gets wound up. Noel was bottled up mostly by Miami, but found better running room in the second half. The trio of Thomas Hennigan, Corey Sutton and Malik Williams continue to lead the Apps in receiving, catching 25 of the 41 completed passes from Chase Brice. Each have a touchdown and have at least seven catches. DeMarco Jackson leads the team with 18 total tackles, with 11 unassisted. Steven Jones also has also 11 solo tackles, and is second on the team with 13 combined stops. TD Roof and Caleb Spurlin follow closely behind with 11 tackles each, with Roof sporting 2 sacks. Trey Cobb and Nick Hampton also have ten tackles each.

This will be the 997th football game in Elon history, and their 246th game as an FBS program. Elon has never defeated an FBS program in their history. Elon has not defeated App State since 1964, covering a span of 18 games. When Elon joined the Southern Conference in 2003, they were very bad. From 2007-2009, the Phoenix were actually decent, but still could not beat App State. Even as their time together in the SoCon dwindled, Elon’s success waned, but they still played tough games against the Mountaineers. It was just never meant to be. Now we find ourselves back down memory lane again in 2021, and we all hope its ends up just like it always has. It seems over the years, when Elon can hire a decent head coach, at some point, that coach will win a few games, and then head elsewhere. Nothing says that Tony Trisciani can’t become that next guy, but he has not had the time yet at Elon to make that happen. Maybe that’s why they decided to play a spring schedule without their starting quarterback. Eight games were scheduled, and six were played. One would figure that would give you an advantage, playing a spring schedule, but those affects on players and coaches at this point is relatively unknown. Elon’s inability to run the ball should be a major concern, especially this week. The Mountaineers have allowed 3.9 yards per game to FBS opponents, while Elon has gained 3.4 yards in the fall compared to just 3.0 yards per carry in the spring. Expect to see the Phoenix in a lot of 3rd down and long situations. Those will play into Cheek being harassed in the pocket. The App State defense already has six sacks in two games against above average mobility quarterbacks. Elon has only defended 41 pass attempts as a defense in two games. Part of that is playing Wofford, but even the Terriers and Peyton Derrick threw the ball around a little more than most of us remember seeing. That could be a real issue going from SoCon/Big South wide receivers to App State’s super senior quartet. Not sure how quickly this one gets decided, but the margin should be considerable by halftime.

The First Pick

Resurrectionists 14

Mountaineers 56