Appalachian State (4-6, 1-5 Sun Belt) vs Marshall (5-5, 3-3 Sun Belt)

Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 2:30pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: FLAGSHIP 97.3 FM (North Wilkesboro), 730 AM & 97.5 FM (Charlotte), 950 AM & 92.7 FM (Greensboro), 980 AM & 96.7 FM (Winston-Salem), 107.7 FM & 1450 AM (Hendersonville), 97.3 FM & 790 AM (Johnson City, TN) 87.7 FM (In-Stadium)

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: AstroTurf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 55.57

Marshall: 63.41

Home: 3.67

Marshall is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 4.17 points

VegasInsider Consensus: Marshall -4.5

Series: App State leads 16-11

Last Meeting: App State 37 Marshall 52, October 5, 2024, Huntington, WV

Nobody feels great about what they had to witness last weekend. Nothing good came of it and nobody will ever remember why it happened. But this has to be the turning point. It cannot get any worse than this. The margin of error in football is so finite. Sometimes it can come down to a play or two. Last weekend did not come down to a play or two, but a collection of plays over the course of a couple months that finally forced the bottom to fall out. So we all have choices to make. We can sit here and hope for someone to pity us or we can get back up and try again. Marshall humbled the Mountaineers last year. It was memorable for a couple reasons. They came out and ran on offense we had not seen after our men returned to the field after an unexpected bye week caused by Helene. We were supposed to heal that day. To an extent we did despite the score. This week we will heal again, because just like last year when we played Marshall, anything is better than what we just went through.

Expectations this year were not super high for Marshall. Coming off a Sun Belt title nowadays, chances are your roster and your coach are at risk, and that’s exactly what happened to Marshall. Wherever they finished was as much in the air as it was for App State. The Herd have handled it much better than the Mountaineers. There is really not a lot different between a 4-6 record, and a 5-5 record, but these two schools feel like they are going in the opposite direction. Just about every game on their schedule has gone as expected. They knocked off Old Dominion, but that was a home game, and ODU never wins in Huntington. The loss to CUSA rookie Missouri State was puzzling back in September, but they have won five games in a row and are sitting at 7-3 overall. Not a bad loss, but not a good one, but understandable early in the season with a new coaching staff. That is mainly the difference. App had the same type of game against a Lindenwood team they should have defeated more handily early in the year, and it was a sign of things to come. Marshall took that down game and got better. Marshall played James Madison close. App did not.

The Herd have been trying to perfect their offensive approach for much of the season. They tinkered with quarterbacks early, as they gave players work in their opening game against Georgia. They stuck with one quarterback in the loss to Missouri State, but the offense simply was not efficient. Marshall went back to the multiple QB approach against Eastern Kentucky, but really stuck with a game plan of trying to establish a running game. They ran the ball 57 times to just 14 pass plays in that win over Eastern Kentucky. Quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson led the team in rushing with 58 yards, and he has been the starting quarterback since. Del Rio-Wilson leads the team in rushing with 584 yards while Antwan Roberts is not far behind with 464 yards. Michael Allen rounds out the rushing attack with 353 yards, and all of them have taken turns leading the team in certain games. Roberts best games, in which he cleared 100 yards, came in two Marshall losses. Roberts only had 15 carries in his first four appearances of the season, but amassed 62 carries in games against ODU, Texas, Coastal and James Madison. Allen has only played in two games in the last two months, but did play last week against Georgia State.

It would be super easy to just write off last week’s performance as an outlier against a decent team. That’s just not the case. It was no surprise. It was disjointed from the start. We can all hope that last week was the floor in an otherwise dismal stretch of the season. It seems like it can only go up from here. The one bright spot was the run defense in the first half. They held their own as long as they could, but the Mountaineers offensive approach did the defense no favors. Now, the Mountaineers are seemingly forced to retreat to the backup quarterback again due to injury. JJ Kohl played well as a starter. He went 2-1, as he started the Coastal game the Mountaineers eventually lost. However to cast blame on him for that loss is difficult to do when the issues App State has had over the course of the season transcended anyone that was playing. In short, Kohl wasn’t the reason App lost to Coastal. Again, we are assuming that Swann cannot go, and that Kohl is the guy. Noah Gillon has played in three games this year, and could be looking to preserve a redshirt season.

We are going to try and take the focus off last weekend and generally unfavorable viewpoint on the season as a whole. There is never a good time for a four game losing streak. You only are guaranteed 12 games, so losing a third of them in a row, is not ideal. What is at stake is the ability to continue seasons beyond those twelve games. One team has a better chance than the other, but only one team plays at home to finish the year. Marshall has played in a lot of high scoring games this season, and have allowed 31.3 points per game. Part of that is because they have played in two overtime games, but those were already high scoring before overtime. Let’s focus on six of those games, which I would call the true peer games. I’m going to exclude Georgia, Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky and Georgia State. Those other six games are against Sun Belt opponents and Middle Tennessee State. Marshall gave up 222 points in those six games which averages out to 37 points per game. Now, let’s just talk about road games. The Herd have given up 189 points in all road games, and that averages out to 37.8 points per game. Let’s talk about another interesting statistic here while keeping all these points allowed in mind. Marshall has been able to turn their opponents over at a very high rate. They have forced 20 turnovers on the season, and rank in the top ten nationally in turnover margin. Marshall forced three turnovers last week against Georgia State and still had to hang on for a rather uncomfortable twelve point win. There are many examples across the season where Marshall has taken good care of the football on their own, and their defense forced turnovers, but still cannot stop the opposing team from scoring. We have focused many times this season on whether or not Appalachian can run the ball on bad defenses, and it has shown more recently, they cannot run the ball at all. Any production on the ground I’ll consider icing on the cake. Marshall is 103rd in the country in passing efficiency defense, allowing 265 yards a game. But on the other other hand, Marshall has 13 interceptions on the year, and have returned three of those for touchdowns. Teams have found they can have success in the air against the Herd, and all that volume has led to those interceptions. Marshall has at least one interception in nine straight games. So the Mountaineers have to take care of the ball. That will be a huge key, but even if they don’t they can probably afford an interception. But JJ Kohl has done well there, outside of the two ugly first half interceptions against Old Dominion, he has taken care of the ball. I realize the doom and gloom exists, but this could be the right opponent at just the right time for the home team.

The First Pick

Country Road 27

Mountaineers 30