UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — The one thing that Appalachian State needed from redshirt sophomore quarterback Zac Thomas in his first college start was a performance close to error free in the crucible of 105,232 fans Saturday at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. Coming into the biggest game of his life, this Trusville, Alabama product had thrown […]
MOBILE, Ala. — Nate Woody was genuinely worried about the health of his defense when he met a group Mountaineer fans Saturday morning at the team’s hotel several hours before the Dollar General Bowl. Woody quickly rattled off a list of his walking wounded. But the veteran defensive coordinator and his Mountaineer cohorts had little […]
BOONE, N.C. — For any college football player, it is the ultimate fantasy — scoring a touchdown on your senior day. But for rarely-used Appalachian State quarterback Curtis Fitch, his highlight moment in his first game of the season went beyond his wildest dreams. Fitch was summoned from his normal game-day duties of signaling in […]
BOONE, N.C. — For the first two plays Saturday afternoon, things couldn’t have gone better for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in their battle for football bowl eligibility against first-place Appalachian State. Starting quarterback Jordan Davis scrambled for a season-long 47 yards on first down and then fired a 28-yard scoring strike to senior Devin Scott […]
ATLANTA – Appalachian State was rested and motivated on Saturday afternoon at the former Turner Field and it showed as the Mountaineers torched Georgia State 31-10 in a Sun Belt Conference first-place showdown. Coming off a 17-day break since its 27-6 home victory over arch-rival Georgia Southern on Nov. 9, ASU overcame a few shaky […]
BOONE, N.C. — Just like Elle Woods in the movie “Legally Blonde,” the Appalachian State football team was looking forward to a perfect day Thursday against its arch-rival from Georgia Southern. Unlike Woods, the Mountaineers pulled off that accomplishment with their convincing 27-6 Sun Belt Conference victory over the winless Eagles before 23,110 fans and […]
MONROE, La. — Appalachian State has made a habit of poor starts during the 2017 college football season, but an even worse finish sent the Mountaineers tumbling to their costliest loss of the year Saturday as Louisiana-Monroe scored a 52-45 knockout in Sun Belt Conference action. ULM quarterback Caleb Evans escaped pressure, stepped up in […]
After playing just well enough to win several football games earlier this season, Appalachian State performed just poorly enough to lose 30-27 in double overtime Saturday at Massachusetts. Senior Logan Laurent kicked three field goals, including a 45-yarder to force extra time and a 36-yard boot in the second overtime period to lift UMass to […]
As Ian Anderson sang in Jethro Tull’s first hit single, “Nothing is Easy,” and Appalachian State proved that again Saturday by scratching and clawing its way to a 37-29 Sun Belt Conference victory over scrappy Coastal Carolina before 30,179 fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium. After sprinting to its 17-3 second-quarter lead, the Mountaineers turned the […]
Things had come with only a modicum of difficulty last season as Appalachian State marched to its share of the Sun Belt Conference football championship, but little has been easy about the Mountaineers’ attempt to retain its throne in 2017. That was illustrated again on Saturday afternoon as ASU rallied from a 20-0 deficit to […]
Appalachian State knew it was facing a new and improved New Mexico State football team Saturday afternoon, the Mountaineers just didn’t know how much better and how hard it would be to put these hard-charging Aggies away. The Sun Belt Conference favorites from Boone needed a school-record six interceptions — three each from cornerbacks Tae […]
BOONE, N.C. — A week ago, at Texas State, Appalachian State executed well enough on the final play of the game to escape with a 20-13 win. But the lack of precision in the final seconds on Saturday cost the Mountaineers dearly as Wake Forest’s 6-foot-5 Scotty Washington leaped and blocked Michael Rubino’s 44-yard field […]
SAN MARCOS, Texas — It isn’t uncommon for a college football team to overlook weaker opponents as it peaks ahead to more important games. But such an oversight on Saturday night nearly cost Appalachian State dearly in its heart-stopping, 20-13 victory over Texas State in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both squads. Coming in […]
ATHENS, Ga. — The neglect to execute the little things cost Appalachian State in a big way Saturday evening before 92,46 fans at Sanford Stadium as the Mountaineers lost 31-10 in their season-opening football game to No. 15-ranked Georgia. Freshman quarterback Jake Fromm (10-of-15 for 143 yards passing and one TD) sparked the Bulldogs off […]
CSJ’s Predicted Order of Finish Appalachian State Troy Arkansas State Idaho South Alabama Georgia Southern Louisiana-Lafayette Louisiana-Monroe New Mexico State Georgia State Texas State Coastal Carolina Appalachian State Fearless Forecast: The Mountaineers have a tremendous coach in Scott Satterfield, who is 28-10 in his tenure in Boone which includes two consecutive years of double-digit wins, […]
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Excuse Appalachian State’s football team for feeling like it was reliving Groundhogs’ Day all week in preparation for the Raycom-Camellia Bowl. But in the end, the Mountaineers took an eerily similar victory over Toledo to their 31-29 win against Ohio University here last year. Freshman Michael Rubino’s clutch, 39-yard field goal with […]
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — From the beginning to an end of the regular season in college football seems to pass like the soft whisper of the wind. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that we were gathering in Neyland Stadium for a landmark game between Appalachian State and Tennessee before over 100,000 orange-clad fans […]
BOONE, N.C. — The wind was howling through Kidd Brewer Stadium, the temperature had plummeted from the 70s on Friday to near freezing by game-time Saturday afternoon and snow flurries danced through the air. But for tailback Marcus Cox and the Appalachian State football team, senior day at the rock couldn’t have been much more […]
BOONE, N.C. — The last time Louisiana-Monroe coach Matt Viator showed up at Kidd Brewer Stadium, he and his team left Appalachian State with broken hearts. As the Mountaineers (7-3 overall, 5-1 in the Sun Belt Conference) host Viator and Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., Appalachian is hoping this rising young coach won’t […]
BOONE, N.C. — If there was one thing that the Appalachian State men’s basketball team needed on Thursday night after a pair of competitive, but tough losses on the road to Davidson and Tennessee, it was a shot of confidence. And the Mountaineers (1-2) earned that in record-breaking fashion with a 119-51 victory over Warren […]
TROY, Ala. — Victory and a likely Sun Belt Conference football championship were one play away from Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium. But Troy University turned a fourth and five at its own 47 into a life-preserving first-down catch and Jordan Chunn’s 11-yard scoring burst on the next play lifted the […]
TROY, Ala. — It was probably the most important game of the Scott Satterfield coaching era, two years ago when Appalachian State played Troy at Veteran Memorial Stadium. Coming off a 4-8 campaign in Satterfield’s first year as a head coach, the Mountaineers had dropped five of their first six games during the 2014 season […]
BOONE, N.C. — Earlier this week, Appalachian State quarterback Taylor Lamb reflected on the lessons that the Mountaineer football team had learned from last year’s unsuccessful run at a Sun Belt Conference championship. He insisted that his squad would have better focus as it faced underdog Texas State, before embarking on a potential title-settling showdown […]
BOONE, N.C. — The coaching profession has taken Everett Withers a lot of places, but it will bring this former Appalachian State football star back to Kidd Brewer Stadium on Saturday. Withers, the first-year coach at Texas State, will bring his struggling Bobcats back to a place where he helped ASU move into its modern […]
STATESBORO, GA. — A local D.J. spun the Allman Brothers tune “Statesboro Blues” for tailgaters before Thursday night’s Sun Belt Conference football showdown between Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. And the GSU offense definitely had the blues after another dominating performance by the Mountaineer defense keyed ASU’s 34-10 victory before a Paulson Stadium crowd of […]
STATESBORO, Ga. — The modern history of the Appalachian State-Georgia Southern football rivalry started on one of the coldest days in Kidd Brewer Stadium history, with a snow and ice-slicked field helping the top-ranked Mountaineers end the two-year I-AA championship run of the Eagles, 19-0, in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. There won’t be […]
BOONE, N.C. — The answer for some Appalachian State football friends was blowing in the wind as the Mountaineers treated a homecoming crowd of 26,931 to a 37-19 victory over Idaho Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Struggling to finish drives in a contest peppered with exchanged field goals, a wind-blown pass from Idaho […]
BOONE, N.C. — The subject at a recent Appalachian State football practice this week turned to weather forecasts and coach Scott Satterfield was quick to remember one of the most challenging of his Mountaineer playing career. “New Hampshire,” the ex-ASU quarterback exclaimed. “It was 20 degrees and the wind was blowing about 40 miles per […]
LAFAYETTE, LA. — Appalachian State football players may have gotten a late start to the fall semester break, due to the first Wednesday night game in school history at Louisiana-Lafayette. But the Mountaineer offense was right on time in front of a national television audience on ESPN2, striking early and often on the way […]
LAFAYETTE, La. — Appalachian State finds itself figuratively in the college football wasteland on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. when the Mountaineers meet Louisiana-Lafayette on the road in a Sun Belt Conference game that will be played on ESPN2. When App State (3-2 overall, 1-0 in league) moved from the Southern Conference and the […]
BOONE, N.C. — It was like a blast from the past as Appalachian State opened Sun Belt Conference football play on Saturday afternoon with a 17-3 victory over Georgia State before 24,782 fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium. The last time that Appalachian State (3-2 overall, 1-0 in league) was embroiled in a scoreless tie […]
AKRON, Ohio — Quarterback Taylor Lamb personally challenged himself this week to play at a higher level as Appalachian State faced a key road battle at Akron. And with his father Bobby watching from the stands, the heady junior directed the Mountaineers to a 45-38 victory over the explosive Zips before 15,381 spectators at […]
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State knew heading into the 2016 college football season that it would be facing the toughest non-conference schedule in its history. And while the Mountaineers have slogged through the most difficult part of that journey with differing levels of success — from the missed opportunity of an overtime loss at Tennessee, […]
BOONE, N.C. — Another game of opportunity slipped through Appalachian State’s grasp on Saturday afternoon before a record-setting football crowd of 34,658 fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium and a national-television audience on ESPN. But this time, it was a pair of momentum-snuffing big plays at the beginning of both halves — instead […]
BOONE, N.C. — When Appalachian State University made the move from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, it was with Saturday’s matchup in mind. When the Mountaineers (1-1) entertain the No. 25-ranked Miami Hurricanes (2-0) on Saturday at noon in Kidd Brewer Stadium, it will mark the most anticipated regular season home […]
BOONE, N.C. — For anyone who considered Appalachian State’s home-opening football game against Old Dominion the prelude to next Saturday’s main event versus Miami, there might have been disappointment even with a 31-7 victory before 23,374 spectators at Kidd Brewer Stadium. But after last week’s heartbreaking overtime loss at Tennessee, the Mountaineers were grateful to […]
BOONE, N.C. — From a scheduling prospective, last week was nearly the perfect time for Appalachian State to face Tennessee. The Mountaineers may have finished one play short of victory in the 20-13 overtime loss to the ninth-ranked Volunteers, but ASU certainly grabbed Tennessee’s attention. Pardon the Vols if they may have been looking ahead […]
KNOXVILLE, TN. — Appalachian State was one bounce away from the second biggest regular-season victory in its football history on Thursday night in the season-opening game against Tennessee. But enough breaks went the Volunteers way in the second half to allow ninth-ranked Tennessee to escape with a 20-13 overtime win before an announced crowd of […]
KNOXVILLE, TN. — With rain gently pelting the Field Turf a couple of hours before game time at the football season opener between Appalachian State and Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, I was taken back to my first visit to this historic venue in 1990. It was a Friday afternoon, in between the NCAA Men’s Basketball […]
BOONE, N.C. — When coach Jerry Moore took his Appalachian State University football to Michigan for a contest to open the 2007 season, he told his players and coaches to embrace it as a game of opportunity. Nine years to the day of the Mountaineers’ earth-rattling 34-32 upset of the fifth-ranked Wolverines in front of […]
This week, I will be traveling to Charleston, IL to attend the Western Illinois – Eastern Illinois football game. This is a match-up I circled a few months ago as a great season opener for two 2015 FCS playoff teams. It should be an entertaining start to each school’s season. Since I am traveling this far […]
MONTGOMERY, AL. — As Zach Matics finished up his final practice at Kidd Brewer Stadium Monday evening, he contemplated a scenario where he would be called upon to make one more game-winning kick. Coming on the field with two seconds left in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl on Saturday evening those dreams became reality when […]
