BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State's football team will travel roughly 2,500 miles to play Idaho on Saturday in a Sun Belt Conference game.
Kickoff in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
Here's a closer look at the Vandals:
App State (3-2, 2-0) looks to improve to 4-0 in its recent series against Idaho, which is leaving the Sun Belt for the FCS Big Sky Conference after this season.
The Vandals (2-3, 1-1) are coming off a 9-4 season in which they shared second place in the Sun Belt with a 6-2 league record. This year, Idaho opened league play with a 29-23 overtime win at South Alabama before falling 21-16 at home against Louisiana last weekend. It suffered losses to UNLV (44-16) and Western Michigan (37-28) after starting the year with a 28-6 victory against FCS-level opponent Sacramento State.
Like App State quarterback
Taylor Lamb, Idaho quarterback Matt Linehan is a four-year starter who is the son of an accomplished coach. Linehan's father, Scott, is a former NFL head coach and the current offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.
Linehan is tied for third place among active FBS quarterbacks in games played with 40, three fewer than the first-place Lamb, and Linehan ranks fourth among active QBs with 9,791 career passing yards. He'll face a defense that intercepted six passes, posted four sacks and recorded five QB hurries last weekend. The Mountaineers got three interceptions apiece from
Tae Hayes and
Clifton Duck, who joined
Rashaad Townes and
Tee Sims in bringing down New Mexico State quarterback Tyler Rogers.
"Linehan's a great player," App State coach
Scott Satterfield said. "A bit like Taylor, he's been starting his whole time there. They have some very capable receivers who are really good."
Idaho had to replace some of the 6-foot-3, 239-pound Linehan's top targets from 2016, including tight end Deon Watson, who had 41 catches for 695 yards. Linehan is throwing for 215.0 yards per game with a total of seven touchdowns and four interceptions this season, and receiver Jacob Sannon has a team-high 340 receiving yards on 33 catches. Aaron Duckworth, a 5-8 running back from Florida, has rushed for 439 yards, made six catches for 148 yards and returned nine kickoffs for 164 yards.
Defensively, the Vandals lead the Sun Belt by averaging 3.0 sacks and allowing 163.8 passing yards per game. Defensive end Aikeem Coleman (25 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss), linebacker Kaden Elliss (29 tackles, 2.0 sacks) and linebacker Tony Lashley (team-leading 47 tackles) are the most high-profile defenders on Idaho's team, while 6-4, 248-pound linebacker Leonard Hazewood IV already has posted 5.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss. Elliss' father, Luther, played for the Detroit Lions for most of an NFL career that lasted from 1995-04.
App State will challenge that defense with an offense that rushed for 350 yards and got 241 of those yards from
Jalin Moore last weekend.
"It's probably the most speed they've had on defense since we've been playing them," Satterfield said. "Overall, they're a solid football team. We'll have to play really good football to go out there and get a win."
