BOONE, N.C. – Homecoming weekend also marks a return to action for Appalachian State's football team.
Coming off a bye week, the Mountaineers (2-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) are scheduled to play New Mexico State (2-3, 0-1) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Kidd Brewer Stadium.
RAY'S WEATHER FORECAST AT KICKOFF: Temperature around 70 degrees (Becoming cloudy, light shower possible late)
TV: ESPN3 (Matt Stewart - PxP, Stan Lewter – Analyst)
Appalachian Sports Network: Adam Witten - PxP,
Pierre Banks - Analyst, Molly Cotten – Sidelines
Appalachian State's series history with New Mexico State is brief but meaningful.
The Mountaineers made their first-ever trip to Las Cruces, N.M., last year and clinched a share of their first Sun Belt Conference championship by winning 37-7 in a league game played nearly 1,700 miles from their campus.
In their final year as a Sun Belt football program, the Aggies are making the return trip to Boone this weekend to face App State for just the second time. New Mexico State quarterback Tyler Rogers and several key offensive linemen sat out the first meeting because of injuries, but Rogers ranks fourth nationally this season with 14 touchdown passes and fifth nationally at 351.4 passing yards per game as his improved team prepares for the Mountaineers.
"We've got a big test this week, particularly in stopping their offense, but their defense is playing at a much better level this year compared to last year," App State coach
Scott Satterfield said.
New Mexico State has beaten rivals New Mexico (30-28) and UTEP (41-14). The Aggies also have turned heads in competitive losses to Arizona State (37-31), Troy (27-24) and Arkansas (42-24).
App State opened its Sun Belt schedule with a 20-13 victory at Texas State on Sept. 16. The Mountaineers used their bye week following the Sept. 23 visit from Wake Forest to improve their team health and focus on fundamental improvement.
Defensively, App State leads the Sun Belt in points allowed per game (17.8) and yards allowed per game (302.8) even though they've played two Power Five conference programs with a combined record of 9-1.
Senior quarterback
Taylor Lamb has led App State's offense by throwing for 994 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions through four games. The Mountaineers are looking for increased production in the running game, especially with the improved health of veteran backs
Jalin Moore and
Terrence Upshaw.
The team's leading rusher for three straight games, Upshaw has 249 yards with a per-carry average of 5.4 yards this season.
"We have to get it going," Satterfield said. "In the four games we've played, I think Georgia is one of the best defenses in the country and has proven that week in and week out. Wake Forest's defense is a really good defense as well, and Texas State is one of the better run defenses in the country.
"We still need to do a better job running the football in order to control the football game. No doubt about it, we've done some things in the last week that I think will help us."
Arkansas ran 77 plays last weekend and limited New Mexico State's high-powered offense to 52, including 14 rushes that netted 11 yards. Senior back Larry Rose III, who has 397 rushing yards this season, ranks third among active FBS players with 4,015 career rushing yards and leads active FBS backs with a career average of 111.5 rushing yards per game.
Rogers' primary target through the air as a senior has been 6-foot-6 receiver and Rock Hill, S.C., native Jaleel Scott, who has 35 catches for 543 yards and five touchdowns. Izaiah Lottie's nine catches have gained 228 yards and resulted in four touchdowns.
Applying pressure on Rogers, who releases the ball quickly, is one key for an App State front seven that includes linemen
Myquon Stout,
Tee Sims and
Caleb Fuller. A secondary led by
Clifton Duck,
Tae Hayes,
A.J. Howard and
Desmond Franklin has helped the Mountaineers intercept three passes in 2017 after their stingy 3-4 defense totaled 20 picks in 2016.
"Our last three games have all been against 3-4 defenses, so there's some carryover for us going into that," New Mexico State coach Doug Martin said. "I think Appalachian State's defense has tremendous team speed all throughout the front. They all run really well. They're not as big as other teams we play against, but they more than make up for that with their speed, and I think they'd rather have speed than size with what they do.
"They do a really good job of disguising things and confusing quarterbacks. It looks to me like all the quarterbacks they've played have not been sure of what coverages they're looking at. They're a really well-coached football team."
