BOONE, N.C. — Jalin Moore wasn't the only person seeking more production from Appalachian State's running game.
App State's coaches wanted more. Moore was aware that fans did, too.
The Mountaineers rushed for 350 yards in their 45-31 homecoming victory against New Mexico State on Saturday, with Moore totaling 241 yards and two touchdowns on just 19 carries.
"We've been waiting on this breakout game, not only us, but a lot of people on the outside," Moore said. "It just feels great to give everybody what they've been waiting for."
Coming off a 1,402-yard sophomore season in which he was named the Sun Belt Conference's offensive player of the year, Moore had 47 rushes for 136 yards in App State's first four games of 2017. He had four gains Saturday of at least 29 yards, including a 41-yard rush that helped the Mountaineers tie the game at 31-all in the fourth quarter and a 56-yard touchdown with 2:12 remaining.
Moore is now the only active FBS back with three career games of at least 240 rushing yards, as he gained 244 at Idaho in 2015 and a career-high 257 at Akron last season.
"I was a little bit more persistent in calling the runs even though we weren't playing great at times," App State head coach
Scott Satterfield said. "Stay with it; stick with it — I thought I had abandoned it a little throughout the season.
"We went back and studied the first four games this year and the first four of last year. Some of our outside zones, there were 40 less this year, so that's the guy calling the plays. We just wanted to stick with it. Sometimes those plays just take a little bit of time where you've got to let it marinate a little bit and let the running back get a feel for the blocking. That's what we did, and I think it paid off in the fourth quarter."
For each of the last three years, App State has ranked in the top 20 nationally in rushing offense and sacks allowed.
Terrence Upshaw matched Moore with two touchdowns as the Mountaineers returned to action following a bye week, and quarterback
Taylor Lamb had a 38-yard touchdown as part of a six-carry, 79-yard performance.
The right side of the offensive line features senior tackle
Beau Nunn, who made his 33rd career start, and senior guard
Colby Gossett, who has made 38 consecutive starts. Sophomore left tackle
Victor Johnson has made 18 straight starts,
Noah Hannon is starting at center as a true freshman and two players (
Tobias Edge-Campbell,
Chandler Greer) are playing meaningful snaps at left guard.
All five linemen, tight end
Levi Duffield and two receivers made the effort to follow Moore downfield and help push the pile at the end of a 29-yard run Saturday. On Moore's game-sealing touchdown, with Nunn and Johnson to the left in an unbalanced alignment, Moore cut inside blocks from the two tackles and reached the left sideline with receiver
Jalen Virgil creating an open lane to the end zone.
In the fourth quarter alone, the Mountaineers gained 179 yards on 15 rushes and scored 28 points.
"Early in the week, the coaches were telling us it's not going the way we want it to go, but we just have to keep running, keep running," Moore said. "You think about it, when it doesn't work, you try to go away from it, but the type of team we are, if it's not working, we're going to keep doing it. That extra week we had off, we really put in the work with the run game, and that bye weekend helped us a lot."
