MONROE, La. — Buoyed by a goal-line stand late in the first half, Appalachian State University football shook off a sluggish start to rout UL Monroe, 59-14, on Saturday evening at Malone Stadium.
The victory sets up a mammoth Sun Belt Conference matchup between Appalachian State (5-1, 2-0 Sun Belt) and longtime rival Georgia Southern (5-1, 3-0 Sun Belt) on Thursday night at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C. The showdown kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPNU.
Unlike its previous three wins this season, Appalachian State did not dominate from the outset on Saturday. Buoyed by a strong air attack, UL Monroe (1-5, 0-2 Sun Belt) led 7-0 less than four minutes into the game, retook a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter and appeared poised to regain the advantage again when it drove all the way to the Appalachian four yard line, trailing 17-10, with less than six minutes to go before halftime.
However, on fourth-and-two from the Mountaineers' four, ULM chose to not settle for a game-tying field goal. That proved to be an ill-fated decision for the Warhawks, as
Devan Stringer and
Alex Gray met running back Kaylon Watson in the backfield for a one-yard loss and Appalachian maintained its three-point lead.
The stop proved to be the turning point in the game, as Appalachian scored the final 42 points of the game to turn the close game into a romp.
The post-goal-line-stand onslaught began with a six-play, 95-yard touchdown drive immediately following the stop. A career-long 78-yard rush by quarterback
Taylor Lamb got the Mountaineers out of the shadow of their own goalpost and three plays later he scored from 13 yards out to give App State a 24-14 halftime lead.
The Mountaineers saved their customary first-half dominance for after the break on Saturday. Appalachian outgained ULM, 350-127, and outscored the Warhawks, 35-0, in the second half to finish off the rout.
In all, the Mountaineers held a 654-350 edge in total yardage, including a 379-159 advantage on the ground. The 654 yards were App State's most ever in 10 all-time Sun Belt games.
Lamb paced Appalachian State's 654-yard offensive output with 364 total yards (261 passing, 103 rushing) and was responsible for four Mountaineer touchdowns (including passes of 43, 58 and 37 yards to seniors
Malachi Jones,
Bobo Beathard and
Simms McElfresh).
Marcus Cox led all rushers with 122 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries (5.3 avg.). The 100-yard rushing performance was the junior's 11th in the last 13 games and 19th in 30 career contests.
Defensively, sophomore linebacker
Eric Boggs led the Mountaineers with 11 tackles and two interceptions. With the first two interceptions of his career, Boggs became the first Appalachian linebacker to pick off multiple passes in a game since teammate
John Law had two interceptions at Elon on Sept. 21, 2013.
The victory was Appalachian State's 11th in its past 12 games overall and its eighth-straight in Sun Belt action. The Mountaineers also won for the sixth time in its last seven road tilts.
NOTES: Appalachian State had two 100-yard rushers for the fourth time in its last 13 games … the win was the Mountaineers' third-straight over an opponent from the state of Louisiana … prior to last season's 31-29 win over ULM, Appalachian was 0-8 all-time against opponents from Louisiana … it was also the Mountaineers' second-straight win in Louisiana … prior to its win at UL Lafayette on Nov. 22 of last season, App State was 0-6 in games played in the Bayou State.
