BOONE, N.C. — Behind a slew of big plays in all three phases of the game, Appalachian State University football earned a workman-like 31-13 homecoming victory over Wyoming on Saturday at water-logged Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Appalachian State (3-1) got all the scoring it would need in the first 4:05 of the ballgame, as it took a 14-0 lead on
Marcus Cox's 59-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage and
Latrell Gibbs' 91-yard interception return seven snaps later.
However, the Mountaineers' biggest play of the game likely came on a six-yard run by their kicker with less than 30 seconds to go in the first half.
Despite the Mountaineers' early 14-0 advantage, Wyoming dominated the action for much of the first half, holding the ball for 21:58 and cutting App State's lead to 14-7 on a two-yard touchdown run by Brian Hill early in the second period.
The Cowboys were threatening to tie the ballgame late in the second quarter when they took over deep in Appalachian territory after an interception. However, on fourth-and-one from the Mountaineers' 20 yard line, linebacker
Osvaldo Sombo recovered a fumble by Wyoming quarterback Cameron Coffman to stall the scoring threat.
Thanks primarily to a 38-yard pass from
Taylor Lamb to
Shaedon Meadors, Appalachian State drove 54 yards in three plays to the Wyoming 24-yard line but appeared to settle for a field goal when
Zach Matics lined up for a field goal on fourth-and-five with 24 seconds to go in the half.
However, after a timeout, Appalachian rolled the dice and came away with perhaps its biggest play of the season to date.
Still lined up for a field goal, holder
Bentlee Critcher took the snap and rolled right. He was stopped in the backfield by two Wyoming defenders but as he was going to the ground, he tossed an option pitch to Matics, who picked up six yards for the first down on the perfectly executed fake field goal.
On the very next play, the gamble paid dividends, as Lamb threw a beautiful pass to
Simms McElfresh in the corner of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown that gave the Mountaineers a commanding 21-7 halftime lead.
After a taxing first half, it was all Appalachian State after the break. The Mountaineers stretched their advantage to 28-7 on Lamb's nine-yard touchdown run on its first possession of the second half and made it 31-7 on Matics' career-long 51-yard field goal with 3:06 to go in the ballgame. Wyoming (0-5) scored the final points of the game on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Coffman to Josh Tapscott with 44 seconds remaining but botched the snap on the extra-point attempt to account for the final margin.
While Appalachian controlled the scoreboard from the outset, Wyoming held the statistical advantage throughout the afternoon. The Cowboys outgained the Mountaineers, 373-314, including a 155-65 advantage through the air, but the most glaring edges came in time of possession (37:54-22:06) and total plays (70-46). App State ran fewer than 50 plays in a contest for the first time since it had just 44 snaps in its 16-15 victory over Furman on Oct. 12, 2002 (the famous “Miracle on the Mountain” game).
However, the Mountaineers made the most of their 46 snaps, averaging 6.8 yards per play (compared to 5.3 for Wyoming) and picking up 10 yards or more seven times.
As has been the case for much of the last two-plus seasons, Cox led the way for Appalachian State, rushing for a season-high 178 yards on just 15 carries (11.9 avg.). The 100-yard effort was his seventh-straight and 18th in 28 career games. In the process, the junior became the sixth student-athlete in school history to reach the 3,000-yard rushing plateau, upping his career total to 3,154 yards.
Appalachian State's defense also proved to be opportunistic with three takeaways, four sacks (for 43 yards) and 10 tackles for loss (for 58 yards). The defense's big-play proficiency overcame a 208-yard effort on the ground by Hill, who became the first player to rush for 200 yards against the Mountaineers since Chattanooga's Eldra Buckley went for 210 yards all the way back on Oct. 29, 2005.
Linebacker
John Law led the way defensively with 13 tackles, two-and-a-half tackles for loss and a sack. Gibbs had five stops to go along with his 91-yard interception return, which was the fifth-longest in school history and the first INT return for a touchdown by a Mountaineer since
Doug Middleton had a 52-yard return for a score against Campbell on Sept. 6 of last season. Gibbs' interception was his fourth in four games this season.
Appalachian State opens Sun Belt Conference play next Saturday when it travels Atlanta to face Georgia State (1-3). Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at the Georgia Dome.
NOTES: A steady, and sometimes heavy, rain fell throughout the game as part of a deluge that had dumped 15-plus inches of rain on the High Country over the past 10 days ... Appalachian State moved to 39-13-2 all-time in homecoming games played at Kidd Brewer Stadium but snapped a two-game skid in homecoming contests ... the Mountaineers scored on their first offensive play for the third time in their last 11 games ... Cox's seven-straight 100-yard rushing games are two shy of the school record of nine-straight compiled by John Settle in 1986 ... his 18-career 100-yard rushing efforts are tied for fourth in program history with Armanti Edwards (2006-09) ... Settle holds the school record with 22 rushing games in his career (1983-86) ... Appalachian won for the ninth time in 10 games and claimed its fifth-straight home victory ... the game was App State's first-ever non-conference home game versus an NCAA Division I FBS opponent ... the win was the Mountaineers' first-ever over an opponent from the Mountain West Conference.
