BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University football dominated the action for much of the first half but Arkansas State took control after the break and came back to beat the Mountaineers, 40-27, on Thursday evening at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The loss snapped Appalachian State's 10-game Sun Belt Conference winning streak and dropped the Mountaineers (7-2, 4-1 Sun Belt) into second place in the league standings. Arkansas State (6-3, 5-0 Sun Belt) took sole possession of first place with its fifth-straight win.
Appalachian held a 239-40 yardage advantage just 1:16 into the second quarter but led only 21-14 due to two costly fumbles deep in its own territory in the first quarter — one that led to an eight-yard touchdown pass one play after the miscue and a second that was returned 19 yards for a score.
However, after the Mountaineers took the 21-14 lead early in the second period, it was all Arkansas State. The Red Wolves outgained App State, 477-226, over the final 43:44 of the game and scored 26 unanswered points before Appalachian closed out the scoring on sophomore
Taylor Lamb's career-high-tying fourth touchdown pass with 3:32 to go.
Despite not doing much offensively over the last 13-plus minutes of the second quarter, App State still led 21-17 at halftime. However, Arkansas State scored touchdowns on its first two possessions after the break and never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
Arkansas State racked up 517 total yards in all, including 309 on the ground, both easily the highest totals that Appalachian State's No. 12-ranked defense has allowed this season.
The Mountaineers finished with 465 total yards but managed just 160 after halftime.
Lamb threw for 321 of Appalachian State's 465 total yards, including touchdown strikes of 12, 29, 24 and 27 yards to
Malachi Jones,
Barrett Burns,
Dante Jones and
Montez McGuire, respectively. In the process, Lamb became the ninth student-athlete in Appalachian State history with 4,000 career passing yards, finishing the evening with 4,219.
Junior
Marcus Cox added 74 yards on the ground. With 991 rushing yards this season, Cox is just nine yards shy of becoming the first student-athlete in Appalachian State history to run for 1,000 yards as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
Defensively, senior safety
Doug Middleton led all tacklers with a career-high 11. Sophomore outside linebacker
Devan Stringer added eight stops, two-and-a-half tackles for loss, a half sack and a quarterback hurry.
Appalachian State returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 14 when it makes the long trip to Idaho for a Sun Belt Conference matchup. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.
NOTES: Prior to Thursday, Appalachian State's season high for yards allowed was 450 last Saturday versus Troy … the Mountaineers' previous season high for rushing yards allowed was 218 versus Wyoming on Oct. 3 … the Mountaineers lost a game that they led at halftime for the first time since surrendering a 21-14 halftime lead in a 35-28 loss to Chattanooga on Nov. 2, 2013 … Appalachian fell to 7-2 all-time when playing on ESPNU and 16-6 when playing on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN Classic …
Dante Jones' touchdown catch was the first of his career … the conference loss was Appalachian State's first in 398 days, dating back to a 47-21 defeat versus South Alabama on Oct. 4, 2014 … the loss also snapped Appalachian's seven-game home winning streak and six-game overall winning streak.
