BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State steps away from its Sun Belt Conference schedule to play at UMass on Saturday.
Kickoff in 17,000-seat McGuirk Alumni Stadium is at 3:30 p.m., and the Eleven Sports network broadcast of the game is available on DIRECTV 623, Spectrum SD 291 and Spectrum HD 884.
App State (5-2) is a first-place team with a 4-0 league record, and UMass (1-6) is an FBS Independent.
Here's a closer look at the Minutemen:
App State has overcome a second-half deficit in all four of its Sun Belt victories. UMass has ended up on the wrong end of several close games.
Before leading 48-17 at halftime of a 55-20 victory against Georgia Southern last weekend, the Minutemen had an 0-6 start with no loss by more than 10 points. They lost 17-13 at Tennessee before falling 58-50 against Ohio on Sept. 30.
"It's a very scary team at this point in the season," App State head coach
Scott Satterfield.
After the Ohio game, UMass didn't play again until 21 days later because it had a bye Oct. 7 and the Oct. 14 game with South Florida was postponed.
With
Tee Sims and
Rashaad Townes leading the team in sacks, App State's fast and aggressive defense will face a tough test in a UMass offense that averages 449.3 yards per game, including 311.4 through the air. Dual-threat quarterback Ross Comis, who made his first start of the season last weekend, shares the job with left-handed Andrew Ford, who began his college career at Virginia Tech.
Ford is averaging 268.6 passing yards per game with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. Comis completed 12 of his 16 passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns against Georgia Southern.
Tight end Adam Breneman, a highly regarded pro prospect who began his career at Penn State, leads the Minutemen with 43 catches for 581 yards. He is a 6-foot-5, 255-pound graduate student.
Running behind an offensive line with starters who are all at least 6-4 and weigh between 300 and 350 pounds, 215-pound back Marquis Young is averaging 65.4 rushing yards per game.
Defensively, the Minutemen's leading tackler is linebacker Bryton Barr, a graduate student who was at Towson from 2012-16. UMass allows 31.0 points, 188.3 rushing yards and 204.0 passing yards per game heading into the matchup with an App State offense that put up 549 yards last weekend.
