BOONE, N.C. — Forgive
Scott Satterfield if it's hard to be completely objective, but the current senior class has a special place in his heart.
Appalachian State promoted Satterfield to head coach before its FCS swan song in 2013, and 11 of the 19 players being recognized Saturday on Senior Day at Kidd Brewer Stadium arrived that same season. Together, they helped lead the Mountaineers through one of the best FCS-to-FBS transitions in college football — not that the start was particularly smooth.
"These fifth-year guys, I've been here five years and they've been here five, so they came in with me and helped us weather the storm early on and stuck with the process," Satterfield said. "I just have a tremendous amount of respect for these guys for believing in our program and believing in me as a head coach. They're all going out as winners, and hopefully Saturday we'll go out as another Sun Belt champion."
If the Mountaineers (7-4, 6-1) beat Louisiana (5-6, 4-3) on Saturday in a home finale with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff, they would share the Sun Belt championship with the winner of the 7:30 p.m. game between Arkansas State (7-3, 6-1) and Troy (9-2, 6-1). That would allow a senior class that persevered through its share of struggles to cap its college run with two straight league titles.
Of the 11 seniors who were true freshmen during a 4-8 season in 2013, only linebacker
Rashaad Townes played in the FCS era, as he started seven games that year and redshirted in 2015 because of an injury. Townes,
Taylor Lamb,
Colby Gossett,
Eric Boggs,
Devan Stringer,
Beau Nunn,
A.J. Howard and
Terrence Upshaw all made starts during the 2014 FBS debut in which App State lost five of its first six games.
Since then, the Mountaineers have a 26-3 record in Sun Belt play and a 34-9 overall record, which leads Group of Five programs during that span.
"Freshman year, you didn't know what was happening, didn't know what was coming together," Lamb said. "Some of us freshmen were thrown into the fire, and you have a 1-5 team, we're sitting there as freshmen looking for something. Our leaders did a great job of showing us the way, telling us we had a good program here and a good culture that's going to win.
"We believed in the process, and it's gotten us to this point. Now, we're trying to pass it on to those younger guys so they don't have to experience what we experienced."
Through the early lows and sustained highs, App State has benefited from the stability of having three players with starting streaks exceeding 40 games: Lamb (47), Gossett (44) and Boggs (43). It has gotten at least 36 career starts from Stringer (41), Nunn (39) and Howard, who is set to play his 50th career game, just like Lamb and Boggs.
A week after Lamb accounted for three touchdowns, Howard set up a score with a 61-yard interception return and Boggs recorded a swing-for-the-fences sack in a 31-10 win at Georgia State, the Mountaineers face a high-scoring Louisiana team that needs a victory to become bowl eligible.
The Ragin' Cajuns are 2-2 when they've scored at least 42 points this season. Two quarterbacks have been playing in recent weeks, with left-handed true freshman Levi Lewis burning his redshirt in November and rushing for 129 yards in his starting debut. He has started three of the last four games, but 217-pound junior Jordan Davis came off the bench early in a 34-24 home loss to Georgia Southern last weekend and had his second straight game with more than 200 passing yards.
Louisiana also has a talented running back in 227-pound redshirt freshman Trey Ragas, who averages 79.9 yards per game on the ground. Defensively, the Ragin' Cajuns allow 225.6 rushing yards and 265.6 passing yards per game.
"Hopefully our defense will continue to play well and we can get our ground game going like it has the last couple weeks offensively," said Satterfield, whose team has rushed for 576 yards and allowed 202 rushing yards in the last two games. "We're still going to have to hit some plays down the field. They're going to load the box up this week and try to stop the run."
App State has a 3-0 record in its series with the Ragin' Cajuns, and the Mountaineers have won the last two games by a combined score of 52-7, but Satterfield said this Louisiana team is better offensively than its predecessors.
The series history coincides with the arrival of Boggs and three other seniors who played as true freshmen in 2014. Now, they're preparing for their final home game.
"When I think back to high school and those days, all those years went slow," Boggs said. "When you think back to college, because it's been so much fun, and being with such a great team, it's really flown by."
