BOONE, N.C. — Another season opener. Another highly ranked opponent.
Appalachian State begins the 2018 regular season Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. game at No. 9 Penn State in 106,572-seat Beaver Stadium. The Mountaineers' appearance in Happy Valley will be shown on the Big Ten Network.
Scott Satterfield is entering his sixth year as the head coach at his alma mater, and App State will be opening with a road game against a top-15 foe for the third consecutive year. It lost in overtime at No. 9 Tennessee in 2016 and was handed a loss at eventual national runner-up Georgia in 2017. Another eventual runner-up, Clemson, beat the Mountaineers in their first road game of 2015.
Whether or not Penn State has similar long-term potential is unknown, but head coach James Franklin and standout quarterback Trace McSorley are both back to lead a Big Ten team that went 11-2 in 2017.
"It's been a long camp for everybody, and I think everybody is ready to hit someone else," Satterfield said. "Obviously, we're playing a great team in Penn State, a top-10 team. We have great respect for their coaches and their players — how they play and how they approach the game. We're going to have to go in and play our very best if we're going to have a chance to win."
App State's only other games against Big Ten competition were both against Michigan, as the Mountaineers pulled their historic 2007 upset in front of a Big Ten Network audience and lost to the Wolverines in Appalachian's 2014 debut as an FBS program.
Returning captains
Jalin Moore and
MyQuon Stout are among the seven fifth-year seniors who were redshirting freshmen during the last trip to a Big Ten venue. Stout is entering his third year as a starter at defensive tackle, and Moore ranks second among active FBS rushers with 3,170 career yards.
Taking handoffs from new quarterback
Zac Thomas instead of
Taylor Lamb and running behind a line with two new right-side starters joining center
Noah Hannon, left guard
Ryan Neuzil and left tackle
Victor Johnson, Moore is excited about the opportunity that awaits the Mountaineers' revamped offense.
A deep group of pass-catching threats in
Thomas Hennigan,
Corey Sutton,
Malik Williams,
Jalen Virgil,
Dominique Heath, versatile athlete
Darrynton Evans and tight end
Collin Reed gives Thomas options as App State faces a Penn State defense with only two returning starters from last year.
"It's just all about getting that feel," Moore said. "We just need that feel again. It's football, and you lose people. Everybody loses some and gets some new guys. You just have to get that feeling of a unit. Once you get that, it's going back to App State Football and playing how we know how to play."
App State is known for its productive, run-first approach. Penn State sent running back Saquon Barkley to the NFL as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft, but the Nittany Lions were even more prolific in the passing game with McSorley throwing for 274.6 yards per game as a junior. He had 28 touchdown passes and 11 touchdown runs.
Nine of the 11 projected starters on App State's defense, including the entire secondary of
Clifton Duck,
Tae Hayes,
Josh Thomas and
Desmond Franklin, started at least one game last season. In addition to Hayes and Stout, defensive end
Okon Godwin and inside linebacker
Anthony Flory are senior starters on the defensive side.
"We don't have many seniors on this team, just 12, with a bunch of young guys, but everybody's looking to the leadership of those seniors, and I've been impressed with that and how they've come to work every single day," Satterfield said. "That's the main thing. If we continue to do that, we'll improve every single day."
