BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State played its home opener last weekend. Saturday, it opens Sun Belt Conference play with a home game against South Alabama.
Led by first-year head coach Steve Campbell, the Jaguars are 1-0 in league play with a 41-31 win against Texas State on Sept. 15, and they lost 52-35 at Memphis last weekend. The Mountaineers are moving forward from a 72-7 victory against Gardner-Webb.
Kickoff for the homecoming game in Kidd Brewer Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be available on ESPN+.
Today, we'll look at how the offense from App State (2-1) matches up against the defense from South Alabama (1-3).
App State Offense vs. South Alabama Defense
South Alabama's aggressive defense will attempt to slow down an App State attack that leads the Sun Belt in scoring (51.7), total offense (525.7) and passing offense (282.3). At 51.7 points per game, the Mountaineers rank sixth nationally.
With App State's weapons in the running game and passing game, as well as an offensive line that has protected quarterback
Zac Thomas and opened up holes for backs such as
Jalin Moore, the Mountaineers are tough to defend because of how explosive they are in both areas.
The line helped Moore,
Darrynton Evans,
Marcus Williams Jr.,
D'Andre Hicks and
Camerun Peoples account for 404 of the team's 432 rushing yards last week, the program's highest total since 2014, and versatile sophomore
Cole Garrison contributed at several spots. Moore ran behind Garrison and tackle Vic Johnson on his career-long touchdown of 81 yards.
App State's 72-point output led the nation last weekend, and South Alabama is allowing 42.0 points per game while giving up 498.0 yards, including 292.0 through the air. It did play a difficult nonconference schedule, falling 30-26 to Louisiana Tech and 55-13 at Oklahoma State in the first two weeks.
The Jaguars' leading tackler is safety Nigel Lawrence with 41 stops, and cornerback Jalen Thompson's three interceptions include a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown when Texas State was leading 31-15. South Alabama had moved ahead 34-31 when Thompson picked off a late pass and returned it 29 yards to set up the clinching touchdown.
"Defensively, they're turning people over and have one of the better corners in the league," App State head coach
Scott Satterfield said.
App State's deep receiving corps now has two players in the top 20 nationally for yards per catch, with
Dominique Heath ranking 16th at 21.86 and
Corey Sutton ranking 19th at 21.62. Heath scored on receptions of 64 and 19 yards against Gardner-Webb.
The 64-yard touchdown came on the third play from scrimmage.
"I've been waiting to break one big," Heath said, "so to get that out of the way felt real good."
