BOONE, N.C. — Moving forward from its first win as a ranked FBS team, App State will attempt to remain atop the Sun Belt Conference standings when it plays at South Alabama on Saturday.
Kickoff for the ESPNU game is scheduled for noon ET (or 11 a.m. CT).
App State is 2-0 on the road this season with wins at North Carolina and Louisiana. South Alabama prevailed in its 2019 opener at home, winning 37-14 against Jackson State, and its last home game was a 20-17, two-overtime loss to Georgia Southern.
Here's a closer look at how App State's defense potentially matches up against South Alabama's offense:
App State Defense vs. South Alabama Offense
Not only does App State lead Sun Belt teams in points per game in league play, the Mountaineers rank first at 17.0 points allowed per game against Sun Belt competition. They've allowed seven points apiece in back-to-back wins against Louisiana, which was averaging 44.3 points per game, and ULM, which was scoring 30.3 per game.
ULM ran only 56 offensive plays, and 14 defenders had more than one tackle, led by
Noel Cook's eight and
Desmond Franklin's six.
Josh Thomas had a 37-yard return of a fumble forced by
George Blackstock, who had been double-teamed on the play, while
Jordan Fehr and
Shaun Jolly both made leaping interceptions.
"We did a nice job on defense, especially on third downs of getting off the field," App State head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "Letting them score on the first drive of the game, we've done that three times now, and we need to do better. We need to come out with better focus and energy on the defensive side of the ball and get off the field."
The Mountaineers will look to continue their stingy ways against a South Alabama offense that's averaging 16.3 points, 158.7 rushing yards and 153.9 passing yards a game. The Jaguars have three offensive standouts in running back Tra Minter, quarterback Cephus Johnson and receiver Kawaan Baker.
Baker leads the team with 394 receiving yards, and Minter's 563 rushing yards rank third in the Sun Belt. He's touched the ball frequently with 88 carries, a team-high 25 catches, 13 kickoff returns and eight punt returns to account for 1,025 all-purpose yards — the best total in the league with a per-game average of 146.4 that ranks second behind
Darrynton Evans' 158.5
Johnson, whom Drinkwitz said he recruiting during his time as NC State's offensive coordinator, has completed 53.3 percent of his passes for 891 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. He had touchdown passes of 75 and 60 yards on deep throws in the narrow loss to Georgia Southern.
Johnson wears No. 2, just like his favorite player: Cam Newton, whom Drinkwitz worked with at Auburn.
"I recruited him, recruited the Mobile area when I was at North Carolina State," Drinkwitz said. "I know Cephus, and he's got an outstanding family. Works extremely hard. Good player. He does a nice job with his feet. He can create and extend plays, much like the previous two quarterbacks that we've seen. He does throw a nice deep ball."
