BOONE, N.C. — No. 20 App State takes an unbeaten overall and league record into a Sun Belt Conference showdown with Georgia Southern on Thursday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Black Thursday game on Halloween night is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. and be shown on ESPNU. Fans are encouraged to wear black, and those dressing up for Halloween are advised that masks and weapons (real or imitation) are prohibited.
The overall start for App State (7-0, 4-0) is the best for a Sun Belt team in the league's history. Georgia Southern (4-3, 2-1) currently has losses to a pair of unbeaten ranked teams in No. 1 LSU (55-3) and No. 13 Minnesota, which scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left in its 35-32 win. In back-to-back games earlier this month, the Eagles won in two overtimes against South Alabama (20-17) and three overtimes against Coastal Carolina (30-27).
Here's a closer look at how App State's offense potentially matches up against Georgia Southern's defense.
App State Offense vs. Georgia Southern's Defense
It's no secret that a game-ending injury to quarterback
Zac Thomas on the third play of last year's meeting in Statesboro, Ga., contributed to App State's offensive struggles in a 34-14 loss.
Jacob Huesman led the Mountaineers to a road win in their next game. Since Thomas returned to the lineup at Texas State a week after that, App State has added 12 more wins without a loss.
Facing a Georgia Southern team that allows 28.0 points, 133.0 rushing yards and 209.3 passing yards per game, App State will need to be sharper offensively than it was during a 30-3 victory at South Alabama last weekend.
While the Mountaineers did finish the game with 313 rushing yards, they had 23 rushes for 86 yards at the half, and South Alabama's defense helped limit standout running back
Darrynton Evans to 2.4 yards per carry during the game.
They were a few missed blocking assignments, dropped passes, inaccurately thrown balls and near interceptions that kept App State from extending drives, posting a completion of longer than 19 yards or turning more red zone trips into touchdowns.
"We will work to get that corrected this week," head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "I didn't do a good enough job getting us the ability to stay ahead in the chains and run the football, which we've been able to do. And we didn't convert on third downs, so that's a me issue. So we'll get it fixed."
In limiting opponents to 133.0 rushing yards per game, an average that ranks 36th nationally and first in the Sun Belt, Georgia Southern has benefited from the work of players such as defensive end Raymond Johnson III (24 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss), linebacker Rashad Byrd (team-leading 51 tackles) and linebacker Reynard Ellis (48 stops).
Senior cornerback Kindle Vildor was named the league's preseason defensive player of the year following a junior year in which he picked off four passes, including two against App State, and fellow cornerback Monquavion Brinson was also a preseason first-team All-Sun Belt choice.
Scot Sloan is in his second year as the coordinator following his departure from App State.
"They do a great job of flattening out the ball, which means they clog up the interior, flatten the ball and let their edge players make the tackles," Drinkwitz said. "So you've got to try to puncture the defense at some point. They have great coverage variation, so you're not able to get the ball over top of them. And they've done a nice job with their defensive scheme. They play extremely hard. They tackle well. They've got good athletes."
