BOONE, N.C. — Head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz is new to App State, but meaningful rivalries aren't foreign to him.
"For me, the biggest rivalry I was ever involved in was Alma-Greenwood," Drinkwitz said with no hint of sarcasm. "Alma High School. Greenwood (in) Arkansas. That's as big as it gets."
Drinkwitz, an all-state linebacker at Alma in the early 2000s, is now seven games into his tenure as App State's head coach. The 20th-ranked Mountaineers (7-0, 4-0) resume their longstanding rivalry with former Southern Conference nemesis Georgia Southern (4-3, 2-1) in a nationally televised Sun Belt Conference matchup Thursday in Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Black Thursday game will kick off at 8 p.m. and be shown on ESPNU. Fans are encouraged to wear black, and more information regarding game day parking and events can be found by
clicking HERE.
App State leads the series 19-14-1, including 3-2 since they joined the Sun Belt together in 2014, but Georgia Southern beat the Mountaineers last year to make their first appearance as a Top 25 team a brief one.
In the 371 days since that short-handed road result — quarterback
Zac Thomas suffered a game-ending injury on the third play and a targeting penalty prevented linebacker
Jordan Fehr from playing the final three quarters — App State hasn't lost a game. It's league-record streak of 13 consecutive wins is the second-longest active streak in the country behind just Clemson (23) and Ohio State (14).
The Mountaineers still won both the Sun Belt's East Division title and the league's inaugural championship game in 2018. With Drinkwitz in Boone following FBS-level stops at Auburn, Arkansas State, Boise State and NC State, App State needs a victory against the Eagles to remain alone atop this season's Sun Belt standings.
"Auburn-Alabama is a big game. N.C. State-North Carolina is a big game. Boise State-Fresno State is a big game," Drinkwitz said. "Everywhere you go, they have those games, and it's usually because those games have championship implications. So for us, I understand the rivalry. I get it. I've gotten plenty of texts from alumni telling us how important this game is, in understanding the significance, but for our team, for us this season, it's important because it's a divisional game, and it's a game in conference.
"If we want to get to where we want to go, which is to win the Sun Belt Conference championship and a bowl game with class, integrity and academic excellence, this team stands in our way. And I don't want to make it any bigger than that. I don't want to make it any less than that. It's a big game because if we want to win a conference championship, we need to beat these guys."
App State faces a Georgia Southern team that lost nonconference games to currently unbeaten, ranked teams LSU (55-3) and Minnesota (which scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left in its 35-32 win). The Eagles lost 37-24 in their Sun Belt opener against Louisiana and responded with a two-overtime win against South Alabama and a three-overtime win against Coastal Carolina.
Georgia Southern's triple-option offense, which averages 259.9 rushing yards a game and has produced an FBS-high six different players with a 100-yard rushing game this season, matches up against an App State defense that has allowed a combined 17 points and 321 rushing yards in its three conference wins this month.
The Mountaineers also lead the Sun Belt in scoring offense, and they've rushed for more than 300 yards in each of the last two games. Through the air, quarterback
Zac Thomas has connected consistently with the likes of receivers
Thomas Hennigan,
Malik Williams and
Corey Sutton.
According to the PFF College Site, App State's receiving corps ranks No. 1 nationally by securing catches on 77.3 percent (17-for-2) of the contested opportunities, with Hennigan making the catch on 10 of 12 chances.
With rain and wind in the forecast for Thursday, it's unclear how the weather will affect strategy and execution in this rivalry showdown.
"They've played two overtime games and won both of them, so very impressed with the job that coach (Chad) Lunsford has done," Drinkwitz said. "We've got our hands full."
