BOONE, N.C. — The Sun Belt Conference's reigning division champions will meet Wednesday in a rematch of the league's inaugural title game.
Appalachian State (4-0, 1-0) heads to Louisiana to face the Ragin' Cajuns (4-1, 1-0) in a midweek ESPN2 game that will begin at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT).
The Mountaineers are one of four Group of Five conference teams that still have an unbeaten record, and Louisiana has won its last four games by an average of 31.3 points since losing 38-28 against Mississippi State in the Superdome to open the season.
Here's a closer look at how App State's offense potentially matches up against Louisiana's defense:
App State Offense vs. Louisiana Defense
Junior quarterback
Zac Thomas is coming off the third-most accurate passing performance of his career, as he completed 19 of 23 passes for 246 yards in a 56-37 win against Coastal Carolina. He had 223 yards with 15 completions in 17 attempts at halftime.
The Mountaineers showed their balance with three players (
Thomas Hennigan,
Malik Williams and
Corey Sutton) posting at least 75 receiving yards and the three primary running backs (
Darrynton Evans,
Daetrich Harrington and
Marcus Williams Jr.) combining for five rushing touchdowns. Senior tight end
Collin Reed chipped in with a receiving touchdown.
Malik Williams has three straight games with at least 70 receiving yards after going through his first two seasons with a single-game high of 68. Hennigan's ability to make big plays in traffic — heading into an off weekend, he was third in the country with eight contested catches — has been another bright spot.
"For us, we're big on contact catches — making catches in collisions and with contact," head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said.
Ranked fifth nationally at 47.0 points per game, the Mountaineers are preparing for a Louisiana defense that has allowed an average of 186.6 passing yards and 158.6 rushing yards per game during the 4-1 start.
The Ragin' Cajuns currently lead the league by allowing just 21.4 points per game, a number helped by a 77-6 win against Texas Southern, and they are among the league's top two in total defense (No. 2 at 345.2 yards allowed per game), passing yards allowed per game (No. 2), pass efficiency defense (No. 1 at 106.0) and sacks (tied for No. 2 at 12 total).
App State is second in the league with six sacks allowed on offense, but Drinkwitz has talked recently about the importance of doing a better job of protecting Thomas. Pressure played a role in his one interception against Coastal Carolina, but he's also delivered throws for touchdowns or big gains while being hit this season.
"That's a point of pride for this program, and it's going to be a point of pride for our program," Drinkwitz said. "We're going to do a better job of it."
