ATLANTA, Ga. — On the road again.
Moving forward from an exhilarating nonconference win at South Carolina, App State (8-1,4-1) resumes its Sun Belt schedule with a game at Georgia State (6-3, 3-2) on Saturday night.
The matchup at Georgia State Stadium begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on ESPNU, giving the Mountaineers four straight national television appearances.
"We've got a very good Georgia State team, a very difficult test on the road, a night game on television," first-year App State head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "We know we're going to get their best shot, and we've got to have our best stuff. Offensively, they're one of the best offenses in the conference and one of the best offenses in the country."
One game ahead of Georgia State and Georgia Southern in the East Division standings, App State looks to continue its run of road success. Since the Mountaineers climbed to the FBS level in 2014, they are tied for fourth place nationally behind only Clemson, Oklahoma and Boise State with 23 road victories.
There are road wins this season at North Carolina, Louisiana, South Alabama and South Carolina, with the two league wins improving App State's record in Sun Belt road games to 18-4. The 20-15 victory at South Carolina helped App State climb to No. 24 in the Amway Coaches Poll and appear for the first time in the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 25.
"You acknowledge the moment in time to be the first team in the Sun Belt and be the first time ranked here; hopefully for us this is not the last and is just the first," Drinkwitz said. "Just like we told them after the Georgia Southern game, you have to forget it and drive on. That's what we have to do here."
While the CFP ranking marks another milestone for a program that's accomplished plenty of firsts, it followed a nonconference win. The trip to Atlanta, unlike Columbia, contributes to the pursuit of a fourth straight Sun Belt title.
App State's league-leading defense faces a league-leading and highly ranked rushing offense from Georgia State, which is expected to replace injured quarterback Dan Ellington with 6-foot-5 true freshman Cornelious Brown. Nonetheless, running back Tra Barnett leads the Sun Belt in rushing yards.
With four games in which they've allowed seven points or less, App State shares the national lead with five Power Five programs. The Mountaineers also rank first or second nationally in kick return average (No. 1 at 30.53), blocked kicks (T-No. 1 with five), fourth-down conversion percentage (No. 1 at 88.9) and fewest turnovers (T-No. 2 at five).
With the defense playing well and special teams creating good field position, App State could afford to pick its spots offensively rather than show all-out aggressiveness against the Gamecocks.
Darrynton Evans' 41-yard kickoff return set up the first of two field goals from
Chandler Staton, who followed a 40-yard kick with a season-long conversion of 47 yards, and
Jalen Virgil's 57-yard kickoff return set up the touchdown that pushed the Mountaineers ahead 20-9 in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers hold a 5-0 lead in the series against Georgia State, including a 31-10 win in their first visit to Georgia State Stadium in 2017 and a 45-17 home victory last season. Both teams have a road win against an SEC team this season, as the Panthers opened the year with a 38-30 victory against Tennessee.
