TROY, Ala. — A record-breaking regular season concludes with a chance to clinch a return trip to The Rock.
At No. 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 22 in the other two Top 25 polls, league-leading App State (10-1, 6-1) plays at Troy (5-6, 3-4) on Friday at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT).
The Mountaineers already have secured an East Division title and a spot in the Sun Belt Championship Game on Dec. 7 against West Division winner Louisiana (9-2, 6-1). Thanks to its head-to-head win in Lafayette, App State earns the right to host the title-game rematch with a victory at Troy OR a Louisiana home loss to ULM on Saturday.
That's why another 1-0 mindset is so critical on the eve of the postseason.
"We talk about not done yet," App State head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "Yet is a powerful word. There's more still to occur, and we're not there yet. And so the journey is not over yet. We're still focused on what we need to do, which is to be 1-0 to finish up with homefield advantage."
Playing its first Friday game since the memorable Halloween night home win against Wofford in 2008, App State is now pursuing conference titles and bowl bids at the FBS level.
The Mountaineers' last visit to Troy occurred in 2016, when a late touchdown propelled the Trojans to a 28-24 victory that led to them being ranked for one week.
The 2018 App State team became the second Sun Belt team to ever receive a Top 25 ranking, and this year's App State team will be playing its sixth game with a ranking in the Amway Coaches Poll.
The Mountaineers have gained national notoriety with the help of a 5-0 road record that includes victories against South Carolina (No. 35 in ESPN's FPI), nine-win Louisiana (No. 36 in ESPN's FPI) and North Carolina (No. 44 in ESPN's FPI).
Of the four Group of Five conference teams in the College Football Playoff rankings — SMU dropped out because of a league loss to Navy — App State is the only one with two wins over P5 teams, two wins over ESPN FPI Top 40 teams and three road wins over ESPN FPI Top 50 teams.
To complete an unbeaten road season, the Mountaineers must contend with a high-scoring Troy offense led by quarterback Kaleb Barker, who missed the Trojans' 2018 visit to Boone because of a knee injury. Barker has thrown 30 touchdown passes (sixth nationally) and passed for at least 330 yards in six games this season.
Troy had won two straight games, beating Georgia Southern 49-28 and Texas State 63-27, before losing 53-3 at Louisiana last weekend.
App State has a high-powered offense of its own, and the Mountaineers are among the nation's top teams because of their balance. They are one of seven FBS teams and just two G5 teams (along with Louisiana) to rank in the Top 20 nationally in both scoring offense (No. 11 at 38.1) and scoring defense (No. 19 at 19.3).
The Mountaineers already have reached double-figure wins for the fourth time in their five postseason-eligible FBS seasons. A victory Friday would assure the seniors of one more game at Kidd Brewer Stadium and match the 2015 and 2018 teams for the most single-season wins by a Sun Belt team.
"We expect to get everybody's best shot," Drinkwitz said. "Troy is a historically good program in this conference. They've got a lot of pride, they've gone through some transition, they've had player attrition, they've had injuries. But that doesn't affect that they want to beat us and they want to play well on Thanksgiving weekend. So we know we're going to need our very best. Whether they won or lost last week doesn't affect how we go about our preparation and what our mindset is in this game."
