POSTGAME NOTES: No. 25 App State 48, Troy 13
With the win, App State will play host to Louisiana in the Sun Belt Championship Game for the second straight year. Last season, App State claimed the Sun Belt title with a 30-19 victory in Boone.
With two games remaining, App State has tied the Sun Belt record for single-season wins and is responsible for three of the four 11-win seasons in league history. The others are 2015 App State (11-2), 2017 Troy (11-2) and 2018 App State (11-2).
Finishing with a 6-0 road record in 2019, App State has clinched its first perfect road record since the 1995 team had six road victories (including one at Wake Forest) during a 12-0 start. That team lost to Stephen F. Austin at home in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
The 2019 and 1995 teams are the only ones in school history with 11 regular-season wins.
Before 1995, the last App State team to go unbeaten on the road was the 1950 team that was 5-0 with a pair of postseason, neutral site "bowl" losses. The Mountaineers were also unbeaten and untied on the road in 1947 (5-0), 1938 (4-0) and 1937 (4-0).
Since the 2015 season began, App State is No. 5 nationally in win percentage (81.3) and tied for No. 5 in total wins with its 52-12 record. The win total trails only Clemson (66-4), Alabama (65-5), Ohio State (59-6) and Oklahoma (55-9). Georgia has a 52-14 record heading into its game at Georgia Tech on Saturday, and Wisconsin is 51-14 in advance of its game at Minnesota.
Since App State joined the Sun Belt in 2014, the only other FBS teams to complete a season with a 6-0 road record are Western Michigan (2016 with wins at Northwestern and Illinois), Bowling Green (2015 with wins at Maryland and Purdue) and Marshall (2014).
App State leads the nation with six road wins this season. LSU and Louisiana are both 5-0 with Saturday home games, followed by three teams at 4-0 (Clemson, Ohio State, Baylor) and two teams at 3-0 (Alabama, Georgia).
Since moving up to the FBS level in 2014, App State is 25-11 on the road, putting the program in a tie for second place nationally with Clemson and Oklahoma behind only Boise State, which got its 26th road win in that span with a victory Friday at Colorado State. Ohio State has 24 going into its Saturday game at Michigan.
App State's current road winning streak of eight games ranks second nationally to Clemson's 11. The Tigers play at South Carolina on Saturday, and Alabama has won seven straight road games heading into its game at Auburn on Saturday.
In 24 Sun Belt road games since joining the league, App State is 20-4.
App State is 41-7 in league play since joining the Sun Belt in 2014. It is 41-5 in its last 46 league games (after an 0-2 start) and 42-5 in its last 47 games against Sun Belt teams — counting the inaugural Sun Belt Championship Game against Louisiana in 2018.
Going back to its first FBS season, when App State started a season-ending win streak of six games with a victory against Troy, the Mountaineers are 58-12 in their last 70 games.
App State's 5-3 series record against Troy includes a 4-1 record in Sun Belt matchups.
OFFENSE
With 82 rushing yards,
Darrynton Evans increased his career total to 2,654 rushing yards and moved into the top 10 in school history. He's 20 yards behind ninth-place Devon Moore.
Zac Thomas threw for a career-high 326 yards, topping his previous high of 295 from a 2018 win at Charlotte. He also set a career high with 28 completions, three more than a total he had posted three previous times.
Thomas Hennigan recorded career highs in receptions and receiving yards by halftime in an 11-catch, 140-yard effort. His previous highs were seven catches (against ETSU in the 2019 opener) and 99 receiving yards (in the regular-season finale against Louisiana in 2017). Hennigan went into halftime Saturday with nine catches for 116 yards.
Left tackle
Victor Johnson played in his 50th career game, joining fellow fifth-year seniors
Josh Thomas (54) and
Akeem Davis-Gaither (53) with that distinction.
Graduate transfer
Keishawn Watson made his first career start at receiver and had two catches for 20 yards.
Jalen Virgil tied his career high of five catches, accomplished two other times.
Daetrich Harrington, who had missed the last four games with an injury, returned to the lineup and gained 5 yards on his first carry. He had five carries for 26 yards, including a 15-yard run.
Malik Williams matched his career high of two TD catches, set previously in the 2018 opener at Penn State.
DEFENSE
Against Troy's pass-oriented offense,
Nick Hampton (outside linebacker) and nickel back
Nicholas Ross made their first career starts. Hampton made a career-high eight tackles, had a career-high 2.0 tackles for loss and also put up two QB hurries.
Desmond Franklin came up with his eighth career interception, and he has 205 return yards on those eight picks for a 25.6 average.
Desmond Franklin set a career high with four PBUs in addition to his one interception.
App State held Troy to 35 rushing yards, meaning it has allowed 617 rushing yards in its last seven wins. That's an average of 88.1 rushing yards per game in that stretch.
Troy's 339 yards of total offense rank as the team's second-lowest total this season, and Kaleb Barker was held without a TD pass for just the second time this season.
Graduate transfer
Willie Edwards recorded the first interception of his App State career.
Junior safety
Jeremy Level, who has dealt with numerous injuries at App State, made his first career game appearance in the fourth quarter and recorded a tackle on his first defensive snap. He finished with two tackles.
For the fourth time in the Mountaineers' last six Sun Belt games, a team voluntarily replaced its starting quarterback for a non-injury reason against App State. That has occurred this season against ULM, South Alabama, Georgia State and Troy.
SPECIAL TEAMS
App State had 10 straight third-down conversions before punting for the first time with less than six minutes left in the third quarter, and
Mike Price downed
Xavier Subotsch's 53-yard punt at the 4.
Chandler Staton's school- and Sun Belt-record streak of consecutive PAT makes reached 148 before ending Friday.
