COLUMBIA, S.C. — App State Football is gone to Carolina — again.
Seven weeks after visiting Chapel Hill and recording their first Power Five conference win as an FBS program thanks to a 34-31 victory at North Carolina, the Mountaineers (7-1) head to Columbia to face South Carolina (4-5) in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Kickoff of the ESPN2 game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
At 4-1 in a league in which the top four teams have one conference loss apiece, App State's goals of winning the Sun Belt title and a bowl game remain within reach. It takes a mid-November break from its league schedule to face a South Carolina team that made a splash with a two-overtime road upset of Georgia on Oct. 12.
"We've got a great challenge ahead of us," App State head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "Obviously, (it's) a night game on the road with a tremendous SEC opponent who's got multiple blue-chip recruits, great scheme, great coaches, beat the No. 2 team at the time in Georgia. So it's going to be a tremendous challenge for our guys and a great game for us to refocus. A great opponent for us to refocus."
Coached by Will Muschamp, the Gamecocks won 20-17 at Georgia a month ago. They then dropped back-to-back games to Florida and Tennessee before winning 24-7 last weekend against Vanderbilt. Their other losses this season came against North Carolina (in Week 1, before Ryan Hilinski replaced an injured Jake Bentley as the starting quarterback), Alabama and Missouri.
It will be App State's 10th all-time meeting with South Carolina and the first one since 1988, before the Gamecocks were in the SEC and when the Mountaineers were in the FCS-level Southern Conference. The Mountaineers' lone win in the series occurred in 1975, when Robby Price's go-ahead touchdown pass to Donnie Holt gave them a fourth-quarter lead in a 39-34 victory.
That's App State's only win against a program currently in the SEC, and now the Mountaineers are seeking their second win over a Power Five "Carolina" in 2019. The game follows App State's first loss of the season, a 24-21 defeat on a Thursday night when the Mountaineers took the field with a 7-0 record.
"We're trying to find the best plan that we can to be 1-0 this week," Drinkwitz said. "The only rule I allowed myself to break was I was ticked off about that game for 48 hours instead of 24 hours. But we're moving on now, ready to rock and roll."
Added center
Noah Hannon, who is one of five App State starters from South Carolina: "We can't let one loss define our season."
The Mountaineers are 17-3 in games started by quarterback
Zac Thomas, the successor to 2014-17 starter Taylor Lamb, who is now an offensive graduate assistant for South Carolina. Thomas received an invitation to the prestigious Manning Passing Academy this summer and finished second in the passing skills competition behind Bentley, who suffered a season-ending foot injury at the end of South Carolina's 24-20 loss to UNC on Aug. 31.
A prep All-American from California, Hilinski has thrown 10 touchdown passes with just three interceptions behind a talented offensive line, and the Gamecocks have several skill position standouts in 6-foot-3 receiver Bryan Edwards (62 catches for 726 yards and five touchdowns), running back Rico Dowdle (457 yards despite missing the last two games) and Tavien Feaster (625 rushing yards as a graduate transfer from Clemson).
A South Carolina defense led by 6-6, 310-pound defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw will attempt to slow down an App State team that ranks 12th nationally at 38.5 points per game and No. 15 at 232.6 rushing yards per game. Junior receivers
Thomas Hennigan,
Malik Williams and
Corey Sutton are all averaging more than 54 yards per game as targets for Thomas.
"We're really excited about what the season has brought," senior tight end
Collin Reed said, "and what it has to bring."
