BOONE, N.C. — Moving forward from a victory against North Carolina, Appalachian State is preparing for its Sun Belt Conference opener against a Coastal Carolina team with a Power Five win of its own.
App State is 3-0 in its first season under the direction of head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz, and Coastal Carolina's 3-1 start under Jamey Chadwell includes a 12-7 win at Kansas. On the same day the Mountaineers won 34-31 at UNC, the Chanticleers claimed a 66-28 victory at UMass.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Boone, and all tickets available to the general public have sold out.
Here's a closer look at how the Mountaineers' offense potentially matches up against Coastal Carolina's defense:
App State Offense vs. Coastal Carolina Defense
The Mountaineers returned 10 offensive starters from last season, when they won 23-7 at Coastal Carolina, but this will be
Zac Thomas' first start against the Chanticleers.
An injury sidelined Thomas during last year's game, and
Jacob Huesman threw a touchdown pass to
Corey Sutton while leading App State to a win in his first career start.
Darrynton Evans and
Marcus Williams Jr. both rushed for more than 100 yards and scored one touchdown in Conway.
Thomas completed 69.0 percent of his passes against UNC, with Sutton,
Thomas Hennigan and
Malik Williams all making at least six catches apiece.
App State's receivers and tight ends came up big assisting an effective offensive line in the run game, starting with Hennigan blocking on the perimeter and continuing with
Keishawn Watson's downfield block on Thomas' 50-yard scramble and
Henry Pearson's edge-sealing block on a late third-down keeper from Thomas. The PFF College site also named center
Noah Hannon and right tackle
Cooper Hodges to its All-Sun Belt team for the week based on their grades against the Tar Heels.
App State will face a Coastal Carolina defense that leads the Sun Belt in both points allowed per game (18.0) and yards allowed per game (254.3) under first-year coordinator Chad Staggs, who was previously at Furman. The yardage average ranks eighth nationally.
"They control the line of scrimmage, they don't get beat over the top and they don't give up explosive plays, so you have to consistently work in long drives in order to try to score points," Drinkwitz said. "It's a grind-it-out style of football game. We have to have great ball security, and we have to win at the point of contact, whether that's on the perimeter or at the line of scrimmage."
Statistically, in reference to ball security, App State running backs have totaled 686 carries for 4,196 yards and no fumbles over the last 21 games.
Eastern Michigan, Kansas, FCS program Norfolk State and UMass have combined to average 106.8 rushing yards per game against Coastal, and the Chanticleers are giving up 147.5 passing yards per game.
Kansas put up 280 total yards and managed only a first-quarter touchdown against Coastal a week before the Jayhawks exploded for 567 yards in a 48-24 win at Boston College and added 417 more yards in a 29-24 loss to West Virginia.
Defensive tackle Sterling Johnson, a graduate transfer from Clemson and prep All-American during his high school career outside of Raleigh, leads Coastal's defense with 6.0 tackles for loss. Teddy Gallagher has a team-high 26 tackles from his linebacker spot, and cornerback Chandler Kryst has intercepted three passes.
"He's got good schemes," Drinkwitz said of Staggs. "He's got those guys playing hard, they're very disciplined and they are where they're are supposed to be. They held Kansas to seven points, the same Kansas team that scored (48) against Boston College, and I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Boston College's defense."
