BOONE, N.C. — It's time to ring in a new part of the 2021 season with the start of Sun Belt Conference play.
After completing a 3-1 run through a nonleague schedule that included wins over teams from the American (ECU) and Conference USA (Marshall), plus a close loss at Miami, App State begins its pursuit of a championship Saturday at 2 p.m. against Georgia State. The game will be played in Center Parc Credit Union Stadium and shown on ESPN+.
"It's conference play, it's a ring game, and we have to really step up our play this week," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said.
While the Mountaineers are 7-0 in the head-to-head series, the last two meetings are proof that a hard-fought battle awaits.
A big, loud contingent of App State fans made an impact in Atlanta two seasons ago, when the Mountaineers used a 49-0 run to erase a 21-7 deficit in a 56-27 victory, with
Shaun Jolly scoring a touchdown on one of his two interceptions and
Corey Sutton scoring three times during an eight-catch, 173-yard performance.
Last season, in a 17-13 home win over the Panthers, App State took its first lead with 4:55 remaining as backup quarterback
Jacob Huesman finished off a fourth-quarter touchdown drive in relief of injured starter
Zac Thomas.
App State enters this matchup with more healthy weapons at wide receiver. In fact, quarterback
Chase Brice has had a pair of 100-yard receivers in back-to-back games, with a repeat effort from Sutton to go along with triple-digit days from
Malik Williams (against Elon) and
Thomas Hennigan (against Marshall).
"We're healthy at the receiver position right now, and that changes the dynamic of a football game," Clark said. "Last year we were heavy run because that's what we had to do to have a chance to win the football game, and this year I think we can both run it and pass it to win a football game."
Being able to run the ball and stop the run give App State alum/former assistant Shawn Elliott a dangerous team at Georgia State, which opened this season with losses to Army (now 4-0) and North Carolina (2-2) before back-to-back starts at quarterback by Furman transfer Darren Grainger against Charlotte (20-9 win) and Auburn (34-24 loss in which the Panthers led 24-12 at halftime and 24-19 before a fourth-and-9 touchdown pass by Auburn in the last minute).
Auburn scored one offensive touchdown and rushed 35 times for 166 yards in its comeback win. Georgia State, meanwhile, had 47 rushes for 267 yards, including 142 first-half yards on just six carries from Tucker Gregg.
Gregg had a game-high 85 rushing yards on just 10 attempts last year in Boone, when App State was held to 2.8 yards per carry on 47 attempts, and current senior Destin Coates broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown during a 97-yard night against the Mountaineers in 2019.
App State brings nearly 800 combined rushing yards from
Nate Noel and
Camerun Peoples to Atlanta, and the Mountaineers will need strong work up front from the likes of
Cooper Hodges (team-high 38 knockdown blocks in four games),
Isaiah Helms (29),
Baer Hunter (21),
Damion Daley (16),
Anderson Hardy (13) and
Luke Smith (who played a big role in the Marshall win).
Defensively, playing gap-responsible football with proper eye discipline is important against the Panthers. Inside linebacker
D'Marco Jackson, who leads the Sun Belt with 45 tackles and is tied for No. 2 nationally at 11.3 tackles per game, received a national defensive player of the week honor last year based on a dominant all-around effort against Georgia State.
"I think our guys are playing at a high level right now," Clark said. "Coach Jones and his staff have their guys really sprinting to the football and playing hard. If they make a mistake, they make up for it."
