BOONE, N.C. — First place in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division will be at stake in a nationally televised, Mountains-to-Sea, sold-out matchup of Carolinas powers.
App State, which won four straight Sun Belt titles from 2016-19, takes on 14
th-ranked Coastal Carolina, the East Division champ in 2020, on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The ESPN2 game with a "Punt Cancer" theme will be the Mountaineers' 22nd national TV appearance in their last 34 games, and it also features the highest-ranked FBS opponent to visit Kidd Brewer Stadium.
In seeking to beat a ranked foe for the first time since making the 2014 jump to the FBS level, App State (4-2, 1-1) will attempt to improve on a 6-1 series record against the Chanticleers (6-0, 2-0). That includes a 5-0 mark at The Rock, where there have been crowds of 30,224 fans for the win against FCS-level Elon and 28,377 for a Thursday night victory against Marshall in September. Tonight's game is officially sold out to the general public, and
fans are being encouraged to support the Mountaineers in a loud, spirited way that remains respectful.
"All of our goals are in front of us," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "Our goal is to win the Sun Belt championship, and in order to do that, you have to win the East. The East is here Wednesday night, and it's going to be a great game between two great programs."
The Mountaineers suffered their first league loss last week at Louisiana, which has won the last three West Division titles. Coastal Carolina has won its last 17 regular-season games, including a breakthrough home victory last season against App State. The Mountaineers were ahead 23-21 before the Chanticleers scored a go-ahead TD with 2:24 left, and an interception return for a TD on a fourth-down pass sealed the outcome.
This season, Coastal Carolina's 2-0 road record includes its toughest test to date — a 28-25 victory at Buffalo.
App State will look to get back on track while facing an opponent that has allowed an average of 15.0 points, 129.2 rushing yards and 151.5 passing yards per game. The Chanticleers have been putting up 290.7 passing yards and 263.5 rushing yards per game.
Behind an offensive line named to the midseason honor roll for the Joe Moore Award, App State has the Sun Belt's No. 1 rusher with
Nate Noel at 553 yards (92.2 per game), and
Camerun Peoples still leads the league with eight rushing touchdowns even though he's missed the last two games. Relying on weapons like
Thomas Hennigan,
Corey Sutton and
Malik Williams,
Chase Brice has completed 83 of 119 passes (69.7 percent) for 1,161 yards and seven touchdowns (against two interceptions) in the Mountaineers' first four wins.
Coastal Carolina's spread option attack led by quarterback Grayson McCall (14 TD passes with one interception and a 79.8 completion percentage), running back Reese White (455 yards), tight end Isaiah Likely (513 yards with eight TDs) and receiver Jaivon Heiligh (573 yards with four TDs) will challenge an App State defense that performed well for long stretches last year in Conway but was hurt by a handful of big plays.
App State held the Chanticleers to 169 rushing yards on 34 carries, including 15 first-half rushing yards on 14 attempts, but McCall had a 62-yard TD run early in the third quarter and Coastal Carolina also had a 48-yard run. McCall threw for 200 yards, with 75 coming on a connection to Likely for the team's first touchdown.
The Chanticleers are only the third ranked team to visit Kidd Brewer Stadium since App State joined the Sun Belt, following a 2016 appearance by No. 25 Miami and last year's appearance by No. 20 Louisiana.
