BOONE, N.C. — Ferocious defense and fourth-down efficiency carried App State to a Sun Belt victory that gave the Mountaineers sole possession of first place in the East Division.
App State pulled away for a 31-7 win against South Alabama in front of 29,348 fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium and is now the only team on the East side with one league loss. The Mountaineers (8-2, 5-1) entered Saturday in a first-place tie with Coastal Carolina, which lost the head-to-head matchup in Boone and suffered a second league loss Saturday against Georgia State.
Trey Cobb's second interception of the day, a 100-yard return for a touchdown thanks to pressure from
Demetrius Taylor, plus key blocks from
D'Marco Jackson and
T.D. Roof, capped the scoring on a day when South Alabama (5-5, 2-5) was limited to 284 yards of offense.
Taylor and
Ronald Clarke contributed sacks as App State accumulated 10 tackles for loss. Offensively, App State went 3-for-3 on fourth-down attempts, including a
Chase Brice touchdown run and a fourth-quarter touchdown throw to
Thomas Hennigan.
"I have a lot of confidence in our defense, and that's why we're so aggressive on fourth down," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "Our defense knows we're going to do it, and they want our offense to go for it on fourth down. When it's pressure situations, that's what our defense does, is rise to the occasion and make plays. The offense put the defense in a lot of bad situations today, and they never blinked an eye."
Leading 17-7, the Mountaineers gained key separation with a fourth-quarter touchdown, going for the first down instead of kicking in a fourth-and-3 scenario from the South Alabama 14 midway through the period. Brice faked a handoff and took a hit while delivering the pass to an open Hennigan, who scored the 20th receiving touchdown of his career.
Cobb's 100-yard interception return — the fourth in school history and first since Rico Mack did it against James Madison in 1990 — put the finishing touches on the home win. It was the second defensive touchdown of Cobb's career and the third straight game in which App State has had at least one pick-six TD return —
Steven Jones Jr. had one against ULM and two more against Arkansas State.
"I do want to thank the D-Line and thank Meech for getting that pressure on the quarterback," Cobb said. "If it wasn't for them, that probably wouldn't have happened. I most definitely want to give thanks to those boys, and I most definitely was gassed. Running 100 yards like that, I haven't done that in a long time."
App State scored two touchdowns in a span of 56 seconds late in the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead.
The Mountaineers converted two fourth-down runs on their first scoring drive, with Brice reaching the end zone on a fourth-and-2 keeper from the 6. Two plays into the next series, Jackson's tipped pass set up an interception for Cobb, who returned the ball 10 yards to the South Alabama 21.
App State returned to the end zone two plays later, when
Corey Sutton scored his 23rd career touchdown on a 17-yard pass from Brice. Sutton moved into a tie for third place in program history with Rick Beasley with that touchdown.
Taylor's tackle for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 run from the App State 30 created a turnover on downs, and South Alabama's next drive ended with a three-and-out punt, but a fumbled punt was followed immediately by the Jaguars' only score of the day — Desmond Trotter's 27-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jacob Hopper.
App State's third turnover of the half didn't end up costing the Mountaineers, as a 40-yard field goal late in the half hit the left upright and was no good.
South Alabama had an opportunity to tie the game in the third quarter and passed up a field goal on a fourth-and-goal play from the App State 3, but
Nick Hampton's pressure and Jones' tackle on the completed pass toward the left sideline led to a 1-yard loss. While the Mountaineers were 3-for-3 on fourth down, South Alabama finished 2-for-5 with failed attempts on fourth-and-1 at the App State 14, fourth-and-1 at the App State 30 and fourth-and-goal at the App State 3.
"We want our offense to be aggressive because we know what type of defense we have," Taylor said. "We're not afraid of any challenge, whether we're backed up on our end or they're in the red zone. We got y'all boys — get it or not."
Driving into the wind, App State produced the first south-to-north points all day with a 12-play, 88-yard drive that included a 50-yard completion to
Malik Williams and
Chandler Staton's 25-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the third quarter.
Brice then had a hand in a touchdown for the third time on the day. Like he has all season, knowing he could take a hit, he waited until the last moment to release the ball so Hennigan could work free on the left side.
"We're out running routes, so most of the time it isn't until Sunday in film where we can really go back and reflect on the toughness he has," Hennigan said. "There's been just about every game this year, there's a play — most of the time, it's multiple plays – where we'll go back on Sunday and he throws a touchdown and we don't get to see how hard he's getting hit.
"Our receivers coach (
Pat Washington) will be like, 'Y'all should never complain about a ball not being where it is; look at what this guy deals with.' We don't have a receiving corps that does that, and we know that dude's a warrior, so it's our job to go out there and make his life easier by making the catch because we don't want him to get hit for nothing."
