BOONE, N.C. — App State head coach
Shawn Clark has stressed the importance of this weekend's sold-out return to Kidd Brewer Stadium — the first game with no crowd-size restrictions at The Rock in 651 days.
For a deeper history lesson, consider that the App State-Elon game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. will be played 11,704 days removed from another important date: the Sept. 2, 1989 debut of Jerry Moore.
The Mountaineers were officially the home team when they opened the 2021 season with a win against East Carolina in Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, and their second straight game in an NFL venue ended with a narrow loss at top-25 opponent Miami.
Stages like that are special, but to an App State alum such as Clark, nothing beats The Rock, especially when he's yet to be the head coach in his home stadium with a full crowd. Especially when most fans haven't attended a game with the new north end zone facility in operation.
"It's the opener at The Rock," Clark said. "To see the program when I first got here in 1994 to see it now, we're playing big-time football here. In order to play big-time football, you need a big-time fan base and a very passionate fan base. We have that."
There's extra meaning this weekend given the pregame dedication of the Coach Jerry Moore Plaza and public statue unveiling. In recognition of the Hall of Fame coach, who won 215 games from 1989-2012, App State has revealed that it will wear black, 1989-inspired helmets with a gold and white stripe down the middle and white block 'A' covering each side.
The reaction to a Thursday uniform reveal video that showed Moore presenting a throwback lid to 100-yard return threat
Jalen Virgil in a local, old-school diner has only added to the excitement connected to this weekend's matchup.
App State has plenty of pre-FBS history with Elon, to the tune of a 32-9-1 overall record in the series, including an 11-0 mark when the schools were dueling Southern Conference members from 2003-13. Both programs were ranked in the FCS polls for all four matchups from 2007-10, with the Mountaineers securing a league title in 2009 thanks to a road win in a top-10 showdown against the Phoenix and then drawing 31,531 fans to Boone a year later for a 34-31 victory.
That set a Kidd Brewer Stadium attendance record at the time, and it still ranks No. 3 behind only a pair of FBS-era visits from ACC programs Miami and Wake Forest. Saturday, another huge crowd will be on hand.
The Phoenix is now a CAA member coached by Tony Trisciani, and it followed a 24-22 loss at Wofford in its 2021 opener with a 24-23 win against Campbell. Clark spent time recruiting Elon quarterback Davis Cheek during the 6-foot-3, 217-pound senior's prep days at Butler High School outside of Charlotte, and Cheek has averaged 290.5 passing yards through two games this season. In his college career, he's thrown for more than 6,200 yards in 31 starts.
"He's got a fantastic arm and makes great decisions," Clark said. "They have a great running back, and their receivers have caught a lot of footballs. They are very sound on defense and give you some issues on how they line up."
A year after ranking among the national leaders in several pass defense categories, App State gave up only 173 passing yards to ECU's Holton Ahlers before the final two fourth-quarter drives in a lopsided win and limited Miami's D'Eriq King to 200 passing yards. That game included signature performances from
T.D. Roof (two sacks) and
Caleb Spurlin (seven tackles to go along with a blocked field goal).
Offensively, running backs
Camerun Peoples and
Nate Noel entered this week ranking No. 2 and No. 3 in the Sun Belt, respectively, with 97.5 and 88.5 rushing yards per game. The upfront work of
Baer Hunter,
Cooper Hodges,
Damion Daley,
Isaiah Helms and
Anderson Hardy helped App State's offense account for a respectable 153 rushing yards against Miami, which allowed 147 against Alabama.
A weekend after there were some noteworthy FCS upsets of FBS teams, the Mountaineers will look to improve their record to 7-1 against FCS competition since the 2014 move to the Sun Belt.
"I'm not worried about a letdown," Clark said. "I'm worried about making sure our guys don't get too excited for it. This is a huge game, and our fan base will have a large role in it. As far as a letdown? No way. It won't happen as long as I'm the head football coach here because I know in college football, it's hard to win. I don't care who you're playing or where you're playing."
