BOONE, N.C. — Homecoming meets Halloween weekend with a final nonconference game for App State.
The scary sight of the Mountaineers (4-3) appearing in all black will give way to a 3:30 p.m. kickoff against Robert Morris, an FCS-level member of the Big South. The sold-out game will be available on ESPN+.
How did this one come together?
One date on App State's original, in-progress 2022 schedule called for a nonconference visit to Marshall, but the Thundering Herd's quick move to the Sun Belt Conference led to the two rivals having a league matchup on their schedules. Needing to fill a late opening because the Mountaineers and Marshall weren't going to also play a second game as a nonconference showdown, App State finalized an agreement with Robert Morris in March to round out a nonleague schedule that evolved into two games against Power Five teams and two games against FCS teams.
The switch also meant that App State has seven home games in the regular season, with three of the four nonleague games being in Boone, which beat some long-shot alternatives like the Mountaineers leaving the southeast to possibly play a road game — before a short week commences with a conference road game this coming Thursday.
Located in Pittsburgh, Robert Morris (0-7) is coached by Bernard Clark Jr., who won two national titles as a Miami linebacker in the late 1980s and was MVP of an Orange Bowl win to cap the Hurricanes' 1987 title season. He became a third-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Colonials are playing their fourth straight game against a North Carolina team, as they lost 48-0 to Gardner-Webb, 41-10 to Campbell and 38-14 to North Carolina A&T earlier this month. Perhaps their best showing of the season was a 31-14 loss to FBS-level Miami of Ohio.
App State's offense experienced very different games in its previous two appearances, starting with a trip to Texas State in which
Chase Brice tried to rally the Mountaineers by throwing for a career-high 395 yards while tying the school record of 40 completions. Last week, the Mountaineers rushed for 404 yards and six touchdowns on 64 attempts against Georgia State and totaled only three passes on 41 second-half plays in a 42-17 win.
One of those throws was a 31-yard completion to senior tight end
Henry Pearson, who already has a single-season-best 191 receiving yards through seven games and has matched his single-season high of four touchdown catches. That total is tied for first place among Sun Belt tight ends, and he's No. 2 among Sun Belt tight ends in receiving yards and catches.
A New Jersey native, Pearson played at Paramus Catholic with Robert Morris' top rusher, Alijah Jackson. The Mountaineers' defense ranks 25th nationally by allowing just 331.4 yards per game, including an average of only 195.0 through the air. That ranks 27th nationally and first in the Sun Belt, as App State held Texas A&M, The Citadel and Georgia State to less than 100 yards passing.
The Mountaineers' special teams also came up big last week, highlighted by
Milan Tucker's 63-yard kickoff return immediately after Georgia State had made a field goal to cut its deficit to 28-17.
