By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics
SAN MARCOS, Texas — In early September, after playing in front of a sellout crowd at home, App State traveled to Texas A&M.
It's early October, and after playing in front of three more sellout crowds at home, App State is traveling to Texas State.
A win against the sixth-ranked Aggies was memorable, but that's ancient history, especially with the Sun Belt Conference standings being affected by the outcome of this weekend's matchup.
App State's pursuit of a conference title continues Saturday against the Bobcats, with kickoff for the ESPN+ game scheduled for 7 p.m. ET (or 6 p.m. in San Marcos). The current forecast calls for a temperature of 88 degrees and partly cloudy conditions at the start of the game.
By virtue of a scheduling quirk, the Mountaineers (3-2, 1-1) will enter mid-October having played only in Boone or the state of Texas.
"It's going to be a big deal for us to be on the road," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "We love playing at home with three home games in a row, three sold-out crowds, but to get on the road, you go to the airport, you fly out, you get to the hotel, and you go from dinner to meetings to your hotel room with a chance to relax. We'll get up Saturday morning, have breakfast and be able to go back to your hotel room, watch College GameDay and get into our pregame ritual.
"It's going to be good for everyone in our program to be on the road again and to have that camaraderie and have a little fun. Playing The Citadel, we had fun as a football team — offense, defense and special teams — and that was good to see."
Each of App State's first two league games ended with a 32-28 score, as the Mountaineers beat Troy on a Hail Mary pass and then were unable to build on a 28-3 lead against James Madison. As a first-year FBS member, the Dukes are ineligible for postseason play, so App State can still accomplish its primary goals, like claiming an East Division title and winning the Sun Belt championship.
Texas State, like Troy, is in the Sun Belt's West Division. With an improved defense and more balanced offense, the Bobcats (2-3, 0-1) opened head coach Jake Spavital's fourth season with a 38-14 loss at Nevada and followed a 41-12 home win against FIU with a 42-7 loss at No. 17 Baylor. Texas State won 34-0 against Houston Christian and committed four turnovers in a 40-13 loss at JMU to open Sun Belt play.
Layne Hatcher, who played against App State as an Arkansas State quarterback in 2019, 2020 and 2021, has averaged 241.4 passing yards per game in his first five games for Texas State. He has thrown 11 touchdowns and six interceptions, with 5-foot-10, 170-pound receiver Ashtyn Hawkins' 37 catches (at 9.0 yards per catch) giving him 24 more than the second-highest total on the team.
Clark called 5-8, 185-pound Calvin Hill (61.5 rushing yards per game, 4.5 yards per carry) one of the top backs in the Sun Belt, while Lincoln Pare (44.8 yards per game, 4.6 yards per carry) is another Arkansas State transfer. He led the Red Wolves in rushing last season.
After averaging 27.3 rushing attempts per game in Spavital's first season, the average increased to 31.0 in 2020 and 36.8 in 2021.
"They're multi-dimensional," said Clark, who considers Spavital a good friend. "They can run it. They can throw it. Jake does a good job of spreading the football out and making you cover the whole field. … He has been the head coach there for four years, and every year he's been there, they've run the ball more and more."
App State is coming off its first defensive shutout since the 2017 postseason and its seventh shutout at the FBS level — the fifth-highest total in the country since 2014, behind just Alabama's 12, Georgia's 11, Wisconsin's 10 and Clemson's eight.
KeSean Brown,
Tyler Bird,
Andrew Parker,
Steven Jones Jr.,
Nick Hampton,
Logan Doublin,
Kevon Haigler and
Donovan Spellman all had stops behind the line of scrimmage in the 49-0 victory.
App State's offense bounced back from a quiet second half against JMU to score touchdowns on seven of 10 possessions against The Citadel.
After throwing four touchdown passes (and scoring on a TD run) against the Bulldogs,
Chase Brice is one of only four FBS quarterbacks with at least 15 touchdown passes and fewer than three interceptions. The other quarterbacks on that list are UNC's Drake Maye, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud and Wake Forest's Sam Hartman.
Texas State's defense has forced nine turnovers this season, and cornerback Kordell Rodgers has accounted for four of the defense's five interceptions.
Defensive tackle Levi Bell, a Louisiana Tech transfer, leads the team with 3.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. Outside linebacker and three-year starter Jordan Revels has added 5.5 tackles for loss.
"That's probably one of the teams in our conference that's the most improved on defense," Clark said. "They've been able to get some transfers in and fill some holes the had to have. They're multiple on defense and can really rush the passer. We'll have our work cut out for us."
