By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics
BOONE, N.C. — A fall with record-setting crowds, College GameDay visits and Hail Mary finishes includes one more chance to watch App State Football at The Rock.
Saturday's home finale pitting the Mountaineers (5-5, 2-4) against Old Dominion (3-7, 2-4) in Kidd Brewer Stadium doubles as Senior Day and Heroes Day.
Before the 2:30 p.m. kickoff, with temperatures expected to be in the high 30s, 28 student-athletes will be recognized during the Senior Day festivities. Then it's down to business, as App State resumes its pursuit of a strong finish to the season and attempts to move one step closer to postseason eligibility.
"Our kids have had great effort, and they're excited to be here, which is good to see," head coach
Shawn Clark said. "Our kids are still in the fight, and we have a great way to honor those guys in front of a packed-out stadium here on Saturday."
The combination of redshirt uses, transfer arrivals and the additional year of eligibility allowed based on the COVID protocols from 2020 mean Senior Day will have an interesting mix of participants, with their high school graduation years ranging from 2017 to the winter of 2019. The group being recognized includes five players who are sixth-season college students, 15 players who are fifth-season college students and eight players are who fourth-year college students.
Since the start of the 2018 season, the Mountaineers have posted a 48-15 record, good for the eighth-most wins in the country. There are three players who enrolled at App State in 2017 and have been in Boone for six of the Mountaineers' nine FBS seasons: RB
Daetrich Harrington, P
Clayton Howell and CB
Steven Jones Jr.
All three made big contributions last weekend at Marshall, as Harrington scored a fourth-down TD after gaining 26 yards on a third-and-goal screen pass, Howell put two punts inside the 5 and Jones had his first career sack among his career-high nine tackles.
Nonetheless, App State lost a Sun Belt game on the road by seven points for the second straight week. Of App State's five losses, four have been decided by seven points or less.
"We've been coming up a little bit short right now, but that has nothing to do with the effort they have on the football field," Clark said. "Our kids are excited to play every single week. Sometimes you just have to make a play, and we have to coach better."
Coached by Ricky Rahne, who was Penn State's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach when the Nittany Lions edged App State in a 2018 overtime thriller, ODU has endured its share of ups and downs this season, as well.
The Monarchs posted a 20-17 home win against Virginia Tech and suffered a 16-14 loss at Virginia during the opening three weeks. They started 2-0 in Sun Belt play thanks to home wins against Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina but have dropped four straight games since the road win at Coastal, when Blake Watson accounted for 259 of his team's 323 rushing yards.
ODU quarterback Hayden Wolff (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) has thrown for more than 230 yards in six games this year, but the offense has been without 6-8 tight end Zack Kuntz (a Penn State transfer who suffered a season-ending injury on Oct. 1) and 6-2 receiver Ali Jennings III (who suffered a season-ending injury after he had produced 54 catches for 959 yards and nine touchdowns through nine games).
"Their quarterback, he can really throw the football, and he can run to be successful when he has to," Clark said. "He really spreads the ball around. But if you just prepare for one thing, they can beat you in the run game. You go back to the Coastal game, they run the counter play a million different ways to be successful and keep Coastal's offense off the field."
Third-down stops continued to be a challenge for App State's defense at Marshall, where the Mountaineers limited the Thundering Herd to 3.3 yards per carry on 37 attempts.
Old Dominion's defense is led by linebacker Jason Henderson, whose 166 tackles are 39 more than the total from the nation's second-leading tackler and 97 more than the second-leading tackler on ODU's team.
For comparison's sake, the Monarchs have been credited with 889 stops (solo tackles and assists) this season, with 785 offensive plays run by their opponents. App State has defended 641 offensive plays and totaled 648 tackles, including a team-high 58 from
Logan Doublin.
ODU ranks 130th among 131 teams nationally in time of possession, so App State will work to stay ahead of the chains, create more manageable third-down situations and rely on its balanced offense to score at an efficient rate.
Despite allowing 196.5 rushing yards per game and 245.0 passing yards per game for a 441.5 total that ranks 13th in the Sun Belt, the Monarchs allow 26.5 points per contest in part because they've forced 18 turnovers (with 11 interceptions).
"They're not a 3-7 football team," Clark said. "They have a lot of good players and a lot of fight on that team."
