By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Howdy from College Station, where App State has once again seized the national spotlight.
With its latest signature win, there's reason to celebrate all the way back to the High Country.
And guess what? ESPN's College GameDay is joining the party.
App State scored touchdowns after both turnovers forced by its defense,
Michael Hughes kicked a tiebreaking field goal with 8:05 left and the Mountaineers finished strong to complete a 17-14 win against No. 6 Texas A&M in front of 92,664 fans at Kyle Field on a steamy Saturday afternoon in Texas.
Jalen McLeod forced two fumbles on the same play and recorded two sacks to lead a stingy defense, which limited the Aggies to only two plays in App State territory over the first 52 minutes. Texas A&M totaled nine first downs and 186 yards of offense as the Mountaineers possessed the ball for 41:29 of the game's 60 minutes. They ran 82 plays, compared to just 38 by the Aggies.
The clock eventually struck midnight on A&M's comeback hopes, and there were yells, but they were triumphant ones coming from App State fans in black and gold.
It was App State's first victory against an AP Top 10 opponent since the 34-32 victory at No. 5 Michigan in 2007, when the Mountaineers were an FCS power.
"The key was belief," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "You have to believe in yourself and believe in this program. I told them take the logo off of the helmet, take the logo off the field and let's go play football."
App State has won four conference titles and six bowl games while delivering the most successful FCS-to-FBS transition in college football history, but Saturday's outcome was overdue for a program known for its giant-slaying performances. In fact, each of the Mountaineers' last seven games against Power Five programs have been decided by seven points or less.
This one, with the familiar greetings of "Howdy" in Aggieland and the organized chants from the 12th Man, put App State back in the national spotlight.
"It didn't feel real at first," App State quarterback
Chase Brice said. "I'll be honest, I was just in shock. I just couldn't believe the way we fought and finished. It was just great."
Hughes capped a 16-play march that covered 9 minutes, 15 seconds with his first career field goal, a 29-yard kick, to give App State (1-1) a 17-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Aggies (1-1) moved into scoring range but missed a 47-yard field goal with 3:43 remaining.
The Mountaineers' offensive line went to work after that, paving the way for a clock-draining drive that included three straight
Camerun Peoples runs to move the chains and then Peoples' 48-yard run to the Texas A&M 12 with 1:36 remaining. From there, Brice was able to kneel out the win and set off a celebration with App State players and coaches, including a fired-up, fist-pumping Clark, rushing to interact with the large crowd of fans who had traveled across the country to witness more history.
"Respect all those guys, they were great," offensive lineman
Cooper Hodges said. "But I'm tired of hearing about Michigan. I want our legacy to be Sun Belt champions and I want our legacy to be beating Texas A&M."
DeAndre Dingle-Prince's first-half recovery of McLeod's two-fumble sequence led to
Ahmani Marshall's short touchdown run, and
Nick Hampton's recovery of a fumble forced by
Dexter Lawson Jr. set up Brice's third-quarter touchdown pass to tight end
Henry Pearson.
McLeod's two sacks contributed to 6.0 tackles for loss by the defense, and safety
Nick Ross had a team-high seven tackles. Offensively, Peoples finished with 112 rushing yards, and Brice threw for 130 yards on a mistake-free afternoon.
McLeod recorded a strip sack of quarterback Haynes King, then chased down the offensive lineman who recovered the fumble and ripped the ball away from him, too. Dingle-Prince recovered the second fumble at Texas A&M's 29-yard line, and Marshall finished a five-play drive with his first App State touchdown on a 4-yard run into the end zone.
Texas A&M answered back with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a third-and-14 completion for 31 yards to the App State 32 and Devon Achane's 26-yard touchdown. That led to the score being tied at 7-all going into halftime.
The Mountaineers and Aggies also traded rapid-fire touchdowns in the third quarter, as App State chewed up 6:22 with an 11-play, 62-yard touchdown drive after Hampton recovered the fumble forced by Lawson Jr. following a completed pass along the sideline. A 21-yard pass from Brice to
Dashaun Davis, plus Brice's fourth-and-1 keeper for 6 yards to the Texas A&M 13, set up Brice's 9-yard touchdown pass to Pearson.
Immediately after that, Achane returned the kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown, but App State didn't let that momentum swing ruin its bid for a big win.
"It means something to me to beat the No. 6-ranked program," Clark said. "It's two different programs. We don't recruit at the same level. We don't have what they have, but we have a lot of heart and we have the right kind of players in our program."
