POSTGAME NOTES: North Carolina 63, App State 61
The attendance at sold-out Kidd Brewer Stadium was a stadium-record 40,168. That surpassed the previous record of 35,126 fans at the 2017 Wake Forest game. App State broke the school and Sun Belt all-time records last year with an average home attendance of 30,441.
App State outscored North Carolina 40-22 in the fourth quarter as the Mountaineers nearly came back to win after being down 20 at the start of the frame. The Mountaineers are the first team in at least 15 years to score 40 fourth-quarter points, according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, who also noted that the 62 combined fourth-quarter points is one shy of the FBS record.
The 124 combined points were the most in a game in program history and the first time two teams scored 60+ points since 2019 (UCLA-Washington State).
App State's 61 points were its most ever in a losing effort and tied for the 14th-most in a game in school history, win or lose. According to ESPN Stats & Info, App State's 61 points are tied for sixth-most in a regulation loss in the AP poll era (since 1936). The only ones ahead of that are Toledo 66, Western Michigan 63 in 2011; UCLA 67, Washington State 63 in 2019; San Jose State 70, Rice 63 in 2004; West Virginia 70, Baylor 63 in 2012; and Navy 74, North Texas 62 in 2007.
According to The Athletic's Matt Brown, this was the first 63-61 final score in college football history.
App State lost a game at The Rock for the first time in seven tries after going a perfect 6-0 at Kidd Brewer Stadium last season.
North Carolina broke the all-time series tie and now leads 2-1.
App State's last six games against Power Five teams have all been decided by seven points or less, with two wins and four defeats.
The loss broke a three-game program win streak in season openers and an eight-game win streak in home openers.
First-time starters for the Mountaineers included center
Troy Everett, inside linebacker
Andrew Parker, defensive end
Hansky Paillant, cornerback
Dexter Lawson Jr., and defensive end
DeAndre Dingle-Prince.
App State debuts included DE
Kevin Abrams-Verwayne,
Jordan Favors (SPT), WR
Michael Hetzel, CB
Ethan Johnson, CB
Dexter Lawson Jr., LS
Jake Mann, RB
Ahmani Marshall, WR
Tyler Page, ILB
Andrew Parker, DE
Stephen Passeggiata, WR
Kaedin Robinson,
DJ VanHook (SPT) and OL
Bucky Williams.
Since the Mountaineers' 2014 FBS debut, App State has the sixth-most wins (80) in the FBS in that span behind just Alabama (104), Clemson (99), Ohio State (93), Oklahoma (87) and Georgia (87).
OFFENSE
App State's offense racked up 38 first downs, 649 total yards, 288 rushing and 361 passing in offensive coordinator
Kevin Barbay's Mountaineer debut. It was the most total yards by App State since racking up 692 against Gardner-Webb in 2018.
Chase Brice threw for a career-high 361 yards on 25-of-36 completions and tossed a school-record six touchdown passes to six different receivers. The previous record of five was achieved six times by five different QBs.
Brice engineered a fourth-quarter comeback that was nearly one for the ages, directing six touchdown drives including four that ended with a Brice pass into the end zone.
Nate Noel, last year's leading rusher in the Sun Belt, had 116 yards on 14 carries with a career-high two touchdowns, while
Camerun Peoples added 65 yards on 13 carries and a fourth-quarter 38-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 49-49.
Christan Horn and
Kaedin Robinson both hauled in their first career touchdown receptions, while
Dashaun Davis made his second (after getting his first in the team's last outing at the Boca Raton Bowl). Davis' 72 yards and Horn's 59 were career highs. Hetzel made his first career reception.
DEFENSE
One of the nation's top returning sack artists, OLB
Nick Hampton tallied 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and five total tackles in this season opener.
ILB
Andrew Parker led the team with eight tackles in his Mountaineer debut.
S
Jackson Greene had four solo tackles and forced a fumble for the first time in his career.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Michael Hughes had seven touchbacks on his 10 kickoffs. He missed his lone field-goal attempt from 51 yards.
