NORFOLK, Va. — Moving forward from a lengthy break, App State Football resumes its Sun Belt Conference schedule with plenty at stake.
App State (3-3, 1-1) travels east toward the Virginia coastline to face Old Dominion (3-3, 2-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game televised nationally by NFL Network.
The Mountaineers suffered their first league loss during a Tuesday night game on Oct. 10, but they remain in control of their conference championship aspirations given that every East Division team outside of unbeaten James Madison, which is not eligible for postseason participation, has at least one league loss. Coastal Carolina now owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over App State, but the Chanticleers currently have two league losses.
That's all to say, it's still very early in the league race, and the Mountaineers need to play cleaner, better football to potentially capitalize on the opportunities in front of them.
"Losing stinks — it does," head coach
Shawn Clark said. "To be the head coach and sit up here, it's not a good feeling, but I know we have the right kids in our program and the right kids to turn this thing around."
App State's three losses were all decided on the final play or the final 15 seconds, as Coastal Carolina made a 24-yard field goal as time expired in its 27-24 win. A fourth-down incompletion ended a double-OT loss at North Carolina (now ranked No. 10 nationally) before an interception at the Wyoming 6-yard line with 12 seconds left (on a first-down play from the 20) capped a 22-19 loss to the Cowboys.
ODU, meanwhile, has a 27-24 home loss to Wake Forest (which fell behind 17-0 before overcoming a 24-13 deficit in the fourth quarter) and a 41-35 loss to Marshall in which the Monarchs had four touchdown runs of 65-plus yards.
Kadarius Calloway accounted for 236 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 carries that day after totaling only five carries in the first four games — he was in the process from returning from a preseason injury — and he added 93 yards on 12 carries against Southern Miss.
Like East Carolina, Wyoming and ULM, ODU enters the App State game with questions about its starting quarterback. Grant Wilson started the first four games before three first-half interceptions led to Jack Shields taking over and performing well to close a 10-9 win against Texas A&M-Commerce. Shields threw three interceptions in the loss to Marshall and was replaced by Wilson early in a 17-13 road win against Southern Miss.
Of ODU's 16 offensive touchdown drives this season, an FBS-best nine have lasted a minute or less, and App State is looking to be more sound defensively after allowing several big plays to Coastal Carolina's offense.
"They have a wide-open offense," Clark said. "Their receivers, they spread them all the way hash to hash, you have to make a decision — are you going to stop the run or defend the pass? They count numbers in the box, and if you go out to cover the receivers, they'll run the football. They have a lot of explosive runs."
App State enters its seventh game with quarterback
Joey Aguilar, who came off the bench in the first half of the season opener, ranking among the Sun Belt leaders with 14 touchdown passes and standout running back
Nate Noel, who rushed for 651 yards in the first five games, slowed by a lower-body injury that limited him to one carry in the last game.
Aguilar had a 305-yard, two-touchdown effort as
Kanye Roberts,
Ahmani Marshall and
Maquel Haywood combined for 22 carries, 104 yards and one score against Coastal. Marshall rushed for 137 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries as the Mountaineers built a 27-0 lead in a 27-14 win last season against the Monarchs, who lost star linebacker Jason Henderson to an early injury that day in Boone.
A junior eligibility-wise, Henderson ranks fourth among active FBS defenders with 358 career tackles, and he's the only non-senior in the top 10.
"He's one of the best linebackers I've ever faced or seen in 23 years of coaching," Clark said. "We have our work cut out for us because they're a very good defense."
