Postgame Notes from App State's Win vs. ECU

POSTGAME NOTES: App State 43, East Carolina 28
 
Attendance at Kidd Brewer Stadium was 40,168, tying the school record set during last season's opener against North Carolina. Eight of the top 10 crowds in Kidd Brewer Stadium history have occurred since the start of the 2022 season.
 
App State now owns two of the three 40,000-attendance games in the history of the Sun Belt Conference. The record is a 2009 Louisiana home game against Southern that had 41,357 fans.
 
The Mountaineers increased their all-time series lead over East Carolina to 21-12 and have a 2-0 advantage with both teams as FBS members.
 
App State improved to 50-9 in home games since 2014, the sixth-best winning percentage nationally in that span (and best among Group of Five programs).

App State improved to 7-1 in its last eight games in the next game after facing an AP Top 25 opponent.

The Mountaineers improved to 31-1 when winning the turnover battle since 2018, including a 17-1 mark with Shawn Clark as the head coach.
 
App State's 81 wins since the start of the 2015 season are tied with Notre Dame for sixth-most in the country among FBS teams behind Alabama (105), Clemson (102), Georgia (94), Ohio State (93) and Oklahoma (87).
 
First-time starters for the Mountaineers included TE David Larkins and OLB Thomas Davis.
 
OFFENSE
 
App State has started the season with three straight 40+ point performances for the first time since 2010. The Mountaineers finished 10-3 that season and were Southern Conference Co-Champions.
 
Nate Noel rushed for 193 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. It was his fourth straight 100-yard game dating back to last year, becoming the first App State player to do that since Darrynton Evans in 2018.
 
Joey Aguilar threw for 241 yards with three touchdowns, an interception and a rushing touchdown. Through two-and-a-half games after he entered in the second quarter for injured starter Ryan Burger against Gardner-Webb, Aguilar has thrown for nine touchdowns and accounted for 10, while only tossing a pair of interceptions.
 
Kaedin Robinson led the receiving corps with four catches for 57 yards, including his second touchdown of the season, a 34-yard grab that gave App State a 22-21 lead early in the third quarter.
 
Kanye Roberts rushed for 42 yards on six carries with his first touchdown of the season and the third of his career.
 
Returning All-American kick returner Milan Tucker scored his first career receiving touchdown, a go-ahead score in third quarter to put the Mountaineers up 29-28. It was his second career score of any kind (kickoff return at Marshall last year).
 
DEFENSE
 
App State played stingy defense, allowing just 14 points from the Pirate offense (their other 14 came from a pair of defensive touchdowns).
 
The Mountaineers held ECU to 99 rushing yards in the game, including -5 in the second half.
 
App State hauled in three interceptions in the game, the first time doing that since 2021 at Arkansas State.
 
The interceptions came from Nick Ross (fourth career), Jordan Favors (first career) and Omari Philyaw (first career).
 
Inside linebacker Derrell Farrar racked up a career-high eight stops to lead all Mountaineer tacklers.
 
App State's season-high four sacks were by Markus Clark (first career), Brodrick Gooch (first career), Andrew Parker Jr. (second career), and Nate Johnson (first career).
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
 
Michael Hughes made a 36-yard field goal on his only attempt.