BOONE, N.C. — There's no shortage of storylines attached to App State Football's home finale. And that's before knowing if any of this week's snow sticks to it, as well.
The Mountaineers (4-5, 2-4 Sun Belt) are scheduled to host James Madison (8-2, 4-2 Sun Belt) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Kidd Brewer Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
App State will be attempting to post its 100th win as an FBS program on Senior Day and Black Saturday. The sold-out game will also be Homecoming, which was originally scheduled for Sept. 28, the date of a Liberty game canceled by the impact of Hurricane Helene.
Snow fell and covered an empty stadium as the temperature dropped into the 20s on Thursday night, with more flurries in the forecast prior to Saturday afternoon. The outcome greatly affects App State's pursuit of bowl eligibility and James Madison's push for a spot in the Sun Belt Championship Game.
It's a series marked by drama, even through two meetings as Sun Belt counterparts. James Madison overcame a 28-3 deficit to win 32-28 in Boone during the 2022 season, and
Joey Aguilar's overtime touchdown pass to
Kaedin Robinson capped App State's 26-23 overtime win on the road against a 10-0 James Madison team last season. The last FCS meeting was a top-five showdown that JMU won by a 35-32 count in 2008, and App State's 28-27 home victory in the 2007 playoffs is one of the most memorable postseason games in program history.
The Mountaineers used the overtime win in Harrisonburg as a springboard to the 2023 Sun Belt Championship Game, while JMU has put together another strong season with first-year head coach Bob Chesney in charge after leaving Holy Cross to replace Curt Cignetti, who has Indiana in the top five of the national rankings with many former Dukes on his roster. In fact, he is 24-1 in his last 25 games as an FBS head coach, beaten only by
Shawn Clark's Mountaineers last November.
The Dukes' 4-0 start included a 70-50 win at North Carolina, which gave up 53 first-half points, but JMU's next two road games were a 21-19 loss at ULM in a Sun Belt opener and a 28-14 loss at Georgia Southern. The three home wins in league play have been decisive victories, and the Dukes' last game was a 35-32 road victory at Old Dominion.
Triad native Alonza Barnett III has thrown 22 touchdown passes and just two interceptions this season to go along with seven rushing touchdowns, and North Carolina transfer George Pettaway averages 6.0 yards per carry. JMU's offense will provide a difficult test for an App State defense that performed well in back-to-back home wins against Georgia State and Old Dominion.
Offensively, App State had a different leading rusher in five straight games before
Ahmani Marshall followed his 115-yard effort against Georgia State with two more 100-yard games, against ODU (120 yards) and Coastal Carolina (124 yards). JMU is allowing just 119.6 rushing yards per game, and it ranks first nationally with a plus-19 turnover margin aided by its 25 takeaways, including 17 interceptions (tied for first nationally).
The lengthy break since the Nov. 7 loss at Coastal has allowed App State to improve its health at running back and tight end in the aftermath of Robinson suffering a season-ending injury in Conway, S.C. He is one of 20 seniors on an App State roster that includes two sixth-year seniors who were freshmen on the 2019 team in Boone: linebacker
Brendan Harrington and long snapper
Christian Johnstone.
Fifth-year seniors
Ronald Clarke,
Christan Horn and
Eli Wilson have been part of 38 wins by App State since their 2020 arrival —also Clark's first full season as head coach — and kicker
Michael Hughes is a fourth-year senior who could potentially return to the field for the first time since the Mountaineers' fourth game.
