BOONE, N.C. — App State Football has a history of opening-game success in Sun Belt Conference play, with a recent trend of long-shot triumphs.
The Mountaineers (2-1) open their league schedule Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. with a Kidd Brewer Stadium visit from South Alabama (1-2). The game will be televised by ESPN, so a national television audience will be tuning in as App State attempts to reach 1-0 in conference play for the 10th straight year, following a 2014 loss in its first FBS season.
The last two openers culminated with highlight-reel drama, starting with
Christan Horn's touchdown on a 53-yard Hail Mary to end a 32-28 victory against Troy in 2022 — on the same day App State hosted ESPN's College GameDay. Last season, App State was stuck at its 19-yard line with 24 seconds left at ULM, but three straight
Joey Aguilar completions to
Kaedin Robinson set up
Michael Hughes' 54-yard field goal as time expired in a 41-40 victory.
ESPN will be at The Rock for the first time since listing it at No. 23 overall on a national list of top 25 college football stadiums. The scenery with leaves beginning to change colors in the High Country contributes to the charm, as does the fan support.
Thirteen of the top 16 crowds in stadium history have occurred since the start of 2022, and App State fans have done their part during the harder-to-attend midweek games of late. The last four have drawn crowds of 34,252 (vs. Coastal Carolina on a Tuesday in 2023), 31,757 (vs. Georgia State on a Wednesday in 2022), 31,061 (vs. Coastal Carolina on a Wednesday in 2021) and 28,377 (vs. Marshall on a Thursday in 2021).
Sun Belt expansion means East Division teams don't see opponents from the West division as frequently, and the Mountaineers will be facing South Alabama for the first time since 2021.
The Jaguars are led by first-year head coach Major Applewhite, the former Texas quarterback and Houston head coach who served as the Jaguars' offensive coordinator from 2021-23. Moving forward from a 7-6 season in 2023, South Alabama started 0-2 with FBS losses to North Texas (52-38) and Ohio (27-20) before putting up the most points in an FBS game since 1991 with an 87-10 victory against FCS-level Northwestern State last Thursday, two days before App State played.
Left-handed quarterback Gio Lopez, a redshirt freshman who was named the MVP of South Alabama's bowl win last year, has seven touchdown passes and no interceptions in two games this season. He missed the loss to Ohio with an injury but had a near-perfect day in the rout of Northwestern State.
Freshman back Fluff Bothwell has rushed for 213 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries over the last two games, while 5-foot-8 Jamaal Pritchett has been the top receiving target. He caught 18 passes for a combined 264 yards against North Texas and Ohio.
App State's defense bounced back from a rough night at Clemson and a rough start at East Carolina to hold the Pirates to just a field goal over the final three quarters of a 21-19 win in Greenville. Only one of the two touchdowns scored by ECU came from its offense, as App State quarterback
Joey Aguilar overcame an early pick-six return and two total interceptions to throw for a career-high 424 yards. Three of his receivers — Horn, Robinson and
Makai Jackson — combined for 323 yards on 18 receptions.
