BOONE, N.C. — App State Football is back in Boone for another game day, home after returning from a lengthy trip to Boise State.
Oregon State has traveled an even greater distance to meet up with the Mountaineers.
App State closes its nonconference schedule Saturday at 3:30 p.m. with its first-ever game against the Beavers, whose campus in Corvallis, Ore., is located more than 2,200 miles from Kidd Brewer Stadium. That's the farthest any opponent has ever traveled to play at The Rock, a top-25 stadium nationally and the home to 13 consecutive sellouts.
The Mountaineers improved to 2-0 under first-year head coach
Dowell Loggains with a win in their home opener against Lindenwood on Sept. 6, and they're now 2-2 following the back-to-back road losses against Southern Miss and Boise State. Oregon State arrives in Boone with an 0-5 record, but the Beavers' five opponents to date are a combined 21-2: No. 2 Oregon (5-0), No. 11 Texas Tech (4-0), Houston (4-0), Cal (4-1) and Fresno State (4-1).
Coached by alum Trent Bray, who spent nine seasons as a defensive assistant at his alma mater before becoming the head coach in 2024, the Beavers led 27-26 with a minute left against Fresno State, which kicked a go-ahead field goal before returning an interception for a touchdown in the closing seconds. They were ahead 24-10 midway through the fourth quarter of a 27-24 overtime loss to Houston last weekend and could have higher offensive output this season if not for some struggles with their field goal unit.
"We're going to have our hands full with this opponent," Loggains said. "The good thing is we get them at home, in front of our home crowd, and I know what that's going to look like (with 25,000 rally towels being distributed). I know the energy our guys get from the Mountaineer Walk, going in the stadium and what it's going to look like on Saturday. It's going to give us a little more juice than we've had on the road, so we're excited about being at home. Our guys know this is a good football team. They're going to have to play really well and stop the self-inflicted things that have hurt us to this point."
App State's
Rashod Dubinion is fourth nationally at 128.3 rushing yards per game to lead an offense that ranked among the national passing leaders through three games, but Boise State held the Mountaineers to 65 passing yards with 12 completions on 28 attempts. Turnovers have been problematic for App State, which totaled 11 giveaways in its last three games, including three pick-six interception returns for touchdowns.
The Beavers allowed nearly 600 yards in each of their two games against top-15 teams and less than 360 yards in their other three games, with Cal and Houston rushing for less than 125 yards. Fresno State, meanwhile, rushed for 197 yards but was held to 121 through the air.
While App State did hold Boise State to 3.5 yards per rushing attempt, the Broncos threw the ball effectively, completing 25 of 38 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns. Oregon State does have a familiar name at quarterback in 6-foot-5 redshirt junior Maalik Murphy, who began his collegiate career at Texas and went 9-3 as Duke's starter in 2024.
Murphy passed for 371 yards and four touchdowns in the loss against Fresno State, threw for 281 yards against Texas State and has thrown for more than 200 yards against every opponent except for Oregon. Senior running back Anthony Hankerson has followed a 1,000-yard season in 2024 with an average of 60.4 yards per game in 2005, highlighted by 136 yards against Fresno State, while redshirt freshman Cornell Hatcher Jr. gained a team-high 93 yards on 17 carries last week against Houston.
The Mountaineers still rank among the national leaders with 9.3 tackles for loss per game, good for No. 3 at the FBS level, and they rank 13th by allowing 84.3 rushing yards per game. Southern Miss and Boise State rushed for 110 and 152 yards, respectively, but the Mountaineers did register nine tackles for loss against the Broncos, led by
Joseph Bakhole's 2.5.
"I like what our plan is," Loggains said. "You study yourself and correct your mistakes. You have to continue to be creative and find ways when things aren't going as well as you'd like them to with the pass rush. We just didn't rush as well as we needed to last week, so we have to find creative ways to get home."
