NORFOLK, Va. — App State Football hits the road again, looking for another victory away from home to even its Sun Belt Conference record.
Three of the Mountaineers' first four league games are on the road this season, as the first half of the Sun Belt slate concludes Saturday with a noon game at Old Dominion. The game will be available on ESPNU.
After dropping its league opener at Southern Miss on Sept. 13, App State (4-3, 1-2 SBC) jumped out to a 31-0 lead in a 41-20 win at Georgia State on Oct. 11. The Mountaineers held four double-digit leads and never trailed until the final four minutes of a 45-37 home loss to Coastal Carolina last weekend, and they are traveling roughly six hours east to face an ODU team that has dropped two straight Sun Belt road games since making headlines with a 4-1 start.
"We're going to have to tackle a lot better than what we did on defense, and we're going to have to stop the run," App State head coach
Dowell Loggains said. "If you're looking at us right now, and we just gave up 250 yards rushing and four touchdowns, they're going to come in and they're going to test us and they're going to say, 'Did you fix the things you needed to fix?' What a great challenge for us to prove that, in our week of practice, we did fix these things.
"On offense, we have to take care of the football, and we have to score in the red zone. We can't (just) kick field goals."
The Monarchs (4-3, 1-2) opened the season with a 27-14 loss to now-No. 2 Indiana and held a 31-0 lead in a 45-26 victory at Virginia Tech. They opened Sun Belt play with a 47-7 thrashing of visiting Coastal Carolina but gave up a combined 111 points in their first two Sun Belt road games. Marshall built a 48-10 lead in a 48-24 victory, and ODU held a 27-21 lead late in the first half of a 63-27 loss at James Madison.
Despite a high-powered offense and attacking defense, ODU leads Sun Belt teams with 18 turnovers lost, including five at Marshall and three at James Madison. The Monarchs are back at S.B. Ballard Stadium this weekend, though.
Interceptions have accounted eight of App State's 10 takeaways this year, with
Elijah Mc-Cantos,
Colton Phares and
DJ Burks recording two picks apiece. The Mountaineers had allowed 279, 321, 358 and 303 passing yards over four straight games but ranked among the national leaders in rushing defense before a run-first Coastal team rushed for 246 yards and capitalized on aerial opportunities to connect on two touchdown passes.
The best example? An offside penalty in a third-and-7 situation from the App State 42 set up a third-and-2 play in the second half. Coastal, willing to take a deep shot given the likelihood it would run in a fourth-and-2 scenario, completed a deep sideline throw for a 37-yard touchdown against man coverage.
ODU has a talented, dual-threat quarterback in Colton Joseph, who has thrown 16 touchdown passes (along with eight interceptions) and totaled more than 250 passing yards in five games. He also has rushed for six touchdowns and a team-leading 487 yards, including 179 against Indiana and at least 49 yards in each of the next five games after the opener.
The Monarchs are known for spreading out defenses by having their receivers line up very wide, close to the sidelines, with alignments that create running room in the middle of the field and force defensive backs to be fundamentally sound tacklers in space. Loggains has had high praise for ODU's receivers, a group led by Tre Brown (23.2 yards per catch, including a 98-yard touchdown against JMU), Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding (team-high 30 catches) and Ja'Cory Thomas (18.0 yard per catch).
"Everybody creates conflict in different ways," Loggains said. "They create conflict with tempo and space. You need to play really well up front."
Injuries and roster turnover have challenged the depth and structure of App State's offensive and defensive lines, as quarterback
JJ Kohl completed 16 of his first 19 passes for 168 yards before being sacked on back-to-back plays late in the first half against Coastal. The Mountaineers completed 11 of their final 22 passes for 110 yards.
Using a three-safety defense, similar to Coastal Carolina, ODU has allowed 309, 223 and 311 rushing yards in its three losses, but Liberty and Coastal totaled only 210 and 189 yards of offense in their low-scoring losses to the Monarchs.
Since rushing for 182 and 209 yards in wins against Charlotte and Lindenwood, the Mountaineers have averaged 119.2 yards on the ground in their last five games.
