CONWAY, S.C. — After five straight games in its home state to start the 2026 season, App State Football heads to Coastal Carolina to face the Chanticleers in a nationally televised matchup on Friday night.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Brooks Stadium, with ESPN2 airing the contest.
The Mountaineers (3-2, 0-1) suffered a 10-3 loss to Old Dominion last weekend in a Sun Belt Conference opener played in heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Isaias. Coastal (2-4, 1-1) began league play with a 31-24 home loss to Georgia Southern on Oct. 3 before building a 27-0 lead last weekend in a 27-21 win at Marshall, which committed six turnovers.
App State will attempt to even its league record against an opponent that has won four straight games in the overall series and three straight games against the Mountaineers in Conway, after App State prevailed 23-7 in its first trip to Brooks Stadium in 2018 with backup quarterback Jacob Huesman winning in his only career start.
Before the defensive-oriented league opener in tough conditions, App State ranked among the FBS leaders in explosive offensive plays, highlighted by a passing game that enabled
Malachi Singleton to average 301.5 yards through the air while completing 72.7 percent of his throws. With Singleton listed as questionable on the midweek availability report, the next quarterback listed on the depth chart is
Henry Hasselbeck, who has taken snaps in all five games. He has completed six of nine passing attempts and gained 105 yards on 16 rushing attempts.
Coastal Carolina's defense is led by standouts such as 6-foot-4, 275-pound end Ibrahim Diawara, who had 1.5 sacks in two straight games before posting 2.0 sacks against Liberty, and cornerback Travis Roman, who recorded his second interception of the season against Marshall. The Chanticleers are allowing an average of 189.7 rushing yards per game, so the Mountaineers would benefit from getting their running game going, regardless of who is behind center.
Coastal's offense is directed by 6-1 redshirt freshman quarterback Deuce Bailey, who followed first-year head coach Ryan Beard to Conway from Missouri State. Bailey passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns in his Coastal debut at West Virginia and has totaled 13 touchdown passes (compared to just three interceptions) while averaging 268.0 yards through the air.
Bailey is Coastal's second-leading rusher with 192 yards, behind only the 362 yards from Dominic Lee-Knicely, who put up 169 with a 70-yard touchdown at Marshall.
App State's defense ranks sixth nationally and first in the Sun Belt with eight interceptions this season, and some of that success can be attributed to pressuring the quarterback, whether it was pursuit from
Aaron Clark and
Jehchys Brown contributing to
Dre Walker's late interception at ECU or
Keaton Braddock's blindside hit on the quarterback leading to Clark's interception at NC State.
From plays like
Caleb Sandstrom's strip sack for a key fumble recovery at ECU, forced fumbles from
Alex Mitchell and
Colton Phares that didn't result in turnovers at NC State or
Devin Henderson's tip-save play for a Clark recovery against ODU, plus onside kick recoveries and blocked punts from
Joe Reddish, the Mountaineers have been able to steal possessions or flip field position at key times.
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