Game day preview: Mountaineers play midweek ESPN game at Coastal

Taylor Newton

Football
11/5/2024 12:46:00 PM

BOONE, N.C. — With back-to-back home wins against a pair of Sun Belt East Division foes in hand, App State Football will look to win its 100th game as an FBS program when it travels to another division opponent in Coastal Carolina on Thursday night.

ESPN’s midweek matchup between the Mountaineers (4-4, 2-3 Sun Belt) and Chanticleers (4-4, 1-3) kicks off at Brooks Stadium at 8 p.m.

Georgia Southern leads the East Division 4-1, followed by Marshall 3-1, and App State needs to continue its winning streak to make some noise in the league race. They are 2-1 in their division with games remaining against Coastal, James Madison and Georgia Southern.

The Mountaineers trailed Georgia State 26-25 before scoring a touchdown with 1:51 left and keeping the Panthers from securing a first down on their final drive. Last week, a touchdown with 2:29 left made App State’s lead 28-20 over Old Dominion, and a fourth-down interception from Zjeir gamble sealed the victory.

The Mountaineers improved to 99-39 since rising to the FBS level in 2014, including 65-20 in regular-season Sun Belt play. They have a 29-13 record in Sun Belt regular season road games, but are 0-2 this season with losses at Marshall and Louisiana.

The last two trips to Conway, S.C., resulted in narrow losses, while Coastal won a nail-biter in Boone last season with Tim Beck in his first season as head coach of the Chanticleers and Grayson McCall in his final season as quarterback of the Chanticleers.

Coastal has dropped consecutive league games to JMU (39-7 on the road), Louisiana (34-24 at home) and Troy (38-24 on the road) since defeating ODU 45-38 to open Sun Belt play. Ethan Vasko has started every game at quarterback, highlighted by a 367-yard passing performance against ODU, but Michigan State transfer Noah Kim replaced Vasko late in the JMU loss and in the second quarter of the Louisiana loss.

Vasko went the distance against Troy, throwing for 206 yards as the Trojans built a 28-7 halftime lead and limited Coastal to 107 rushing yards on 27 attempts. Coastal has two backs with over 300 rushing yards this season, as Braydon Bennett (132 yards vs. Louisiana) and Christian Washington (100 yards vs. William & Mary) have both been productive on the field.

Producing four takeaways and one turnover on downs were key to App State’s comeback win against ODU last weekend. For the first time this season, the Mountaineers won the turnover battle after tying in the opener and losing it in the next six games. They also held ODU to 24 rushing yards in the second half on 14 attempts to create tough passing situations, opening the door in its face. Joshua Donalddefensive end Michael Fletcher and defensive end Shawn Collins combining for 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

Offensively, App State’s line has allowed the running game to make strides in the last four games, with the Mountaineers averaging 174.8 yards on the ground in that stretch after averaging 130.8 in the first four games. The season’s top three rushing totals came in the last four games, with Ahmani Marshall being responsible for 120 of the team’s season-high 184 yards against ODU.

Joey Aguilar has bounced back from a four-interception game at Louisiana to total 511 passing yards with seven touchdown passes and one interception in the last two games. Kaedin Robinson continues to shine, scoring a touchdown last weekend while leading the team in receiving yards for the eighth straight game. Dalton Stroman scored for the fifth time in the last five games, while young finishes tight Kanen Hamlett And Maximum resistance both scored in their first career starts.