Great week for App State and my predictions held up pretty well. I went 7-1 for the week which puts me at 28-8 overall. The lone upset was Northern Arizona topping #14 Montana.
#17 Appalachian State – 34 / @ Chattanooga – 17
The Good
THE DEFENSE was better than good this week. They held Chattanooga to only 87 total rushing yards and 270 overall. LB Brandon Grier in particular had an incredible game posting 7 tackles, a sack, a fumble recovery, and an interception returned for 70yds.
WR SEAN PRICE had a breakout game. 10 receptions, 130 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Possible future NFL prospect?
SPECIAL TEAMS didn’t have any crazy stats to report, but that’s a good thing. We made all our field goals and extra points. Our kickoffs/punts were great. We didn’t allow any punt blocks or huge returns. I’ll take that any day of the week.
The Bad
4TH DOWN – There are always fans that want the coach to “go for it” on 4th and short. Except in certain obvious circumstances (like it’s the end of the game), I am absolutely positively not one of those people. It’s always a risk/reward assessment. When we were down 10-0 nothing, we went for it on 4th and short TWICE in one drive The first time we got it, the 2nd time we didn’t and walked away with 0 points. It could have been a 1 possession game, but instead it was still 10-0. If it’s the first half, always always always take the points…and please for the love of God can we get a short yardage run play that’s NOT from the shotgun formation?
The Ugly
TURNOVERS/THE 1ST QUARTER was hard to watch, frankly. We turned the ball over on our first two possessions and got in an early 10-0 deficit. But despite all of that, it was still clear that we were the better team. I’m really proud of Jackson for keeping his head up after the early fumble and interception. He came back, put up 268 yards in the air, and tied it up by halftime. Then it was all App State from there. But we can’t have anymore 1st quarters like that.
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Furman – 31 / @ Presbyterian – 21
Watch out for Furman RB Hank McCloud, he put up 3 touchdowns against the Blue Hose (seriously what the hell is that mascot all about). This game was not as close as the final score indicates. It was 24-0 Furman at the half. This was the first win of the season for Furman and broke a 5 game losing streak going back to last season.
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East Carolina – 6 / @ North Carolina – 27
It was a pretty slow starting game for both sides. It was 10-6 UNC at the half but that’s with UNC missing an easy field goal before going into the locker room. The backbreaker was UNC sacking Carden and forcing a fumble in the 3rd quarter to set up an easy UNC touchdown.
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Northern Arizona – 41 / @ #14 Montana – 31
This was the only game I picked wrong this week. Montana lost their homecoming game despite a 24-14 lead at the half. NAU put up most of their yards rushing, while Montana did most of the passing. The total offensive yards was pretty even between the two teams. The difference was the 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions by The Griz.
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Samford – 25 / @ Western Carolina – 21
Honestly, I didn’t expect this game to be that close. Samford actually had to come back to beat WCU. They were down 7-0 at the half, and 21-10 going into the 4th. Samford was only 2 of 13 on 3rd down. Additionally, they had 10 penalties for 140 yards. It’s a wonder they were able to come back at all. Don’t look know, but Samford is undefeated.
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#10 The Citadel – 14 / @ NC State – 52
Whatever The Citadel did to beat us, it didn’t work against NC State. The Wolfpack held them to only 27 yards passing, OUCH. The score was 42-7 at the half. The good news is The Citadel got a taste of how we felt last week. The bad news is that we still need them to lose a conference game.
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Elon – 23 / @ #11 Georgia Southern – 26
The Eagles got a serious scare yesterday. Like us, they were coming off a bad loss to The Citadel, and like us they had a horrible start to this week’s game. 3 first half fumbles by the Stink help put Elon up 13-6 at the half. The game was actually tied with 3:40 left in the 4th when the Stink were able to manage a field goal to get the win. I stick to my statement earlier in the week that said Georgia Southern is overrated at #11.
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Coastal Carolina – 28 / @ Toledo – 38
Our next opponent, Coastal Carolina hung in there with FBS Toledo out of the MAC. It looks like Toledo slept on them, but if we do the same we might not be so lucky. I actually caught the 4th quarter of this one and the Chanticleers could pass the ball with the best of them. They actually put up 356 yards in the air. Unfortunately, against Toledo’s much larger defensive line they couldn’t even run backwards. The game was very much in question until Toledo put up a TD with 4:59 left in the 4th to give them the 10pt advantage.
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