Appalachian State Mountaineers 2015 Football Preview
The Appalachian State Mountaineers are coming for the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers are entering their second season of FBS play after putting on a clinic on how to transition between the levels last year. A 4-8 team in their last FCS season basically flipped the script to finish out 7-5 against the tougher competition that FBS had to offer them.
Now we want to see more. What will the Mountaineers do with a year of experience under thir belt and twenty returning starters to throw at the schedule? The Sun Belt media are not convinced yet, placing them fourth in the conference, but the Mountaineers have always been up to proving the doubters wrong.
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Coach: Scott Satterfield (third year, 11-13 overall)
If there were questions on whether Coach Satterfield was ready for the big time last year, he answered them. Satterfield may have run into trouble early in the year, but his switch to Taylor Lamb and midseason turnaround denote a coach who can make adjustments.
Stadium: Kidd-Brewer Stadium ‘The Rock’
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Last Season: 7-5, 6-2 Sun Belt
Appalachian State had a tale of two seasons. They started off 1-5 and ended up 6-0. The turnaround occurred after an overtime disappointment against the Liberty Flames. The Mountaineers took care of most of their Sun Belt competition after that, the only losses being to South Alabama and old FCS rival Georgia Southern (who went on to win the conference). While playing in the snow against Georgia State was most picturesque, the best win had to be when the Mountaineers traveled to Lafayette and beat the Cajuns 35-16.
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Offense:
Lamb should continue as the starter and he should know everybody’s name. There are ten returning starters on offense for the Mountaineers. His development helped jump start an offense looking for points early in the season.
The App State offense is still geared by its read option game, which means tough quick tailbacks. For the second year in a row, junior Marcus Cox has found himself on the Doak Walker watch list. Cox added another 1400 yards to his career totals last year. Cox won’t be alone either, as sophomore Terrence Upshaw and senior Ricky Fergerson look to supplement his yards. Upshaw showed flashes last year as a freshman. In front of them will be an experienced offensive line to boot.
Lamb should also benefit from a receiving corps used to seeing the ball from him. No need to work in new blood when the likes of Simms McElfresh, Montez McGuire, and Bobo Beathard to go and get the ball for him.
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Betsided
Defense:
For much of the year, the Mountaineers led the conference in total defense at around 348 yards per game. The defense still gave up around 27 points a game, so it was a good thing that offense decided to come around.
The 3-4 scheme has many of the same faces with ten returning starters. Ronald Blair is the rush threat from the defensive end and will depend on nose tackle Tyson Fernandez to keep the blockers off of him. If they succeed then the linebacking corps led by John Law will clean up the play from there.
Schedule:
App State plays its nonconference slate first with the biggest name being a trip down to Clemson to take on the ACC’s Tigers. October 10th will see the first conference game when App State travels down to Atlanta to play Georgia State
9/5 – Howard Bison
9/12- AT Clemson Tigers
9/26- AT Old Dominion Monarchs
10/3- Wyoming Cowboys
10/10 – AT Georgia State Panthers
10/17- AT Louisiana-Monroe War Hawks
10/22- Georgia Southern Eagles
10/31- Troy Trojans
11/5- Arkansas State Red Wolves
11/14- AT Idaho Vandals
11/28- Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns
12/5 – AT South Alabama Jaguars
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Prediction – 9 -3, 6-2 Sun Belt
Should be no surprise that Clemson would be the sole loss on the non-conference schedule. Old Dominion hasn’t shown enough for me to take them as the home team in that matchup. I also do not like Wyoming coming across the country to get to Boone.
In conference, I think the Mountaineers will run into two trouble spots. Georgia Southern is still built for banging undermanned defensive lines and should upset App State at home on Halloween. The other game that they may trip on is the game in Mobile against South Alabama.
This is not a real comfortable projection, as the Cajuns and Red Wolves will not be easy to beat. I am giving the Mountaineers the advantage in those games because they will be in Boone. How fitting for the Arkansas Red Wolves to come to the only state with a red wolf population.
And finally this should be enough to send Appalachian State bowling somewhere. Let’s keep things on that hot streak from last season.