Appalachian State’s first loss carries postseason consequences
By Luke Tucker
On Thursday night, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern faced off in Boone, NC. The Eagles defeated the Mountaineers 24-21.
For the first time in the Eliah Drinkwitz era, App State finished a game on the wrong side of the scoring decision. The first-year head coach was a perfect 7-0 before Thursday night’s loss and guided the Mountaineers to their highest AP ranking in school history.
Georgia Southern gashed the Mountaineers for 335 yards and three scores, including two that were from 55+ yards out. For Appalachian State, quarterback Zac Thomas struggled through the air, completing just 25 of 51 passes for only 271 yards, although he did pass for three touchdowns. Next up for the Mountaineers will be a road date at South Carolina next Saturday.
The Group of 5 has never had a team make the College Football Playoff and App State’s loss ensures it won’t become the first in 2019.
In the five-year history of the College Football Playoff, no Group of 5 team has ever been selected. UCF put up back-to-back undefeated regular seasons in each of the past two years, just to see the selection committee turn them down. This year, it was Appalachian State’s turn to help carry the Group of 5 banter.
At 7-0, the Mountaineers ranked 20th in the nation and joined SMU and Cincinnati as the three Group of 5 teams in the AP top 20. SMU remains undefeated, which keeps its slim playoff hopes alive, however, the Bearcats have lost one game–enough to effectively eliminate them from playoff contention. Following Thursday’s loss, App State is in the same boat. In a system where the committee places little stock into the Group of 5, those teams have zero margin of error.
Appalachian State had been routinely trouncing opponents prior to the Georgia Southern loss but has now kissed what little playoff hope it had goodbye. To be fair, even if the Mountaineers had finished the season undefeated, it’s still unlikely they would’ve been selected to participate in the CFP, but it would’ve been a fun possibility to get excited about.
A spot in the New Year’s Six remains a possibility for the Mountaineers.
Entering 2019, Appalachian State has made (and won) a bowl game in four consecutive seasons. Prior to the Georgia Southern loss, there was talk that the Mountaineers could be in the running for a New Year’s Day bowl game. One loss doesn’t eliminate a team from NY6 consideration, however, it does mean that the Mountaineers can’t afford another loss. Doing so would likely drop them out of the final AP poll and put an end to any major bowl hopes.
Despite the loss, Appalachian State should still be the favorite to win the Sun Belt title.
Following the loss to Georgia Southern, the Mountaineers currently sit at 4-1 in the Sun Belt Conference and in first place in the East division. Unfortunately for App State, Georgia Southern in 3-1 in the conference and now holds the tiebreaker over the Mountaineers. Aside from South Carolina, a matchup with Georgia State should be App’s most challenging contest still to come. Georgia Southern also has a matchup against them, so if Appalachian can win out and Georgia State takes down GA Southern, the Mountaineers will play for a Sun Belt championship for the second-straight year.