App State Football: Undefeated dream dies vs. Georgia Southern

Georgia Southern yet again haunted App State football, this time on Halloween, as the Eagles ended the Mountaineers’ hopes of a New Year’s Six berth in 2019.

Appalachian State was playing at home, their 7-0 record on the line as well as a No. 20 ranking in the AP Top 25. From week to week, the Mountaineers have looked like the most consistent Group of Five program in the hunt for the elusive, lucrative berth in the New Year’s Six. For the first time since the Sun Belt first started sponsoring football in 2001, the league finally has a team worth considering in the national picture.

At least it did, until Halloween night, when Georgia Southern came to Kidd Brewer Stadium and ended the unbeaten dream for their divisional rivals. With two touchdowns in the third quarter, the Eagles put enough points on the scoreboard to fend off a late Mountaineers comeback bid in the final frame to prevail 24-21 on the road.

The win will be celebrated in Statesboro, but it also effectively knocks the Sun Belt entirely out of the Group of Five race. While a team from the Mountain West or the American Athletic Conference might have a shot to reach a New Year’s Six bowl with one or two losses, the same is not true about the other Group of Five leagues.

For a league like the Sun Belt that has never previously put together a run to the Access Bowl, perfection is the initial barrier to entry to a major bowl game. That is because only perfection can combat the perception that a team has played too weak a schedule to justify their inclusion.

Now, though, the dream is deferred for another season. Appalachian State generated more offensive yards and first downs, as Zac Thomas threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns on 25-of-51 passing. Darrynton Evans led the way on the ground, carrying the ball 17 times for 76 yards. But the Mountaineers defense also gave up 335 rushing yards to Georgia Southern, allowing the option offense of the Eagles to run roughshod on them.

Wesley Kennedy III needed only 13 carries to rack up 145 yards and two rushing touchdowns against Appalachian State, and quarterback Shai Werts added 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Werts only threw the ball four times, completing one pass for 16 yards. Other than that, the Mountaineers knew that Georgia Southern was going to run the ball on pretty much every down and still couldn’t stop their rival.

After losing three straight games against App State between 2015 and 2017, Georgia Southern now boasts two consecutive wins over the Mountaineers. Now that Appalachian State bears a conference loss, further, it opens the door for the Eagles as well as Georgia State to have a path to the Sun Belt championship game.

From New Year’s Six hopeful to a team at risk of missing its conference championship game, Appalachian State couldn’t get out of October without a loss. And as a result, the entire Sun Belt loses.