Tag: App State

App State is wearing awesome ‘Yosef’ helmets, so it’s another Saturday you pay attention to them

We have a certified uniform battle between App State and JMU this week.

Appalachian State has dominated college football storylines this season.

You remember, right? They scored 40 points in the fourth quarter in a wild Week One game, only to lose 63-61 to North Carolina. The Mountaineers followed that up with a historic win though, going down to College Station, Texas to upset then-ranked No. 6 Texas A&M. And then last weekend – with ESPN’s College GameDay in Boone – App beat Troy on a tipped Hail Mary as time expired.

This weekend, App State hosts James Madison. The Mountaineers are a -6.5 favorite in a game that will stream on ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. EST. So, it’s not a game that you *need* to pay attention to, right?

Wrong.

App State is wearing all-black uniforms with awesome helmets.

Behold: Yosef.

Any team that’s sporting helmets featuring a bearded man wearing a brimmed hat and smoking a pipe is worth watching.

Back in 2020, they wore white helmets featuring a patriotic Yosef. App State won that game 78-58, so it’s pretty obvious that Yosef has magical offensive powers.

According to App State’s website, its mascot – Dan’l Boone Yoseff from Appalachian – was introduced in 1941. The second “f” in his name got dropped in 1947, for reasons that are unclear. Anyway, the Yosef logo became popular in Boone during the 1970s, and App State reintroduced it to fans around 2012, just a few years before they made the jump to FBS in 2014.

Of course, there’s on-field football reasons you should pay attention to this game too.

James Madison is off to a nice start in their first season of FBS ball with a 2-0 record. In their first FBS game, they beat Middle Tennessee State 44-7. The Dukes followed that up with a 63-7 thrashing of Norfolk State.

This game for JMU will be their first-ever in the Sun Belt conference – you know this as the #FunBelt – but they have plenty of history with App, a fellow former FCS powerhouse. This is the first trip to Boone for JMU since a 2007 FCS playoff game, which App won 28-27 after a key fourth down conversion and fumble recovery. App went on to win its third straight FCS national championship that season (and yes, the Mountaineers’ famous win over Michigan happened at the beginning of that campaign).

App State is 12-4 all-time against JMU, and the two schools are separated by about 265 miles.

JMU is armed with a defense that is No. 1 in the nation in fewest yards allowed per-game (163), and grad-transfer quarterback Todd Centeio, who previously played at Temple and Colorado State. He threw six touchdowns passes in his Dukes’ debut, tying a single-game program record.

And since App State is wearing all-black on Saturday, that of course means the Dukes are wearing all-white. These uniforms are pretty sharp too.

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‘I love that guy’: Swinney, Streeter really proud of Chase Brice

After Chase Brice pulled off his latest heroics last Saturday – lifting Appalachian State to a miraculous 32-28 victory over Troy with a 53-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the game’s final play – Dabo Swinney had a message for the former Clemson …

After Chase Brice pulled off his latest heroics last Saturday – lifting Appalachian State to a miraculous 32-28 victory over Troy with a 53-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the game’s final play – Dabo Swinney had a message for the former Clemson quarterback.

“I called him and said he and I need to go to Vegas, like, right now,” Swinney said this week. “Man, unbelievable. Unbelievable. His comment was ‘winners win,’ and I loved it.”

Clemson’s head coach believes that comment perfectly sums up Brice, who of course is fondly remembered by Tiger fans for stepping up during the 2018 national championship campaign, relieving an injured Trevor Lawrence in a 27-23 come-from-behind victory against Syracuse to preserve what would become a perfect 15-0 campaign.

“That’s Chase to the core, man. He’s a winner,” Swinney said. “I’m really happy for him, really proud of him. He’s a great young man and has just become a great leader for (App State). You can just see everybody around him, they all believe in him. He’s just one of those guys that finds a way, he finds a way. That’s who he is. I love that guy, man. He’s a good one.”

After playing for Clemson from 2017-19 and graduating in May 2020, Brice transferred to Duke, where he threw for 2,170 yards while passing for 10 touchdowns in 11 starts during the 2020 season.

Since transferring to App State before the 2021 season, Brice has led the Mountaineers to a 12-5 record in 17 games as their starting quarterback while starting all 14 games at quarterback last season and the first three this season.

Last season, he was named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and earned All-Sun Belt third team honors after finishing the season with 27 touchdown passes (tied for the Sun Belt lead), 238.4 passing yards per game (No. 3 in the Sun Belt), a 62.1 completion percentage (No. 3 in the Sun Belt), a 151.1 rating (No. 3 in the Sun Belt) and 8.6 yards per pass attempt (No. 2 in the Sun Belt).

In 2021, Brice set App State’s single-season record for passing yards with a league-leading 3,337 to break the previous school record of 3,291 set by Armanti Edwards.

A week prior to his Hail Mary against Troy, Brice and the Mountaineers pulled off a major upset, defeating then-No. 6 Texas A&M on the road on Sept. 10 by a score of 17-14.

As someone who knows Brice very well, his former quarterbacks coach, Clemson’s Brandon Streeter, said this week that he’s “so proud” of him.

“He’s been an awesome kid. I love that guy,” Streeter said. “We had a great relationship when we were here, and I’m just happy that he’s happy. He’s doing some really, really good stuff. He’s at a great program with App State, and man, it was exciting to watch. I saw the replay of that last play, the Hail Mary play, and it’s really a great teaching moment for a lot of programs out there, how important that last play is and why you work it every single week.

“But just to see him succeed like he’s doing has been really, really special. And then not just this week but last week against Texas A&M, being able to come out on top. I’m just excited for him and his journey. Everybody’s got a different journey and his journey is paying off, and it really comes down to him putting in the work and being positive throughout the whole journey.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

WATCH: Roman Harper breaks down insane App State Hail Mary TD

Roman Harper broke down App State’s huge Hail Mary touchdown pass against Troy, reflecting on how he helped save the Saints avoid a similar fate during his playing days:

Quite a few New Orleans Saints players have begun to make second careers for themselves in football media, and today we’ll be checking in on Roman Harper. The longtime starting strong safety won a Super Bowl XLIV ring with New Orleans, but these days he’s working as an analyst for the SEC Network. On Monday evening he sat down with “Thinking Out Loud” hosts Richard Johnson and Spencer Hall to recap one of the weekend’s most exciting college football games: Appalachian State’s dramatic win over Troy, one of their Sun Belt rivals, on a last-second Hail Mary touchdown pass.

“Who says grown men don’t cry?” Harper quipped after reviewing the game’s highlight play, complete with an all-time-great radio call from the App State press box. His brother is a Troy alum, so this wasn’t exactly a defensive performance he looks back on fondly.

“Hate that, I like to sometimes rush four, five, six,” Harper said, when examining Troy’s decision to rush three linemen and drop eight defenders into coverage. “I like to zero blitz it. I’ve actually ended a game against Cincinnati, versus the Cincinnati Bengals, I told everybody to get up out of here after the sack.”

The game Harper’s referring to there was a 2010 clash between his old Saints team and Carson Palmer’s Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. A furious fourth quarter scoring output saw the lead change twice and tie up until Marques Colston caught a 3-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds left in regulation to retake the lead and go up 34-30 in Cincinnati.

And the Bengals put themselves in position to win the day with a 47-yard return on the subsequent kickoff, setting up Palmer and his offense at midfield. A quick pass moved them further up field, into New Orleans territory. With eight seconds left to play and just 37 yards separating them from an upset, Palmer dropped back to pass, targeting his dynamic receiving duo of Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens (who had already combined for 11 catches and 143 yards on the day). It was a tight spot for the Saints.

But as Harper recalled, the Saints chose to pressure the quarterback. They sent him on a blitz and he dropped Palmer for a 16-yard loss as time expired, very much saving the day for New Orleans. A rare pressure player who normally lined up at safety, Harper became something of a sack artist with the Saints — he’s currently tied with defensive tackles Don Reese and Mike Tilleman to rank 31st in the franchise record books with 17 sacks (per Pro Football Reference).

Blitzing the quarterback on these desperation Hail Mary heaves has become a trademark for Saints head coach Dennis Allen, who was Harper’s position coach on that 2010 squad. Serving as defensive coordinator in 2019 and charged with protecting a 2-point lead in the final seconds, he opted to pressure Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott with a similar safety blitz, sending C.J. Gardner-Johnson in to harass the passer before he could fully read the field. Prescott flung the ball far downfield to avoid taking a sack, and it ended up being intercepted by Marcus Williams. That’s just one example.

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Brice, App State pull off miracle win

Former Clemson quarterback Chase Brice helped Appalachian State pull off a miracle win over Troy on Saturday. Brice threw a 53-yard touchdown pass on a Hail Mary on the final play of the game to give the Mountaineers a 32-28 victory over Troy. Brice …

Former Clemson quarterback Chase Brice helped Appalachian State pull off a miracle win over Troy on Saturday.

Brice threw a 53-yard touchdown pass on a Hail Mary on the final play of the game to give the Mountaineers a 32-28 victory over Troy.

Brice went 22-of-34 passing for 278 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Check out his unbelievable Hail Mary, which was deflected but caught and ran in by Christan Horn for the game-winning score:

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Betting lines, score predictions for CFB’s conference championships

Predicting every conference championship game this weekend

One more weekend of football remains before it’s officially bowl season.

A few of the headliners this weekend across America include Oregon-Utah, Baylor-Oklahoma State, Georgia-Alabama and Michigan-Iowa.

Here’s how we predict these games will play out.

What They Are Saying: Chase Brice shines in App State’s upset win over Coastal

Former Clemson and current Appalachian State quarterback Chase Brice shined in the Mountaineers’ 30-27, upset victory over No. 14 Coastal Carolina on Wednesday night at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C. Brice, who transferred to App State after …

Former Clemson and current Appalachian State quarterback Chase Brice shined in the Mountaineers’ 30-27, upset victory over No. 14 Coastal Carolina on Wednesday night at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C.

Brice, who transferred to App State after graduating from Duke last year, completed 18-of-28 passes for a career-high 347 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 34 yards on five carries.

Brice led App State to its first win against a ranked opponent since the team’s upset of Michigan in 2007. He has now thrown for 1,840 yards and 10 touchdowns with five interceptions through seven games this season.

Twitter was buzzing about Brice’s performance against the Chanticleers. Check out what some had to say about the former Tiger QB:

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help.  #SaveNicks

USA TODAY: Wisconsin has a top-5 “interesting” non-conference schedule

The Badgers play an intriguing non-conference slate

As we move closer to the hopeful starting date of the 2020 football season, anticipation continues to build, specifically surrounding Wisconsin’s early non-conference schedule. USA TODAY Sports recently took a wide look at non-conference schedules around the country and ranked who had the most interesting group of opponents. The Badgers came in at No. 4 overall for good reason.

Here is what Wisconsin’s non-conference slate looks like:

Week 2: vs. Southern Illinois 

Week 3: vs. Appalachian State

Week 5: vs. Notre Dame (at Lambeau for now) 

The cupcake game is easy to see as Wisconsin welcomes FCS Southern Illinois to Camp Randall in the second week of the season. If you have not heard this warning already, hear it from me right now: do not overlook Appalachian State. If you have yet to jump on the App State bandwagon, you had better hurry because the train is filling up. This is a squad that lost one game last season and ended the year ranked as the No. 20 overall team in the nation with wins over North Carolina and South Carolina. The small town of Boone, North Carolina, where App State is located, runs college football in the Carolinas.

Then, you have the marquee matchup with Notre Dame that will hopefully take place at Lambeau Field in Green Bay despite recent reports that the game may be moved. A battle of two teams with New Years Bowl aspirations on NBC will be one of the marquee games of Wisconsin’s season in 2020. This non-conference slate certainly is among the most intriguing in the nation.

 

 

Twitter reacts to Tennessee Titans selecting RB Darrynton Evans

Here’s a look at what Twitter had to say about the selection.

[jwplayer 2A4vlg8b-ThvAeFxT]

Derrick and Darrynton — can you dig it?

Well, you’ll have to now that the Tennessee Titans have found the complement for star running back Derrick Henry.

The team selected App State rusher Darrynton Evans with the No. 93 overall pick in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Here’s a look at what Twitter had to say about the selection.

After the Titans took LSU cornerback Kristian Fulton in the second round and Evans in the third, the team has four picks remaining in the 2020 NFL Draft, with one in the fifth and three in the seventh.

No matter what happens on Day 3, Titans general manager Jon Robinson had a great Day 2.

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Louisiana at Appalachian State odds, lines, picks and best bets

Previewing Saturday’s Sun Belt Championship Game betting odds between the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and Appalachian State Mountaineers.

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (10-2, 7-1 Sun Belt West) and Appalachian State Mountaineers (11-1, 7-1 Sun Belt East) meet in the Sun Belt Championship Game for the second consecutive season. We analyze the Louisiana-Appalachian State odds and betting lines, while providing college football betting tips and advice on this matchup.

Louisiana at Appalachian State: Three things you need to know

1. App State has the SBC Offensive Player of the Year in RB Darrynton Evans, who posted 1,250 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground, while also adding three scores through the air and a kickoff return for a touchdown. He had 218 all-purpose yards with a 97-yard kickoff TD in last season’s title game vs. the Ragin’ Cajuns.

2. These teams hooked up Oct. 9 in Lafayette and it was surprisingly a defensive battle, going in favor of App State by a 17-7 count. The total on that game was set at 69.5.

3. The Ragin’ Cajuns rank eighth the nation in total yards (500.3) and 12th in points scored (38.8). The Mountaineers rank 18th in the country in rushing yards (226.0) and 11th in points scored (38.9).

College football season is almost over! Place your bets on this game, or others, at BetMGM now. Place your bets and win, win, win!

Louisiana at Appalachian State: Odds, betting lines and picks

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Appalachian State 33, Louisiana 27

Moneyline (ML)

App State (-223) is a little too expensive for a battle between two 10-win teams. While the Mountaineers are at home, remember, they fell to Georgia Southern in Boone last month. The Ragin’ Cajuns (+180) have some tremendous weapons in QB Levi Lewis and RB Elijah Mitchell, and this game really could go either way if the turnover battle is heavily skewed in one direction.

New to sports betting? Every $10 wagered on an outright win for App State will return a profit of $4.50.

Against the Spread (ATS)

PASS. App State (-6.5, -110) is a tempting play at less than a touchdown, but Louisiana (+6.5, -110) has the horses to either win this one outright, or make it a one-possession game. The Mountaineers won their final three games by a combined 86 points, but that was against the dregs of the SBC and not a quality team like Louisiana. My lean would be with the Cajuns, ever so slightly, but I am not playing it.

Over/Under (O/U)

The OVER 56.5 (-115) is your best bet if you’re looking to play the SBC title game. These teams each have explosive running backs capable of housing it every time. Evans and Mitchell have combined for 34 total touchdowns, but there are other players capable of big plays, too, including Ragas and RB Raymond Calais for ULL, and QB Zac Thomas and WR Thomas Hennigan for App State.

Get some action on this game or others, place a bet with BetMGM today. And for more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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