BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State makes the 1,700-mile trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico to wrap up their regular season on Saturday where the Mountaineers face New Mexico State. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
App State (8-3, 6-1 Sun Belt) will try to put the finishing touches on a nine-win regular season and set itself up for, potentially, a 10-win season with a December bowl win. Bowl matchups will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 4.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE/TIME: Sat., Nov. 26, 2016 - 4:00 p.m. ET – Las Cruces, N.M.
TV: WATCH LIVE ESPN3 (Brock Boling - PxP, Brian Kinchen - Analyst)
Appalachian Sports Network: LISTEN LIVE (Adam Witten - PxP, Pierre Banks - Analyst, Karl Anderson - Sidelines)
New Mexico State (3-7, 2-4) is looking to piece together back-to-back Sun Belt wins for the first time this season.
Both teams would probably have preferred to keep playing given their performances a week ago. App rolled up a season-high 637 yards – 429 on the ground – to blitz UL Monroe last week, 42-17. The Mountaineers climbed 21 spots in the NCAA rankings for total offense with the performance and came up eight rushing yards short from quarterback Taylor Lamb to have three backs go over 100 yards rushing in the win. Senior Marcus Cox had the perfect dash into the App record books, breaking a 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to become the school's all-time leading rusher. Teammate Jalin Moore had 135 yards on only 13 carries and Lamb finished with 92 yards including a 35-yard TD run as App averaged nine yards per carry.
App's recipe for success is pretty obvious, statistically speaking, as the season fully unfolds. The Mountaineers lead the Sun Belt in Scoring Defense (17.9 ppg), Total Defense (333.8), and Turnover Margin (+0.64), then grind opponents down on offense, leading the Sun Belt in Rushing Offense (234.6), First Downs (244), and Time of Possession (33:01). App will try to take advantage of an Aggie defense that allows 226 yards per game on the ground, ninth in the Sun Belt.
The Mountaineers have to take care of the football to be successful. NMSU pounced on Texas State last week, capitalizing on early mistakes. The Aggies are second in the Sun Belt with 19 takeaways forcing four early turnovers in their 50-10 win over the Bobcats last Saturday.
“When you watch the film, they're pretty good on defense,” App State Head Coach Scott Satterfield said of NMSU. “In the games they've won, they have turned teams over. Four turnovers in the first 12 plays last weekend. We're going to try and run the football and hit some balls downfield. We need to be efficient in the passing game like we were last week.”
Friday's trip is long, but it is somewhat familiar. The Apps had to trek cross country last season to get to Idaho and rolled to a 47-20 win behind over 250 yards from Moore. This weekend, the routine will stay the same getting ready for the Aggies.
“We've really looked at the schedule and the way we're going to travel,” Satterfield added. “Just going to make sure we feed them and hydrate. We might get up a little earlier. We did this last year going to Idaho and hopefully it'll work out the same way.”
App's top-ranked defense and ball-hawking secondary will be tested. NMSU quarterback Tyler Rogers and an Aggie passing game that leads the Sun Belt at 278 yards per game. Rogers has 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season, while App is tied for No. 2 nationally with 18 picks, two back of national leader San Diego State.
Quietly, New Mexico State has been a much better football team in Las Cruces than on the road this season. The Aggies are 3-1 at home with wins over New Mexico, Louisiana, and Texas State. The lone loss was a 22-19 Georgia Southern win that NMSU let slipped away on a botched kickoff. App had a nine-game conference road winning streak snapped at Troy two weeks ago.
-App State-
