For the 42nd time, Appalachian State (1-3, 1-0 SoCon) will face off against The Citadel (1-4, 1-2 SoCon) in a matchup of two struggling teams from the Southern Conference.
App State has been dominant over the years against The Citadel, maintaining a 29-12 record against the Bulldogs since 1972, according to appstatesports.com.
Despite the overall series lead, The Citadel came into Kidd Brewer Stadium last season and walked away with an impressive 52-28 win over the Mountaineers.
“They’re very capable of putting up big numbers offensively,” head coach Scott Satterfield said. “I think they have a very good football team. Very aggressive on defense, they like to bring pressure, and of course their running game is outstanding.”
Last week against Charleston Southern, the running game is what killed App State. While maintaining over an 18-minute differential in time of possession, the Bucs ran for 298 yards against a Mountaineer defense that simply couldn’t get a stop on third down.
“We’ve got to do a whole lot better job on third down and getting off the field,” Satterfield said. “That’s going to be the big key of the game.”
Former App State defensive lineman and current outside linebacker coach Mark Ivey also spoke on the importance of forcing a stop.
“Your goal is to get off the field in three plays,” he said. “If you do that, you keep your defense fresh and you give your offense an opportunity to have the ball. Time of possession is always huge.”
The Citadel will provide a chance for the Mountaineer defense to redeem itself, as the Bulldogs run an option-run attack that in some ways is very similar to Charleston Southern. Unlike the Buccaneers, however, The Citadel will often keep their quarterback under center, as opposed to the shotgun formation – something the Bucs utilized.
“The majority of their stuff is going to be under center, which gives you a true triple option where they are making you read all three aspects: The dive, the quarterback and the pitch,” Ivey said.
Freshman defensive end Olawale Dada was a nice surprise for the Mountaineers last week, as he often rallied to the ball and finished with 12 tackles in only his second appearance of his young career.
Dada and the rest of the defense will be looking to improve against the option, facing it for the second time in as many weeks.
“Stopping the triple option is as simple as playing your keys,” Dada said. “If everyone does their job, we will win. Last game, if everyone did their job exactly when we were supposed to do our job, we would have beat [Charleston Southern].”
On the offensive side of the ball, App State will continue to interchange between co-starting quarterbacks Jamal Londry-Jackson and Kameron Bryant.
“Last week, they both played well,” Satterfield said. “They didn’t turn it over and they moved the offense. So we’re gonna go with it and see [who] gives us the best chance to move the ball.”
Bryant doesn’t find that the dual quarterback scheme was hard and switching with Londry-Jackson is easy.
“We’re getting equal reps in practice, so it wasn’t really that difficult,” Bryant said. “If you practice like you’re going to play every snap, it doesn’t matter if you play 30 or 80, you just got to be prepared.”
App State will travel to Charleston, S.C., to play The Citadel on Saturday at 2 p.m. Despite its 1-3 record, App State has a chance to remain unbeaten in the Southern Conference with a win over the Bulldogs.
Story: Nick Joyner, Sports Reporter