For the second consecutive week, Appalachian State has received votes for the AP Top 25. This week they received a total of four votes after receiving six in the prior poll.
The votes first came after the Mountaineers’ nationally televised victory over Georgia State, marking the first time the team had received votes since 2007, when the team’s historic 34-32 victory over Michigan prompted the Associated Press to change the rule to include FCS teams in Top 25 voting.
“It’s a big milestone for us, but we got a long way to go in the season,” sophomore quarterback Taylor Lamb said. “This team is just really staying focused right now.”
Head coach Scott Satterfield said that he believes if you handle the day-to-day business that good things will happen in the end, as they have basically all season.
“You gotta have that mentality,” Satterfield said. “If you don’t, you probably won’t have the success that you wanna have.”
Some players have viewed the honor as a stepping stone.
“It shows us how much more we have to accomplish,” junior linebacker John Law said. “How much further we can go.”
This Mountaineer team has been off the radar for the majority of the season, despite losing only once to Clemson, ranked third in the nation. Senior wide receiver Simms McElfresh said that is because it’s a “blue collar” team.
“We obviously don’t have 5, 4-star recruits coming in,” McElfresh said. “It’s a lot of 3, 2-star guys that just work. So we work hard, and it’s been paying off for us.”
McElfresh understands this more than perhaps any other Mountaineer, having gone from a walk-on as a freshman to a standout at his position as a senior.
Lamb said this team believed in itself before the national recognition, as the team has only lost two total games dating back to Oct. 11 of last season, one of which was to the team currently ranked No.1 in the College Football Playoff rankings, Clemson.
“This team’s got a lot of confidence,” Lamb said. “We walk around with a lot of confidence. That’s how we play. We play loose. And it’s good to have those AP votes, but it all comes down to winning football games.”
Appalachian State hosts Arkansas State in another nationally-televised game on Thursday. If the Mountaineers play up to their potential, they may get more than just a few votes.
“It’s definitely good to see somebody giving us recognition for all the hard work we put in and all the time and effort we put in to it,” Law said. “We just wanna keep winning so we can actually be in the Top 25.”
Story by: Colin Tate, Sports Reporter