How Appalachian State, Clifton Duck have made move to big-time football look so easy

Clifton Duck isn’t supposed to be an Football Bowl Subdivision starter, just like the school he plays for, Appalachian State, isn’t supposed to be an FBS power.

“It’s mind-blowing,” Duck, the cornerback from Butler High, said Saturday. “But it’s not a surprise.”

What he said actually makes perfect sense: Appalachian State was the only FBS program - really the only college program, period - with enough faith in Duck to offer him a scholarship. Three years later, he played a key role in the Mountaineers’ 21-10 victory over Troy. That victory means Appalachian State will host the first Sun Belt Championship Game, next Saturday at noon against Louisiana.

Duck doesn’t look like a major-college football player at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds. But he has a pluck and self-confidence that is symbolic of the way Appalachian State has plotted this course from FCS to FBS so magnificently. The Mountaineers (9-2, 7-1 in the Sun Belt) have had at least a piece of the conference title the prior two seasons. They will go to a bowl game for the fourth time in as many seasons.

When coach Scott Satterfield said post-game he believes no program has done a better job of making the jump to FBS, it didn’t sound like a brag, just a satisfying reflection of the apparent.

Satterfield said the key to all this has been consistency - that every day his players know exactly what they are supposed to do regardless of how the last time they the did went. When Satterfield started getting questions about Louisiana post-game, he said the Mountaineers don’t spend much focus on opponents.

That doesn’t mean they don’t scout or prepare. His point was that the Mountaineers have a way to play and that plan doesn’t just get crumpled easily by circumstance. That approach is a takeaway defense and a varied offense. Duck is big in that takeaway agenda. He picked off a pass in the second half that felt big because the Mountaineers’ offense was strangely misfiring in the third quarter (only one first down and 10 total yards).

Duck contributed that pick, plus an early-game 46-yard punt return - he made two Troy defenders totally whiff on tackles - that helped set the tone early.

Keep in mind the team Appalachian State dominated Saturday is no slouch. Troy had won 13 consecutive Sun Belt games. However, the Mountaineers’ defense limited 9-3 Troy to three third-down conversions in 15 attempts and forced four turnovers. The possessions those forced turnovers generated resulted in 14 points, essentially the difference in this game.

That consistency and achievement Satterfield described has started helping the program recruit talent you would not have seen at Kidd-Brewer Stadium previously. There is a bruiser of a freshman running back named Camerun Peoples, who grew up in Alabama, who chose the Mountaineers. Peoples has played just snippets of two games this season, as the Mountaineers look to preserve the option of this counting as a redshirt season.

An even bigger name is former Mallard Creek star Corey Sutton, a wide receiver who caught passes of 16- and 15-yards from Zac Thomas for this game’s first two touchdowns. The second of those touchdowns was as acrobatic as you will see. Sutton managed to tap a toe in the back off the end zone just as he established the catch. Initially, it was called no reception, but replay showed he’d managed to score.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Sutton started his college career at Kansas State. He had some success there, too, but decided on a change.

Appalachian State had an in; Sutton’s father played there at the same time as former quarterback Satterfield. But it was still a sales job.

When I asked Satterfield how he closed the deal on Sutton’s transfer, the coach mentioned that one of the basic tenets of this program - it’s framed on a wall in the team meeting room - is always “Have fun.”

They’re having great fun in Boone these days and hosting this conference championship game will be yet another topper. They have made the past six seasons look like they were scripted, rather than survived.

It looks easy. It’s not. But as Satterfield kept repeating, it’s bunches of fun.

This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 7:46 PM.