Appalachian State got a change of fortune. The Mountaineers again control their destiny

Saturday was a better day for Appalachian State football than most Mountaineer fans realized.

Thousands of Appalachian State supporters swelled the crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium and watched their team knock off South Carolina, in another victory over a Power 5 conference opponent.

But events that played out elsewhere across the Southeast might have a bigger role in the Mountaineers’ postseason destination.

While Appalachian State was handing South Carolina a 20-15 defeat, the Mountaineers’ two key rivals in the Sun Belt Eastern Conference race — Georgia Southern and Georgia State — lost.

Appalachian State again has control of its own destiny in the Sun Belt race, something it had lost when the Mountaineers were beaten at home two weeks ago by Georgia Southern.

The Mountaineers can take a big step toward wrapping up the Eastern title, and a berth in the Sun Belt championship game Dec. 7, by beating Georgia State on Saturday night in Atlanta (7:30 p.m., ESPNU).

“I think everyone felt like we let an opportunity slip away the previous week,”coach Eli Drinkwitz said, referring to the Georgia Southern loss. “You don’t get a second chance often in life.”

Drinkwitz said earlier this week that the change of fortune in the Sun Belt race seemed to help his team avoid focusing on the South Carolina victory and concentrate on the week ahead.

“Everyone, to a man, wanted to talk about Georgia State,” Drinkwitz said, describing his team’s reaction after Saturday’s game. “I don’t think we’ll have any issue putting that game behind us.”

Drinkwitz has said consistently through the season that the Mountaineers’ primary goals are winning the Sun Belt Conference championship and landing a good bowl berth. His team is 4-1 in the conference, a game ahead of Georgia Southern and Georgia State.

“We knew it would be a long season, with some ups and downs,” he said. “We knew there would be some chaos in the conference race.”

Different kind of option: The Mountaineers had troubles with Georgia Southern’s triple option-style offense two weeks ago, and now they face another option attack in Georgia State.

The Panthers rank sixth in FBS in rushing yards per game (274.7), but Drinkwitz said it’s a different option than Georgia Southern’s. The Panthers often throw the ball from their read-option attack and are averaging 210 passing yards per contest — much more than Georgia Southern.

“They have multiple ways of attacking,” Drinkwitz said of the Panthers. “We have to make sure we have our focus right. We have to be eye-disciplined. That’s been a problem for us.”

Mountaineer landmarks: Appalachian State’s No. 25 ranking in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings marks the first time that the Mountaineers, or any Sun Belt team, have cracked that meaningful top 25.

The highest-ranked Group of Five team lands a berth in the Cotton Bowl, one of the so-called “New Year’s 6” bowl games. Appalachian State is competing with Cincinnati (No. 17), Memphis (18), Boise State (21) and Navy (23) for that spot.

This week’s national TV appearance will be the fourth in a row for the Mountaineers. That ties the school mark originally set in 2006, when four consecutive Appalachian State games in the FCS playoffs were aired nationally.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle

This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 1:41 PM.