No Cotton Bowl for Appalachian State. Mountaineers have 13-game win streak snapped
Georgia Southern used a relentless running game to hand 20th-ranked Appalachian State its first loss of the season in a 24-21 Sun Belt Conference defeat at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The loss broke a 13-game winning streak for the Mountaineers (7-1, 4-1 Sun Belt), which stretched to last season and had only been exceeded nationally by Clemson (23) and (14).
Losing to the Eagles (5-3, 3-1) also put a likely end to App State’s hopes of playing in a “New Year’s 6” bowl game. The highest-ranked team from one of the so-called “Group Of 5” conferences (of which the Sun Belt is part of) automatically receives a bid to one of the country’s more prestigious bowls. This year, that’s the Cotton Bowl.
The Mountaineers, with a game at the SEC’s South Carolina coming up Nov. 9, were in contention to be one of those teams until they ran into Georgia Southern, their longtime rival from the days when they both played in the Football Championship Subdivision’s Southern Conference. The Eagles were the last team to beat the Mountaineers, winning last season in Statesboro, Ga.
Led by quarterback Shai Werts, the Eagles ground out 335 yards rushing and only threw the ball four times. Leading 10-7 at halftime, Georgia Southern struck with two big play touchdowns in the third quarter -- a 68-yarder by Wesley Kennedy and a 55-yarder by Werts.
The Eagles pushed the Mountaineers around for much of the first half, rolling up 125 yards on the ground and going up 10-0. Georgia Southern scored on its second possession on a 2-yard run by Kennedy. The Eagles made it 10-0 when Tyler Bass kicked a 49-yard field goal in the second quarter, a line drive that knifed through a strong wind going against the kick.
The Mountaineers, in the meantime, were getting virtually nothing on offense, punting on each of their first five possessions. There was little reason to think matters would change after Appalachian took possession on its own 8 with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in the half after an Eagles punt. Perhaps just run out the clock and get out of the half further unscathed.
Instead, quarterback Zac Thomas took the Mountaineers the length of the field, completing eight-of-nine passes, and finishing the drive with a 15-yard scoring strike to Malik Williams with six seconds left. That cut the Eagles lead to 10-7.
Appalachian cut the lead to 24-14 with 8:22 left on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Sutton. The Mountaineers got another late touchdown, a 9-yard pass from Thomas to Sutton with 4:47 left to cut it to 24-21.
Appalachian got the ball back twice after that touchdown, but turned it over on downs and then had the clock run out.
The game changed when ...
After Appalachian State cut the Georgia Southern lead to 10-7 at halftime, the Eagles’ Wesley Kennedy scored on a 68-yard run on the third play of the third quarter, making it 17-7 and putting the Mountaineers in a hole from which they couldn’t recover.
Helmet stickers
Wesley Kennedy: Georgia Southern tailback rushed for 145 yards on 13 carries and scored twice.
Shai Werts: Never mind that the Eagles quarterback completed one pass out of four for the game. He rushed for 83 yards on 13 carries out of the triple option.
Zac Thomas: Mountaineers quarterback completed 25-of-51 passes for 271 yards and 3 TDs.
Making sense of the numbers
0: Turnovers in the game.
423-351: Appalachian State’s total yardage advantage. Georgia Southern had just 16 yards passing.
This story was originally published October 31, 2019 at 11:34 PM.