App State pulls off stunner vs. No. 18 James Madison, stays in race for Sun Belt title
Appalachian State pulled off its biggest and wildest win of the season Saturday, upsetting No. 18 James Madison, 26-23, on the road in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
With the pulsating victory, secured with an OT touchdown pass from Joey Aguilar to Kaedin Robinson that required an extensive replay review, App State (7-4, 5-2 Sun Belt) stayed in the race for its conference championship. To make the Dec. 2 conference title game, the Mountaineers will need to win at home against Georgia Southern (2:30 p.m., Saturday), on the day legendary quarterback Armanti Edwards’ jersey is retired. App State will also need James Madison (10-1, 6-1 Sun Belt) to come through with a bounce-back win at Coastal Carolina.
James Madison, in the second year of its FCS-to-FBS transition, is not eligible this season to play in the Sun Belt championship game. Troy is already set as West division champion and guaranteed a spot in the championship game. Either App State or Coastal Carolina will represent the East.
Said Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark after the victory: “This was not an upset.... I think this shows you right now that things still go through Boone, North Carolina, and we’re not backing down from that.”
Saturday’s win came before a sellout crowd in James Madison’s stadium and ESPN’s College GameDay crew, which had traveled to Harrisonburg mostly to celebrate the undefeated Dukes.
The game was tied at 20-all entering overtime. James Madison had the ball first and was held to a field goal to make it 23-20. Then App State, on a third-down play from the 8, made the biggest play of the night.
Aguilar threw a short pass over the middle to Robinson, who headed for the left sideline and broke two tackles along the way. On the third tackle attempt, though, Robinson was spun around while reaching the ball out toward the front left corner of the end zone. He fumbled the ball as he did so. But it was determined that Robinson was able to break the plane of the goal line just before losing control of the ball, securing the touchdown and setting off a raucous celebration for the Mountaineers.
Aguilar threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns for App State, including two to Robinson. The Mountaineers had to withstand a late rally from James Madison, which trailed 20-12 in the final minutes. But the Dukes converted a fourth-and-18 on a 27-yard pass, then got an 11-yard TD pass and a two-point conversion to tie the game at 20 and set the stage for overtime.
“Joey and the receivers had an excellent game,” Clark said with a slight grin in his postgame press conference. “Very proud of them. And our defense played lights out. Our defense was the reason we won the football game, there’s no doubt about it. All except for the 4th-and-20 (actually 4th-and-18) on that one play. But you know — we’re trying to sell tickets next week to Georgia Southern.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2023 at 10:20 AM.
