ASU freshman subs for starter, helps beat Idaho

Coming off two shaky performances and its first Sun Belt loss in more than a year, Appalachian State put its remaining conference title hopes in the hands of a player who had carried the ball just 32 times in his career.

Stepping in for injured starter Marcus Cox, Jalin Moore set a program freshman rushing record, gaining 244 yards on 27 carries as the Mountaineers beat the Idaho Vandals 47-20 on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome.

With Cox sitting to rest a sore knee, App State started the game rotating Terrence Upshaw and Moore at running back, before Moore carried six times for 48 yards on the Mountaineers’ second drive.

From there, the redshirt freshman from Shelby just got stronger, breaking 10 runs of more than 10 yards, including three that went for 20 yards or more.

Last week’s 108-yard rushing performance was well off App State’s season average of 255 yards.

With the Vandals (3-7, 2-5) still within striking distance to start the second half, Moore broke open the game with a 46-yard run on the first play of the third quarter, setting up a 15-yard pass from Taylor Lamb to Malachi Jones to help make it 28-13.

Lamb was efficient, completing 8 of 15 pass attempts for 90 yards with three touchdowns, adding 41 yards on eight carries.

What had been a competitive game quickly got out of hand as Lamb added a touchdown pass to Montez McGuire before a safety pushed App State’s lead to 37-13.

In the fourth quarter, J.P. Caruso came in at quarterback and hit Bill Cecil for a 5-yard touchdown.

With the victory, App State stayed in the Sun Belt title race, one game behind leader Arkansas State, which topped Louisiana-Monroe 54-21 on Saturday.

App State led 21-13 at halftime after Idaho used an efficient 49-yard drive to set up Austin Rekhow’s 44-yard field goal – his second of the first half – as time expired.

The Mountaineers jumped to a 21-10 lead – its biggest of the day to that point – after Terrence Upshaw punched in a 1-yard touchdown with 1:05 to play in the second quarter after an untimely offside penalty kept the drive alive for App State.

After the Vandals jumped offside on a Mountaineers’ punt, Lamb ran for 3 yards on fourth-and-2 before Moore broke two big runs to set up the touchdown.

Lamb used his legs to set up the Mountaineers’ second touchdown, when he made a well-timed option pitch to receiver Bobo Beathard who went into the end zone untouched to break a 7-7 tie, following Elijhaa Penny’s rushing touchdown for Idaho.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring when Barrett Burns caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season – this one from 15 yards – to help App State to a 7-0 lead.

Despite having just 12 catches on the season, Burns leads the Mountaineers in receiving touchdowns and has the most for a single player since Cox had six in 2013.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "ASU freshman subs for starter, helps beat Idaho."