Return to The Rock
Mountaineers return

home to host Jacksonville
By Steve Behr

Appalachian State has played the best team on its 2008 schedule. Now it’s time to go back to the task of winning a fourth national championship.

The Mountaineers take on their first FCS opponent when they host Jacksonville at Kidd Brewer Stadium Saturday. The game is the first of six Appalachian State home games, and begins at 3:30 p.m.

The Mountaineers are looking to shake off a 41-13 loss to LSU, which was ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll. Appalachian State still ranked No. 1 in The Sports Network Poll and second in the AFCA poll.

So it would be easy to think that Appalachian State, a three-time FCS-IAA national champion, would be taking Jacksonville, a non-scholarship program from the Pioneer Football League, lightly. Mountaineers head coach Jerry Moore isn’t.

“We’ve got great respect for them,” Moore said. “Their kids are playing hard and they are well-coached. I’m sure they’re excited about playing us as we were playing LSU and I’m not comparing us to LSU.”

The Mountaineers have not lost back-to-back games at the start of the season since 2003, when they lost to Hawaii and then Eastern Kentucky. They also have not lost a home opener since 2000 (Troy State) and is 17-2 in home openers under Moore.

Jacksonville comes into the game with a 1-0 record, having beaten Savannah State 20-7 last weekend. The Dolphins, coached by former Florida standout Kerwin Bell, were 3-8 last year. The Dolphins, who use the spread offense, are in their 11th season as a program.

“Their team obviously has gotten better,” Moore said. “They beat Savannah State last week. The got off to a good start and they’re a team that is looking toward the future.”

Appalachian State’s immediate future depends on forgetting a forgettable performance at LSU. The Mountaineers were held to 52 yards rushing and did not score until the second half when Armanti Edwards hit running back Robert Welton for a 44-yard catch and run.

Edwards said the LSU safeties were coming up fast on the ASU running game and overreacted to a play-action fake.

“It was the first time we went to a two-back set,” Edwards said. “The safeties came down hard on pursuit. That’s what we put the play action in for.”

Edwards, who hit 11-of-31 passes for 155 yards, said the Mountaineers went back to correcting mistakes from the LSU game during practice this week.

“They were pretty fast, so we knew we would have to get the ball out quick,” Edwards said. “We’d block the wrong person on the line, or drop a ball or make a bad pass.”