Commentary:

ASU can’t forget

1999 playoff loss
By Steve Behr, sports editor

It was not Appalachian State at its best.

The last time the Mountaineers faced a team from the MEAC, it was 1999. Florida A&M, seeded 14th in the playoffs, visited Kidd Brewer Stadium to take on third-seeded Appalachian State in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.

Personally, it was my first playoff game at ASU. The only other playoff game I’d seen in North Carolina was when the Carolina Panthers upset the then-defending World Champion Dallas Cowboys.

Florida A&M wasn’t exactly the Cowboys and the Rattlers had won the MEAC, not the Super Bowl. They were not necessarily supposed to be an easy mark, but certainly a winnable game.

Nope.

Appalachian State went into the game as a tri-champion of the Southern Conference. They beat No. 1-ranked Georgia Southern 17-16 at Kidd Brewer in the regular season, and nearly beat Auburn, falling in the fourth quarter 22-15.

But Florida A&M had a surprise for the Mountaineers. Using their speed, particularly at receiver, the Rattlers beat the Mountaineers 44-29 in front of 6,837 disappointed fans at The Rock.

“They wore us out,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore recalled. “I’ll never forget that.”

Florida A&M, which won the first Division I-AA playoffs in 1978, used a no-huddle, run-and-shoot offense to keep Appalachian State offbalance all game. The Rattlers jumped out to a 27-6 third-quarter lead before the Mountaineers got their offense going.

The MEAC has not won a playoff game since those 1999 Rattlers.

This Saturday, South Carolina State will try to be the first when it takes on the Mountaineers. This time, Appalachian State is the second seed in an FCS tournament that seeds just the top four teams.

South Carolina State brings impressive numbers with it. The Bulldogs are 10-2, having lost to two FBS teams.

Their defense has allowed just 15 points per game and the Bulldogs have outscored their last three opponents 143-0. Their defense has 37 sacks and their offense features William Ford, who has gained 1,382 and scored 12 touchdowns on the ground.

Moore scoffed at the idea of the Mountaaineers being overconfident Saturday.

“We’re certainly not overconfident with South Carolina State,” Moore said. “We were not overconfident with Florida A&M. They just beat us. They had a great plan. It didn’t have anything to do with overconfidence.”
“They had a terrific football team. So does South Carolina State.”

It’s doubtful the Appalachian State will be overconfident Saturday, but circumstances are a bit different than they were in 1999. The Mountaineers are much more explosive offensively, even though the 1999 version had two players — receivers Daniel Wilcox and Troy Albea — make NFL rosters.

That was a good team that simply got outplayed by Florida A&M, which won in the second round before falling in the semifinals.

(Wilcox just scored his second touchdown of the season last Sunday with the Baltimore Ravens and Albea was on his way to making the Indianapolis Colts’ roster before a severe knee injury killed those plans.)
It remains to be seen if any Mountaineers will reach the NFL, but several have at least two national championship rings. A handful have three.

Appalachian State should have enough to beat S.C. State and reach the second round. Still, taking the Bulldogs lightly would be a bad idea.