Any hopes and dreams of being the first Sun Belt Conference team to play in a New Years Six bowl game may have just vanished for No. 20 Appalachian State (7-1, 4-1 Sun Belt). A slow start and an unsuccessful fourth-quarter rally resulted in a 24-21 loss to Georgia Southern (5-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) that not only deals a devasting blow to Appalachian State’s New Years Six hopes but takes the Sun Belt race into high gear entering November.
After scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter with Zac Thomas completing two touchdown passes to Corey Sutton, Appalachian State’s drive to potentially take the lead stalled with a turnover on downs with just 2:16 to play. The Mountaineers got the ball back with 1:06 to play from their own 16-yard line, but Georgia Southern’s defense came up with the final stop to deal a crushing blow to the previously undefeated Mountaineers. The only Group of Five team left standing without a loss is now SMU of the AAC. SMU will be visiting Memphis this weekend.
Georgia Southern beat Appalachian State with just one completed pass by Shai Werts, a 16-yard completion to Mark Michaud. Wesley Kennedy III anchored the offense on the ground with 145 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Eagles in their upset victory. This was just the second victory over a ranked FBS program in Georgia Southern’s history. The last one was also against Appalachian State.
Georgia Southern now controls the fate of the Sun Belt East Division thanks to a game-in-hand and a head-to-head tiebreaker with Appalachian State.
Appalachian State will look to rebound in a big way next week when they visit South Carolina for a non-conference matchup against the SEC program. A win in Columbia would still be great for the Appalachian State program, but it may not be enough this late in the season to allow the Mountaineers to catch up with the eventual champion coming out of the Amercian Athletic Conference or Mountain West Conference for the spot in the New Years Six.
Then again, Appalachian State will need help from Georgia Southern’s opponents too. Georgia Southern will be on the road next week to play Troy.