Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 80. Appalachian State
THE MOUNTAINEERS HAVE JUST BEATEN THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES!
THE MOUNTAINEERS HAVE JUST BEATEN THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES!
Those words still echo in the mind of college football fans today, whether you like it or not. Since that game, App State has gone from little known FCS school to one of the premier Group of 5 programs in the country, going to 7 bowls and winning 4 conference titles in their first 9 years in the FBS. App State is so much more than their win over Michigan, they’re a 3x FCS national title winner with a 654-352-28 all time record.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 11 | Appalachian State | 2019 | 33.774 | 13-1 |
| 16 | Appalachian State | 2018 | 23.951 | 11-2 |
| 25 | Appalachian State | 2015 | 19.956 | 11-2 |
| 23 | Appalachian State | 2016 | 18.676 | 10-3 |
| 34 | Appalachian State | 2021 | 11.872 | 10-4 |
| 27 | Appalachian State | 2020 | 10.207 | 9-3 |
| 41 | Appalachian State | 2017 | 5.885 | 9-4 |
| 72 | Appalachian State | 2022 | -11.144 | 6-6 |
| 73 | Appalachian State | 2014 | -12.051 | 7-5 |
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 10445 (80th)86-30 record
4 conference titles
6-1 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
8 NFL players drafted
If you want the blueprint for a successful FCS → FBS transition, look no further than Appalachian State. App won right out the gate, winning 4 straight conference titles from 2016-19, winning their first 6 bowl games, and went 54-10 in their first 8 seasons in the Sun Belt. They’ve sent 2 head coaches to Power 5 programs in Scott Satterfield (Louisville) and Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri). While they’ve only finished in the AP Top 25 once, they’ve finished top 25 in my rankings 4 times, and I think they’ve generally been pretty underrated as a team year-to-year.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2014 (7-5 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt)
Despite going 6-6 and 3-5 in the Sun Belt in 2022, the 2014 team was slightly worse according to my algorithm because of strength of schedule. The 2014 team played the 2nd easiest schedule in the NCAA, and when you look at some of the teams App State lost to/beat, it makes sense why they’re here. A 1-5 start included losses to 3-9 Southern Miss, rival Georgia Southern, and…FCS team Liberty. The Liberty loss is somewhat excusable, it was 48-55 in OT and App still had an FCS-level roster. A 6 game win streak to end the season could’ve gotten them out of this “worst” spot, but the wins were over 3-9 Troy, 1-11 Georgia State, 4-8 UL Monroe, 1-10 Idaho…with admittedly impressive wins over 7-6 Arkansas State and 9-4 UL Lafayette. The win over Lafayette actually caused them to miss out on a share of the Sun Belt title. App State finished 3rd themselves. RB Marcus Cox ran for 1400+ yards with 19 TD.
5. 2021 (10-4 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
App inherited former Clemson hero Chase Brice as a transfer QB. Brice helped lead a 10 point comeback against Syracuse in 2018 to keep #3 Clemson unbeaten. App State was expected to compete for the Sun Belt crown with Coastal Carolina and Louisiana, who went a combined 21-2 the previous season. After an opening win over East Carolina, App State travelled to Miami to play the Hurricanes who needed a late FG to escape with a 25-23 win. In a possible preview of the Sun Belt title game, 4-1 App State took on 4-1 UL Lafayette, but the Cajuns dominated from the opening whistle to easily take it 41-13. App would rebound with a huge 30-27 win over #14 Coastal Carolina, to take the lead in the East division. The Mountaineers won out, going 10-2, and by the time they entered the Sun Belt title game they were rolling, winning their last 5 games by an average score of 42-12. App State had a chance at their 5th title in 6 years as 2.5 point favorites in the rematch with #20 Louisiana, but again the Cajuns did enough for the 24-16 win. App would also lose the bowl game to a high-powered Bailey Zappe-led Western Kentucky offense.
The All-Sun Belt team was SSSTACKED with App State players, with 9 on offense and 7 on defense making 1st-3rd team. Even kicker Chandler Staton was 1st Team All-American, going 57/57 on XPs and 20/20 on FGs. Chase Brice earned 3rd Team All-Sun Belt, throwing for 3337 yards with 27 TD 11 INT. RBs Nate Noel and Camrun Peoples combined for 2054 rushing yards and 18 TD, both making 1st/2nd team. WRs Corey Sutton, Malik Williams, and Thomas Hennigan all had 800+ receiving yards, making 1st/2nd team. The LB core was one of the best in the country: D’Marco Jackson was the Sun Belt Defensive POTY with 119 tackles, 6 sacks, and 14 TFL. Nick Hampton was 2nd in the conference with 11 sacks. And Trey Cobb was 2nd team all-conference with 3 INTs, 4 PBUs, and 6 TFL. Both Jackson and Hampton were drafted into the NFL.
4. 2016 (10-3 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
In 2016 it was QB Taylor Lamb’s junior year and his 3rd year as a starter. App was in their 3rd year in the FBS and showed potential the previous 2 years going 7-5 and 11-2, but hadn’t made it to the top of the mountain quite yet. That was the expectation going into 2016, with the media picking them to win the Sun Belt. In an opening 13-20 loss in OT to #9 Tennessee, most people focused on the embarrassment for Butch Jones and Tennessee, ignoring the fact that this was a really good App State team, and not your usual FCS → FBS transition school. After going 2-2 in the non-conference slate, App went 7-1 in the Sun Belt, only losing to 10-3 Troy 24-28 while beating all other teams by 2+ touchdowns. In just their 3rd season in the FBS, App secured their first ever Sun Belt title, and beat 9-3 Toledo in the bowl for good measure. RB Jalin Moore won Sun Belt Offensive POTY, running for 1400+ yards with 10 TD. Backup Marcus Cox was arguably even better, running for 1000+ yards and 9 TD on 6.4 YPC in just 9 games. He probably would’ve won OPOTY had he not missed games due to injury. Lamb had his worst statistical year with just 15 TD passes to 8 INT, but did rush for 500+ yards with 9 TD. DBs Clifton Duck and Mondo Williams formed a buddy-cop show character name tag team in the secondary, both making 1st Team All-Sun Belt with 9 total INTs.
3. 2015 (11-2 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
People knew App State was a solid school after finishing 3rd in the Sun Belt the previous season, but how good? The media pegged them to finish 4th in 2015, so pretty good but not championship material. Taylor Lamb, Marcus Cox, and App State would quickly challenge that hypothesis. Not satisfied with an opening 49-0 win over Howard, App beat Old Dominion by the same score 2 weeks later. It wasn’t good enough, we needed more. 37-3 over Georgia State. 59-14 over UL Monroe. App ran like a well oiled machine with the Lamb-Cox backfield. All that winning set up their biggest game of their short FBS lives, at 7-1 (4-0 Sun Belt) taking on Arkansas State (5-3, 4-0), who’d won 3 of the last 4 conference titles. Experience won out this time, with the more polished Red Wolves taking it 40-27. Still with the possibility of sharing a title if Arkansas State lost another game, App won out to finish 10-2, but Arkansas State won the title with a perfect 8-0 record. In App State’s first ever bowl game, Zach “Auto” Matics hit a walk off 23 yard FG for the 31-29 win, starting a string of 6 straight bowl wins.
The Mountaineers had a top 25 offense and defense, averaging 36.7 PPG while giving up just 19.1. Lamb had his best year statistically, throwing for 2364 yards with 31 TD 9 INT, also running for 436 with 5 TD. Lamb would go on to finish his career from 2014-17 as the Sun Belt’s all-time TD leader with 113 (90 passing + 23 rushing). Marcus Cox had his 2nd of 3 1000+ yard rushing seasons, 3rd of 4 if you count his 2013 season in the FCS. He ran for a career high 1428 with 9 TD. DE Ronald Blair won Sun Belt Defensive POTY with 71 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 11.5 TFL, and 1 INT.
2. 2018 (11-2 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
After Lamb graduated, I don’t think App State fans thought they could get any better. After all, they’d won 2 straight Sun Belt titles, and while they were slight favorites to make it to the conference title game in 2018, this team exceeded all expectations over the next 2 seasons. They had #10 Penn State on the ropes in Happy Valley in week 1. New QB Zac Thomas was going drive-for-drive with Penn State veteran Trace McSorley, and App even had a 38-31 lead with 1 minute to go before losing 38-45 in OT. The game would be a good omen. After 5 straight wins, App was ranked for the first time in their history at #25. Unfortunately, Thomas went down with an injury against rival Georgia Southern, and the Eagles coasted to a 34-14 win. With just 4 conference games left to play, App State needed to win 2 more games than Georgia Southern to make the championship game, and it miraculously happened, with App going 4-0 and Southern losing to Troy and a weak UL Monroe team. App State had a favorable matchup with 7-5 Louisiana in the title game, winning 30-19 to 3-peat as Sun Belt champs. In typical App State fashion (and typical Middle Tennessee fashion), App dominated in the bowl 45-13, raining on coach/QB father/son combo Rick/Brent Stockstill’s parade.
Zac Thomas turned out to be even better than Taylor Lamb, winning Sun Belt Offensive POTY with 2039 passing yards, 21 TD 6 INT, also notching 504 rushing yards and 10 TD. Scott Satterfield finally won his first Sun Belt Coach of the Year award after winning the Sun Belt title for the 3rd straight year. App State’s defense was one of the best in the country, ranking 4th in PPG allowed (15.5), 5th in passing YPG allowed (162.2), and 1st in pass TD allowed per game (0.6). The defense had over twice as many INTs as passing TDs allowed! DB Clifton Duck earned his 3rd straight 1st Team All-Sun Belt honors, and in total 7 offensive and 7 defensive players made 1st-3rd Team All-Sun Belt. All setting up for an even better 2019.
1. 2019 (13-1 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
Satterfield left for Louisville, and Eli Drinkwitz took over. There’s a reason he was hired by Missouri after just 1 year at App State. App State fans knew it was going to be a special season by week 3, when the Mountaineers beat Mack Brown and North Carolina, blocking a FG to hang on for the 34-31 victory. After narrowly missing out on upsetting Penn State the previous year, they got the job done this time over in-state rival UNC. From there, it was mostly smooth sailing. A 17-7 win over 4-1 Louisiana. UL Monroe and South Alabama by a combined 82-10. But still, for the 2nd straight year, even with a healthy Zac Thomas this time, App couldn’t beat Georgia Southern, losing 21-24 in a failed comeback attempt. Georgia Southern could have the rivalry trophy though—App had loftier goals for 2019. Not satisfied with the win over UNC, App State moved down the map to South Carolina, beating the Gamecocks 20-15 at Williams-Brice. After going 11-1 in the regular season, it was #21 App State in a rematch with 10-2 Louisiana. App took a 45-24 lead in the 4th, and held on for the 45-38 final, winning their 4th(!) straight Sun Belt title. A 31-17 win in the bowl over UAB capped off a 13-1 year, easily the best in school history. A #19 final ranking was also App’s first in school history.
Personally, I think they were underrated by the polls. They finished 11th for me, with wins over North Carolina, South Carolina, 11-3 Louisiana (twice), 9-5 UAB, and 6 wins by 20+ points. RB Darrynton Evans won Sun Belt Offensive POTY with 1678 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage. Evans can thank an offensive line which had 4 of 5 starters made 1st/2nd Team All-Sun Belt. LB Akeem Davis-Gaither won Sun Belt Defensive POTY, making an impact in all phases of the game with 101 tackles, 5 sacks, 9.5 TFL, 8 PBU, and 1 INT. 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense made 1st-3rd Team All-Sun Belt. 6 players have been drafted from this team into the NFL.
According to my algorithm, 2019 Appalachian State is the 22nd best Group of 5 team since 1983.
5th Quarter
Which game/play/player do you think of when you think of Appalachian State? Is their ranking of #80 fair despite only playing 9 seasons? Which was the best App State team on the list, if not 2019? Is 2016-19 App State the greatest Group of 5 dynasty of the 2010s? Who’s better between coach Satterfield and Drinkwitz? How would you rank the following QBs: Armanti Edwards, Taylor Lamb, Zac Thomas, Chase Brice? And now that we’re heading into the 70’s on this list…who’s next!?
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