Courtesy Appalachian Sports InformationIn what might be the biggest regular-season game in Southern Conference history, No. 2 Appalachian State University (6-2, 4-0 SoCon) hosts No. 3 Wofford (6-1, 4-0 SoCon) in a nationally televised battle on Friday evening at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
ESPN2 is broadcasting Friday’s game to a potential audience of over 93 million households. It marks only the second time that The Rock has hosted a regular-season matchup on one of the ESPN family’s top two networks (ESPN or ESPN2) . The first came on Sept. 22, 1979, when Appalachian defeated visiting Western Carolina, 35-27, in just the second game ever broadcast by the fledgling ESPN.
The national audience is in store for one of the nation's top NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision — formerly Division I-AA) matchups of the year, as Friday’s contest marks only the second time since 1982 (when the conference joined the I-AA/FCS ranks) that two teams with unblemished SoCon records have squared off with four or fewer weeks remaining in the regular season.
NOTING FRIDAY'S MATCHUP:• ASU looks to exact revenge from last season’s 42-31 setback at Wofford, which snapped the Mountaineers’ Division I-best 17-game winning streak. • The Apps and Terriers went on to share the 2007 SoCon championship. Wofford claimed the league’s automatic postseason berth by virtue of its win over ASU, but ASU claimed the ultimate prize by winning its third-straight NCAA Division I national championship. • For the first time in 10 seasons, Appalachian readies for a regular-season matchup of top-three teams. The last time ASU played in a regular-season game that featured both teams ranked among the nation’s top three was 1998, when No. 2 Georgia Southern beat the Mountaineers, 37-24.
For only the second time in the I-AA/FCS era of the Southern Conference (1982-), two teams that are undefeated in conference play are squaring off with four weeks or less left to play in the regular season. Friday’s matchup pits two of the nation’s top offenses. Appalachian’s spread attack averages 244.4 rushing yards, 443.5 total yards and 36.8 points per game, good for sixth, seventh and ninth nationally, respectively. But ASU ranks second in the SoCon in all three categories behind Wofford, which produces 348.9 rushing yards, 480.4 total yards and 40.4 points per game with its wingbone scheme.
Two of the winningest coaches in SoCon history will match wits in Friday’s game. Appalachian’s Jerry Moore, the winningest coach in SoCon history, became only the third active FCS coach with 200 career victories with last week’s triumph over Furman. Wofford’s Mike Ayers is the SoCon’s third-winningest coach ever and ranks 10th among active FCS mentors with 149 wins in his 24 seasons as a head coach.
