The Appalachian State Mountaineers were voted the Sun Belt East winners in the preseason coaches poll, earning 12 of the 14 first-place votes. But after an up-and-down start to the season, the Mountaineers are looking to secure a spot on their conference roster.
They open Sun Belt play against South Alabama (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) with a 2-1 record and hopes of reclaiming their first conference title since 2019.
App State has taken a tortuous path to get here.
After winning at least nine games from 2015-2021, 2022 was a roller coaster. The Mountaineers opened with a 63-61 loss to North Carolina, followed by a 17-14 surprise win on the road against No. 6 Texas A&M in College Station. That win prompted a “College GameDay” visit for their game against Troy, which they won 32-28 on a Hail Mary.
They then lost nine of their next 16 games. That streak was uncharacteristic for App State, a program that has had just one losing season since 1983 and has the sixth-most wins of any program in the country since 2014.
“When I look back now and you don’t really realize what it was like back then, our players were mentally drained within three weeks,” head coach Shawn Clark said. “And I didn’t do a good job of getting them back mentally. Physically, we were fine. Mentally, we weren’t there, just the outside noise going on, and then with the kids and social media and so on, they felt the pressure to go out and win. And then things didn’t go their way.”
The Mountaineers are expected to finish the 2022 season at 6-6.
Clark said the team called the upcoming season “Reset ’23” to show it was going back to its core values. But even that took some time after a 3-4 start. After a 28-21 loss to Old Dominion and a seven-hour bus ride back to Boone, North Carolina, Clark was trying to find the right message.
Clark looked at a picture on his phone of a man digging with a hoe. In the image, the man needed just an inch more to find diamonds, but instead he walked away just before finding what he was looking for.
He showed the picture to his team, brought a hoe and said, “You are very close to breaking through and making a run for this goal. If you believe in it, we can still be champions.”
So the Mountaineers kept fighting. They had no choice. In their next game, against Southern Miss, they played from behind to take the lead with less than seven minutes to play. They managed to pull out that win and then four more in a row (one at James Madison on “College GameDay” in Harrisonburg, Va.) to reach the Sun Belt title game.
Despite the comeback, the Mountaineers finished one game shy of their goal in a 49-23 loss at Troy. But it was clear that Clark had managed to reestablish his program.
Part of that was due to the improvement of quarterback Joey Aguilar, the 2023 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and a second-team All-Sun Belt member. Aguilar, a transfer from Diablo Valley Community College, struggled in his first four games after replacing Ryan Burger, who had initially won the starting quarterback job before suffering a season-ending finger injury in the opener. Per ESPN’s Bill Connelly, Aguilar had a 58% completion rate, 12.2 yards per completion, 240.8 yards per game and was 50th nationally in total QBR. In the nine games since, he had a 67% completion rate, 13.1 yards per completion, 295.1 yards per game and was 19th in total QBR.
In 14 games, Aguilar completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 3,757 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also had 245 rushing yards and three scores.
The things that kept Aguilar from being a starter from day one were things that ended up improving as the season progressed.
“He tried to force a lot of plays,” Clark said. “We tell our quarterbacks all the time that if they can take care of the ball and score touchdowns, they’re going to be the starting quarterback.”
He added: “He can throw any ball, but he learned to control the runner, he learned to throw it far and to end every possession with a kick. That’s why I say it’s OK to punt sometimes, let our defense play. You don’t have to win the game for us, but you can’t lose it for us.”
When asked what brought about the change in his game, Aguilar said, “Game replays, video replays and just not trying to force things. Just taking advantage of what the defense gives me.” That’s why he was voted the Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.
He’s also the kind of leader the team, including Clark, needs. “Joey’s a California guy, man. If he throws an interception, he’ll slap you on the butt and say, ‘I got you, Coach,'” Clark said. “Or if he throws a touchdown, he’ll slap you on the butt and say, ‘I got you, Coach.’ That’s just how he is. He was good for me last year; he calmed me down.”
“Things happen,” Aguilar said. “I just try to make more plays than the next guy and learn from my mistakes. I go out there, have fun and try to make fewer mistakes than them.”
This season, Clark hopes App State will be the team that keeps fighting and not the one that goes away. In Week 1, App State beat ETSU at home 38-10, only to fall 66-20 at Clemson the following week. After trailing 16-0 in the first quarter to East Carolina in Greenville last Saturday, they turned things around and won 21-19.
The Clemson and East Carolina games showed that road trips won’t be easy. Another nonconference matchup with Group of 5 power Liberty will be a test. Conference road games against Marshall and Louisiana will follow in October, as will November trips to Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern, with a home game against James Madison sandwiched between the two.
“We know our schedule isn’t easy,” Clark said. “We tell them we have to play great football early, and then we have to finish strong in November. And they know these conference games are going to be tough. But it all depends on how you prepare in the offseason.”
Clark kept up his physical practices during the offseason. “I’m an old-school guy,” he said. That meant more tackling in practice. “That gives you the scars you need for those tough games in October and November, the ones you have to win. That’s what it’s all about here at App.”
His team also races at Howard’s Knob Park during the off-season, which is 2.2 miles, all uphill. They also race at App Ski Mountain during the summer, which is a black diamond ski slope known for its steep terrain.
“It was difficult, but that’s what we did. That’s what sets us apart from other programs,” Clark said.
On Thursday, App State will face a South Alabama team coming off an 87-10 win over Northwestern State for its first victory of the season, a game that ended with just 54 minutes of play after both coaches agreed to shorten the fourth quarter by six minutes.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Clark said of the game on a short week. “But the good thing is we’re playing at home and it should be sold out. And that always gives us an advantage. We have one of the best atmospheres in all of college football.”
Aguilar said: “In that first conference game we want to set the tone and let everyone know that we are here and that we were not just picked first, but that we are here to get that first seed and make it legitimate.”
