Appalachian State-Penn State Pre-Game Notes

Here are some notes released by the school Tuesday evening as part of its pre-game notes package for Saturday’s opener at No. 10 Penn State.

The game kicks off at 3:30 and will air on the Big Ten Network.

• App State is 1-1 all-time against Big Ten opponents. As an FCS program, the Mountaineers

upset No. 5 Michigan 34-32 on Sept. 1, 2007 in the first game ever televised by the Big Ten

Network. The Mountaineers made their FBS debut on Aug. 30, 2014 with a loss at Michigan.

• Over the last 45 games, App State’s 36-9 record is tied for fifth place nationally, topped only in the FBS by Alabama (41-4), Clemson (41-4), Ohio State (40-5) and Wisconsin (37-8).

• Scott Satterfield is one of nine FBS head coaches with at least 30 wins in the last three seasons.

• Of the 40 bowl games last year, App State’s 34-0 win vs. Toledo in the Dollar General Bowl was the only shutout. App State, Alabama and Clemson have the only bowl shutouts since 2010.

• App State is opening a season with a road game against a top-15 opponent for the third

straight year. It lost 31-10 last season at No. 15 Georgia, the eventual national runner-up, and

lost 20-13 in overtime at No. 9 Tennessee in 2016. The Mountaineers’ first road game of 2015

was a 41-10 loss at No. 12 Clemson, which was the national runner-up that season.

• App State is the only program to claim a bowl victory in each of its first three years after the

complete transition to the FBS level. It also beat Ohio 31-29 in 2015 and Toledo 31-28 in 2016.

• Led by its “Legion of Boone” secondary, App State’s defense ranks second nationally with 56 interceptions since the start of the 2015 season. Still coached by first-year defensive coordinator

Bryan Brown, the Mountaineers’ cornerbacks have an FBS-leading 30 picks in that time.

• With only 12 seniors on a roster that is 75.2 percent underclassmen (the second-highest

percentage in the country behind Illinois’ 76.5), App State is using the #10Strong mantra this

year to represent 10 position groups coming together for the good of the team as a whole.

This spring, head coach Scott Satterfield and assistant athletics director of athletic performance Mike Sirignano formed a panel that included one upperclassman from each of the 10 assigned position groups and had weekly discussions about the contents of a Jon Gordon book called“The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy.”

• Sophomore quarterback Zac Thomas, who appeared in four games last season and led a

scoring drive at Georgia in the fourth quarter of the 2017 opener, replaces four-year starter

Taylor Lamb. Posting a 36-13 record while starting the last 49 games of his career, Lamb

finished first in App State and Sun Belt Conference history with 90 touchdown passes. The last non-Lamb start for Appalachian State occurred on Sept. 6, 2014.

• App State’s young, deep receiving corps includes four noteworthy sophomores in Thomas

Hennigan (seven TDs as a true freshman), Malik Williams (four starts as a true freshman),

Corey Sutton (sat out last year as a Kansas State transfer) and Jalen Virgil (18.2 yards per catch last year) as well as a newcomer in Dominique Heath, a graduate transfer from Kansas State. Sutton and Heath are both in-state products from the Charlotte area.

• Another skill player who returns after sitting out last season is sophomore Darrynton Evans,

who could be used as a running back, receiver and returner. He capped his true freshman

season in 2016 with a touchdown on a 94-yard kickoff return in a 31-28 bowl win over Toledo.

• In the last three years, App State has totaled 104 sacks while relying on a defensive line that

goes nine or 10 players deep. In that time, the Mountaineers have twice ranked in the top 20

nationally in sacks per game and been in the Sun Belt’s top three all three seasons.