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Appalachian State on a roll
It visits Furman today fresh off a lopsided victory over Georgia Southern
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Published: October 31, 2009
Last weekend, Appalachian State found what it had been looking for -- a dominant performance on offense and defense in a 52-16 romp over Georgia Southern.
Today's next mission is a follow-up performance.
"If you're going to be a good football team, then you start putting those games back to back," said Coach Jerry Moore, whose Mountaineers will play at Furman at noon today.
"It was a big win against Georgia Southern. They're a team that has a lot of flags flying (six national titles)…. We played very well. Now we've got to go try to do it again at Furman."
The Mountaineers (5-2, 4-0 Southern Conference) outgained Georgia Southern 712 yards to 171 and have been clicking on offense, averaging 50 points and 656 yards the past three games. They rank No. 1 in the Football Championship Subdivision teams with an average of 507 yards a game.
Senior quarterback Armanti Edwards remains the catalyst. He is 171 passing yards away from becoming the first player in Division I history to pass for 9,000 yards and rush for 4,000.
Coach Bobby Lamb of Furman paid Edwards the ultimate compliment.
"This will be the last time he will ever play in Paladin Stadium, thank goodness," Lamb said.
"He's been an outstanding player and an outstanding ambassador, really, for not only the Southern Conference but for FCS football because of what he's done…. He's a guy that does it year in and year out. He just continues to amaze me with the numbers he puts up."
The big story last week was ASU's defense, which turned in its most impressive performance of the season. Moore said that his team successfully addressed some problems, and he was pleased with the play of linebacker Michael Frazier and nickel Dominique McDuffie, who started for the first time this season.
Frazier is a freshman. McDuffie, a redshirt freshman, began last season as a starting cornerback before injuring a knee.
"They played extremely well," Moore said. "I thought when we signed Frazier it was a real perk. I liked everything about him…. He's certainly a good player and should have a nice career. And McDuffie is a guy we had so many high hopes for, and he hurt his knee a year ago…. During camp he was a little tentative about it, but in the last month he's really come on."
Furman (4-3, 3-2) could have entered today's game with a SoCon title in mind but took a step back last week with a 38-28 loss at The Citadel.
"We certainly experienced disappointment last Saturday," Lamb said. "We just didn't play very well at times during the game. But we had a great team meeting on Monday night, and we got that behind us and now we're looking forward to the Appalachian State. We've talked to our team all year long about finishing the season because we certainly didn't finish well last year. Now we've got four games left, and we have a tall hill to climb.…"
Moore said he didn't put too much stock in Furman's struggle against The Citadel. The Mountaineers nearly lost to the Bulldogs, before pulling out an overtime victory four weeks ago.
"When we played The Citadel we were fortunate to win that ballgame," Moore said. "It really surprised me that they lost a couple of games after that because they have so many good players. They played that way against Furman. We'll have to play well against Furman."
The Paladins are led by Jordan Sorrells, a senior quarterback who Moore calls one of most improved players in SoCon. Sorrells is averaging 225 passing yards a game.
"Jordan has had a great career," Lamb said. "He's a guy that reads coverages very well and gets the ball on time to the spots that we need to."
tbowman@wsjournal.com | 727-7320
Game day
• Teams: Appalachian at Furman
• Time: Noon
• Radio: WKBC 97.3; WBLO 790
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