ASU Notebook

Apps say they know what to do

■ Appalachian State stunned the college-football world with a season-opening upset of Michigan last year.

A few Appalachian players offered thoughts of what they'll need to do against LSU on Saturday to have a chance of doing it again.

"The first thing we're going to have to do is stop the run," linebacker Jacque Roman said. "If we can do that, I think we've got good enough athletes to score some points and win the game."

Linebacker Pierre Banks said: "We've got to limit mistakes. We can't have turnovers. We can't be out of position on defense. We've got to not allow the big play. We can't let them have long passes and long runs. We've got to make them work for everything they get. We have to give our offense a chance to get out there and do something."

On offense, receiver T.J. Courman said the Mountaineers can't afford to be conservative and need to be in attack mode from the start.

"We know what we're up against," Courman said. "They're LSU. They're a great program. We'll just attack and show them right off we're not afraid of them."

Offensive tackle Brad Coley said: "We have to stay on assignments. They're big and they're strong and they're fast. We've got to be smart. We've got to be in the right places for every play. We don't have the ability to mess up and have to physically throw someone back over to where you want them to be. Our offensive line is a lot lighter than their defensive line. We'll have to use speed as our advantage. We have to be on point every play. Mentally, we'll have to be very sharp and strong."

Quarterback Armanti Edwards said that unlike Michigan, which played mostly zone defense, the Mountaineers will face a lot of man-to-man coverage.

"And we know they like to blitz a lot, so we'll try to get the ball out as quick as we can," Edwards said. "We have to capitalize when they do blitz on us. We don't want to run up the middle with them so we have to keep it outside and make them chase us…. We'll try to run away from them and make them chase us and hopefully they'll get tired by the second half."

■ LSU beat the Mountaineers 24-0 in a 2005 game at Tiger Stadium.

The Mountaineers trailed 14-0 heading into the fourth quarter, having missed scoring chances on third-quarter drives -- one on a dropped pass for a sure touchdown and another on a field-goal attempt that bounced off an upright.

"I was disappointed that we missed opportunities," said Courman, who played in that game. "We had something like five false starts offensively, three or four dropped passes on what could have been game-changing plays. I would have been happier if we had made those plays, even if we still lost. But we gave them a good fight. We'll look to do that again and cut out the mistakes this time."

■ Shawn Elliott, Appalachian's offensive line coach, is certain that LSU won't be overlooking the Mountaineers -- given the competitive game in 2005 and last year's upset of Michigan.

"They're probably looking at this game this year as a competitive football game and us as more of a comparable opponent," Elliott said. "Let's face it, most people around the country didn't think we could compete with Michigan and that it would be a blowout. I have no doubt that LSU will be preparing for us like it's a Southeastern Conference game and that it will make a difference in their season.

"They have kids on that team that have played against us. It wasn't a cakewalk for them."

■ Extra points: Appalachian State does not have a game scheduled against an FBS opponent for 2009, but Jay Sutton, an associate athletics director at ASU, said pursuit of one will continue. FBS opponents on future schedules include Florida (2010), Virginia Tech (2011) and Georgia (2013)… One of the most impressive stats for Appalachian in 2007 was red-zone efficiency. The Mountaineers scored on 69 of 75 trips (92 percent) inside the 20-yard line… Receiver Anthony Cruver, who was expected to be out for a few weeks after injuring a thumb in preseason camp, has been cleared to play against LSU.