Appalachian St. makes first climb into Top 25
Clemson is back at No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll behind top-ranked Alabama, moving up to where it started, after a convincing victory and Ohio State’s first loss of the season.
The Crimson Tide are a unanimous No. 1, with all 61 first-place votes yesterday, for the first time this season.
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The Tigers trailed only Alabama in the preseason rankings, but a couple of close wins in September — combined with seemingly impressive performances by other highly ranked teams — dragged Clemson to as low as No. 4.
Coming off a lopsided win against North Carolina State, Clemson rose a spot this week. Notre Dame is No.3 and LSU is No.4, setting the stage for a topfive matchup between the Tigers and Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Nov. 3.
Michigan is No. 5 and Ohio State dropped to No.11 after being upset by Purdue.
On the other end of the poll, Appalachian State is ranked in the AP poll for the first time in school history as it checked in at No.25. The Mountaineers (5-1) have not lost since opening the season with an overtime defeat at Penn State.
“It’s awesome to be recognized,” Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield said yesterday. “We’ve had a lot of positive things happen to our program the last three to four years. The first time we go bowl eligible, which was awesome. Then we go win our first bowl game. That was really cool. And then to go win our first Sun Belt championship two years ago. That was awesome. So there’s been a lot of first for us over the last three years. This is another first.”
App State transitioned to the FBS, the highest level of Division 1 football, in 2014 after years as an FCS power. Under former coach Jerry Moore, the Mountaineers were a regular playoff participant. The program peaked in the mid2000s, winning three straight FCS (Division 1-AA) championships from 2005-07. And App State pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in college football history against Michigan in 2007.
Moore retired after the 2012 season and was replaced by Satterfield, a former App State quarterback and assistant coach. The move up in class and into the Sun Belt has been practically seamless. The Mountaineers are 46-23 under Satterfield, with two Sun Belt titles. The only other Sun Belt team to ever be ranked was Troy on Nov. 13, 2016.
“To be recognized in the FBS level football and for our program to be a team that just went through transition four years ago and now to be ranked is pretty remarkable,” Satterfield said. “We have a lot of pride, a lot of tradition in our program.”
This season’s team was expected to contend for another conference championship. A case could be made it is exceeding even those high expectations after replacing four-year starting quarterback Taylor Lamb, two fouryear starting offensive linemen, four defensive players that were four-year starters and veteran defensive coordinator Nate Woody, who left for Georgia Tech.
Satterfield said this is maybe his fastest team at App State and credited senior safety Josh Thomas, senior defensive tackle MyQuon Stout and fourth-year junior offensive tackle Victor Johnson with providing leadership for one of the least experienced rosters in the FBS. Running back Jalin Moore, another senior who was lost for the season to a knee injury two weeks ago, has become a de facto assistant coach for App State.