Appalachian knocks S.C. State out of FCS playoffs, 37-21
By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer Sunday, November 30, 2008BBOONE, N.C. -- All week long, South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough had his mind on stopping Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards.
Throughout the offseason, Pough will probably not stop thinking about the spectacular third-and-12 scramble Edwards turned into a first-down conversion which helped seal the Bulldogs’ fate Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Appalachian State held a tenuous 24-21 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and faced the prospect of punting the football back to a motivated S.C. State offense. Taking the snap from his own 23, Edwards was chased out the pocket and heavily pursued by three Bulldog players.
After scrambling backwards to avoid the tackle, Edwards lofted a pass in the direction of T.J. Courman. The senior broke his return to come back to catch the football at around the 30-yard line, then managed to fight off a couple of tacklers to pick up 13 yards and the first down.
With the drive continuing, Edwards eventually found Ridge View graduate Brian Quick for the first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns which helped the defending three-time FCS champion Mountaineers put away the Bulldogs 37-21.
“We kind of got a grip on things, thought we were at the point toward the end where we kind of got them under hand a little bit defensively,” Pough said. “Kind of got them slowed down. But then he made that last play ... where he’s scrambling around and gets the ball off and makes that play and then from that point on, we were back in the ‘couldn’t quite get a grip on him’ and couldn’t quite stop him.”
In snapping 12th-ranked S.C. State’s eight-game winning streak, the second-ranked Mountaineers (11-2) relied heavily on the arm of their All-American candidate and Walter Payton Award finalist. The Greenwood native threw four touchdowns and completed 29-41 passes for a school-record 433 yards and, with 48 rushing yards, accounted for 481 of the Mountaineers’ 557 total yards of offense.
Palmetto State native Quick had two of the touchdown receptions and CoCo Hillary of Strom Thurmond added another as both caught five passes each for 95 and 94 yards, respectively.
“It was about the type of football game we expected,” Appalachian State head football coach Jerry Moore said. “We had great respect for South Carolina State coming into the game and they played just like we thought they would play.
“It was a good playoff ballgame.”
Edwards’ efforts was enough to overcome a season-high two interceptions, a persistent S.C. State pass rush and a balanced offensive attack by the Bulldogs. Quarterback Malcolm Long threw two touchdowns to Octavius Darby on 17-41 passing for 176 yards and William Ford rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown to become the first Bulldog to rush for 100 yards eight times in a season.
“We couldn’t mount enough offensively in the second half and that was the biggest difference in the second half I thought,” Pough said.
The game started like a postseason version of “Hot Potato.”
Appalachian State was moving the football with ease on its first possession as Edwards completed his first four passes, all for first downs.
On second down at the S.C. State 16, Edwards found tight end Ben Jorden. As Jorden ran toward the end zone, the Bulldogs’ Marshall McFadden stripped away the football and Terrance Smith recovered it at the S.C. State 3.
S.C. State’s first possession was brief as Long’s bomb pass intended for Trey Young was intercepted by Appalachian State’s Mark LeGree. It was the Buck Buchanan Award finalist’s Southern Conference record-tying 10th interception of the season.
Two plays later, S.C. State’s Markee Hamlin returned the favor by picking off a lazy pass thrown toward the sidelines by Edwards. The play snapped a streak of 176 consecutive passes thrown by Edwards without an interception.
Hamlin led the Bulldogs with 11 tackles, followed by seniors Tony White and Terrance Allen and McFadden with nine each.
S.C. State struck first as Long found Darby for a 19-yard touchdown reception with 6:29 remaining in the first quarter.
Exactly three minutes and one second later, Edwards found his tight end Jorden for a six-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play, 73-yard scoring drive to tie the game.
Edwards continued to utilize the short pass to his advantage in moving the Mountaineers downfield for another scoring drive. This time, he set up a 26-yard field goal by Jason Vitaris to put Appalachian State ahead 10-7.
A penalty on the kickoff allowed S.C. State (10-3) to start its next series at the 40-yard line. Ford’s running would bring the Bulldogs into the “Red Zone,” where Long hooked up with Darby again for a 15-yard touchdown pass to regain the lead with 7:40 remaining in the first half.
“We saw that we could throw the football out of certain formations,” Long said. “We could run the football with Will and Travil. We just kept balanced in the first half.”
Appalachian State’s “Carolina Connection” would put it ahead once again with 2:34 left. From the S.C. State 27, Edwards completed a pass to Hillary down the home sidelines for a touchdown.
Just before halftime, Edwards was intercepted for a second time by Phillip Adams near midfield. The Bulldogs moved the football to the Appalachian State 32, but were unable to get a score before halftime.
After forcing S.C. State to punt on its first possession of the second half, the Mountaineers marched 77 yards downfield to extend their lead to 24-14. The big play on the drive was a 35-yard reception by Matt Cline on third-and-8, which set up Edwards’ two-yard touchdown run.
“Coming into this game, we felt like we could pass the ball on them,” Edwards said. “When you’re a run-stop defense, it’s hard to play the run and the pass at the same time. So they had a lot of holes in the secondary.”
With less than four minutes left in the third and in need of a spark, S.C. State’s Donovan Richard provided one on special teams. As punter Neil Young mishandled the snap, Richard swooped in to deflect the kick and advance the football to the Appalachian State 13.
It was the first blocked punt against Appalachian State since Sept. 24, 2005, against The Citadel.
“It just went right through my hands,” Young said. “No excuses. The snap was great. I just didn’t do my end of the deal. I was hoping to get it off, but I kicked it right into (Richard’s) belly.”
It only took one run from Ford to bring the Bulldogs to within a field goal at 24-21. Taking the delayed snap, Ford rushed untouched into the end zone to the delight of the Bulldog fans in attendance.
Through much of the third quarter and the early portion of the fourth quarter, S.C. State’s defense managed to limit the big plays of Edwards.
Then came the third-and-13 which rejuvenated the Mountaineers and proved to be the deciding blow in ending S.C. State’s “Dream Season.”
“I think we’ll continue to improve,” Pough said. “The one thing I think you can see from having seen us in here today is that we belong. Now that we’ve done that, the next thing for us is to get in and actually get something done. I’m happy with the fact that our kids didn’t give in. I just feel like we’ve got work to do and these guys will continue to work at it.”
Record day
Appalachian State’s Armanti Edwards and Mark LeGree and S.C. State’s William Ford were not the only players setting school records on Saturday. With his 176 passing yards, S.C. State’s Malcolm Long surpassed Reese McCampbell’s single-season school record for passing yards with 1,988 on the season. He also added to his single-season school record for completions in finishing with 172 ... Senior punter Aaron Haire had six punts which averaged 46.3 yards to ensure himself the single-season school record for punting average.
Point taken
As Appalachian State looked run out the clock against S.C. State, head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough called a timeout on consecutive plays to the annoyance of the 13,712 fans in attendance Following the second timeout and with five seconds left, the Mountaineers’ Edwards dropped back and fired a 33-yard touchdown pass to Quick.
The Mountaineers’ bench stormed the end zone, resulting in an unsportsmanlike penalty, which forced placekicker Jason Vitaris to attempt a 35-yard extra point attempt which went wide left.
Nevertheless, Pough got the message.
“It was kind of boneheaded on my part,” he said. “He taught me a lesson in the end. If a guy’s giving you an out, go ahead and take it. I knew a pass was coming and it kind of made the game a little bit bigger margin than it should have been. But, it serves me right.”
A ‘Rocky’ welcome
Appalachian State improved to 42-1 at Kidd Brewer Stadium, also known as “The Rock,” dating back to the 2003 season.
Streaks end, continue
Saturday’s loss not only snapped S.C. State’s overall winning streak at eight, it also ended a string of 21 consecutive victories in the month of November. In addition, the Bulldogs suffered their first setback on national television under Pough, falling to 16-1, and first on an ESPN channel (10-1). This was also the 10th consecutive loss for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference representative, dating back to 1999. Florida A&M, which defeated Appalachian State that year, was the last MEAC team to win an opening-round game .... Meanwhile, Appalachian State won its 10th consecutive games, its FCS record 13th straight postseason contest and improved to 14-0 on games aired by the ESPN Family.
Second-half woes
S.C. State’s inability to score points in the fourth quarter of losses continued on Saturday as it was outscored 13-0 by Appalachian State. In their last 13 losses dating back to the 2005 season, the Bulldogs have been outscored 97-0 in the fourth quarter. S.C. State also fell to 5-18 under Pough when trailing at halftime.
Ford’s drive to the top
Ford finished the season with a MEAC-leading 1,499 yards to boost his career total to 3,640 yards in three seasons, sixth all time in conference history. Starting next season, he needs 63 yards to surpass former backfield mate DeShawn Baker and for fifth place and is 1,009 yards shy of Hampton’s Alonzo Coleman for the conference career record.
n T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547.
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fhsmct wrote on Dec 7, 2008 6:20 PM:
And, admiting error and learning from it is calle "maturity".
The man admitted the error of the discission so all this 20-20 hind site criticism is abit over board.
He made a mistaken, he admits it, he has to live with it and most probably has learned from it. . . "
beamer22 wrote on Dec 5, 2008 4:25 PM:
App State is no walk over and the Bulldogs played them tough.
By the way, have any of you checked out the blogs section of this site...? The sports guys have been saying some pretty interesting things about the dogs, Malcolm Long and etc... "
2ndGenerationBulldog wrote on Dec 4, 2008 1:12 PM:
Also, I must say that criticism should not go unsaid. It's the lack of criticism that lead to 2 timeout calls with less than 20 seconds left on the clock, after allowing a minute and 17 seconds to expire from that same clock. It's not a shame that people point out the flaws so that these same mistakes won't arise again. Now, every sunday, we yell at our TV's at some professional team for idiotic plays and play calls, what is different about calling out someone that is payed for their services to make decisions for the team. Enough walking on eggshells for SCSU. If you want to be the "Man", you've got to beat the "Man". Too bad there are no winners for the separate halves of play, because we clearly beat them in the first half. Then, we came out in the second half like we didn't want to offend "them people". Give me a break... You know how you had to beat people in the MEAC just to get a look to get in the FCS brackets, then you get there and throw all that to the wind? Next year, when Buddy Pough and our Mighty Bulldogs return, I hope they go in there with a killer attitude...and when they are on the podium accepting the FCS accolades, then they can appologize to whomever they want. But don't come with your head down, and tail between your legs apologizing to your fans again! "
fhsmct wrote on Dec 4, 2008 6:13 AM:
Yes, I would like for us to have won but any jack leg can come along and micro-criticize after the fact.
Coach Pough, in spite of continuing staff turn-over, has re-built a PROGRAM that we all can and should be proud of. Our kids and staff give their all and that's all any of us can ask of them. In a way, that staff turn-over speaks highly of our program when you take a serious look at the jobs those departees have gone on to.
Here's to continued success in the coming seasons because we'll enter each and every game next season, non-con and conf, with large bulls eyes on our jerseys!
To all on our schedule, I say: bring it on: We are the Garnet and Blue SCSU Bulldogs!!!!! . . . "
bmore#1 wrote on Dec 3, 2008 8:12 AM:
And I doubt very very seriously if Coach read this board and if he does I'm sure it has NO IMPACT on him as a Head Coach. We all love our coach and our team, but we're just venting that's all. I swear enough_already. No love lost and you're right. Go Dogs! "
enough_already wrote on Dec 2, 2008 4:18 PM:
lukeyluke wrote on Dec 1, 2008 9:10 PM:
lukeyluke wrote on Dec 1, 2008 9:03 PM:
Pitbull wrote on Dec 1, 2008 1:35 PM:
jjjowers wrote on Nov 30, 2008 9:37 PM:
Chris' Cloths wrote on Nov 30, 2008 2:53 PM:
rthomp wrote on Nov 30, 2008 10:05 AM:
Reddawg wrote on Nov 30, 2008 9:54 AM:
Bmore#1 wrote on Nov 29, 2008 8:56 PM:
Lastly, I have to be fair here and talk about the good. This team is for real. And our program is for real and headed in the right direction our coach's notwithstanding. If we get smarter and better next year AND WE WILL, then we should be playing at home right in the thick of things again next year. Thanks for a GREAT YEAR and I'm so looking forward to next year. GO DAWGS!
Lastly, I have to be fair here and talk about the good. This team is for real. And our program is for real and headed in the right direction our coaches notwithstanding. If we get smarter and better next year AND WE WILL, then we should be playing at home right In the thick of things again next year. Thanks for a GREAT YEAR and I'm so looking forward to next year. GO DAWGS! "
Bmore#1 wrote on Nov 29, 2008 8:04 PM:
This team belongs and next year will find us playing at home in the thick of things our coaches notwithstanding. "