[2024] Week 7 Recap: APST 20-3 ULL

[dearden]

Boone, North Carolina - Bouncing back from their loss to Sun Belt East Division rivals #22 Marshall, the Mountaineers rang out convincing victors, 20-3, at home against Louisiana.  The Appalachian State Defense shone; a week after giving up 35 points - their second-highest tally of the season - to the Thundering Herd, they held the Ragin’ Cajuns to a mere field goal and effectively neutralized the dynamic Louisiana Quarterback, D.J. Elias, from the game.  Completing only 18 of his 44 pass attempts (41%), Elias finished the day with a QBR of 69.77 - his second-worst of the season and a full three points lower than his showing against #2 Tennessee earlier in the year.  For the Mountaineers, their defensive success boils down to “character and mentality.”

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“It’s the sort of performance I’ve come to expect from my guys,” Defensive Coordinator Steve Cotto reflected, “especially after losing in a tough rivalry game to Marshall.  I know that every one of my guys knows and will admit: we weren’t on our game, that performance wasn’t what folks have come to expect from this football program.  Our entire team knows that we’re better than that, so we put in the work during the week to prove just that come gameday and we performed.  As we, as a coaching staff, have said time and time again, our guys are resilient - they’re fighters, we expect that if they get hit that they get back up and hit back even harder.  Their character and mentality impresses me so much - these are college kids who’re willing to receive critique and admit any shortcomings to improve their game, that’s what we’ve done win or lose and it’s key to our success throughout.”

While the Appalachian State defense put up one of their stronger performances this season, their celebrations were marred by two injuries to key players, as Outside Linebacker Jose Thomas and Defensive End Daurice Burns both left the game with injuries.  Thomas exited the game in the First Quarter with what appeared to be a knee injury, while Burns went back to the locker room in the Fourth Quarter as trainers attended to his calf.

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“It’s never what you want to see,” remarked Coach @dearden.  “There’s a lot of things you get used to in this game, but at least for me, seeing one of my guys go down - I also get a little knot in my stomach.  At the end of the day, these are still college kids, they’ve got their whole lives ahead of them.  I know that sounds dramatic, but until I see a thumbs-up from a trainer or the player themselves, I still worry that any injury could be a lot worse than it appears and none of our college athletes deserve to go through that.  Thankfully, both Jose and Daurice are doing well - Daurice rejoined practice on Tuesday and should be good-to-go for Friday, though I can confirm that Jose will be spending this week as Steve [Cotto]’s ‘Senior Defensive Assistant’ for the upcoming game.  It’s obviously not ideal in the short term, Southern Mississippi are on an absolute tear at 5-1 (3-1) and leading the Sun Belt West, but I’m confident in Will [Dorsey] sliding over from Inside Linebacker to fill in and provide that experienced presence.  That said, letting Jose rest another week, ahead of our bye week, will ensure that he’s able to come back at 100% for the remainder of the season - and that’s ideal in the long term for both player and team.”

The Mountaineers travel to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to face the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi on Friday, looking to continue their “Victory Saturday” streak following their 2-0 start to Friday night games this campaign.