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ASU Hosts Jacksonville for Home Opener

Fresh off of an epic come-from-behind victory in last week’s season opener at Chattanooga, Appalachian State University football opens its 2010 home campaign when it hosts Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

NOTING SATURDAY'S MATCHUP
• Appalachian is entertaining Jacksonville in the opener at Kidd Brewer Stadium for the second time in three years. In 2008, ASU thumped JU, 56-7.

• Appalachian (1-0, 1-0 SoCon) opened the season in thrilling fashion last week, overcoming a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to down Southern Conference rival Chattanooga, 42-41.

• ASU trailed 28-7 late in the third quarter and 35-14 early in the fourth last week against UTC but rallied to rack up 253 yards in final 17:29 of the ballgame and scored five touchdowns in a 10:12 span to grab a 42-35 lead midway through the final period. The Mocs scored with 51 seconds left to move within a point, but the Mountaineers thwarted UTC’s two-point conversion attempt and recovered an onside kick to seal the heart-stopping win.

• Jacksonville (1-0, 0-0 Pioneer) also claimed an impressive season-opening victory, going on the road to down Old Dominion, 35-25, last Saturday in front of 19,782 hostile fans in Norfolk, Va.

• The Dolphins, who are coming off of a 7-4 campaign, boasted a 300-yard passer (Josh McGregor — 311 yards, 3 TD), 100-yard rusher (Rudell Small — 118 yards, 2 TD) and a 100-yard receiver (Josh Philpart — 115 yards, 2 TD) in the win at ODU.

• Appalachian is 58-19-2 (.747) all-time in home openers, including an 18-3 mark under head coach Jerry Moore. However, after having a nine-year winning streak in home openers snapped with last year’s 40-35 loss to McNeese State, ASU needs a win to avoid suffering consecutive home-opening losses for the first time since 1982-83.

• The Mountaineers won their final six home games last season after the loss to McNeese State and are 48-3 in their last 51 contests at Kidd Brewer Stadium, dating back to the beginning of the 2003 season.

• Last year’s loss to McNeese State snapped ASU’s 17-game winning streak in regular-season non-conference home games. The Mountaineers have not suffered a non-conference home loss in back-to-back regular seasons since 1978-79.

• Appalachian is looking to move to 2-0 for only second time in the last 12 years.

Football faces tall task at No. 3 Appalachian State

Last week, the JU football team played in front of almost 20,000 people and took home a 35-25 win over Old Dominion.

Add 10,000 more people and the No. 3 ranked team in the country and you have JU’s next game – as the Dolphins face perennial national power Appalachian State.

It will mark the sixth time in program history that JU has played a team ranked in the top 25, having dropped all five of the previous meetings – the last being a 56-7 loss at No. 1 Appalachian State in 2008.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to go back to Appalachian State and face one of the best programs in the country,” said JU head coach Kerwin Bell. “Every year Coach (Jerry) Moore puts together a great team and this year is no different. We face a tall task, but it is also a great opportunity for our program to play in another great atmosphere.”

Jacksonville (1-0) enters the game having won its last four games, tying for the second-longest winning streak in program history and the sixth-longest active streak in the country.

One of the keys for the Dolphins 35-25 win at Old Dominion was the big plays made by the defense.

ODU pushed the ball into the red zone six times and only came away with points on three of those possessions. The Dolphins got a big stop on fourth-and-1 at the JU 12-yard line to change momentum in the second quarter. The Monarchs drove to the JU 15-yard line in the third quarter and missed a field goal as well.

The biggest play of all came in the fourth quarter on ODU’s final drive. Trailing by three, the Monarchs drove to the JU 11-yard line before Jordan Dewhirst picked off Thomas DeMarco’s pass in the end zone, ending the last threat by ODU.

“Our defense stepped up and made a lot of big plays throughout the night,” Bell said. “Anytime you force a turnover, it creates momentum and we had a lot of those.”

The offense was just sliced bread either.

Jacksonville posted its best offensive output since the 2009 season opener, tallying 493 yards, with 311 of that coming in the air. On top of that, Rudell Small opened his senior season with a stellar outing, piling up 118 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns.

AppStateAlumQC wrote:App State by four touchdowns