By Nathan Ham
Appalachian State will hope to avenge last year’s loss to Louisiana on Tuesday night when the Ragin’ Cajuns host the Mountaineers on ESPN 2.
The Mountaineers (4-1, 1-0 SBC) lost to Louisiana in Boone last season by a 24-21 score, the first time that the Ragin’ Cajuns had ever beaten the Mountaineers. App State holds an 8-1 series lead over the Sun Belt rival.
Appalachian is coming off of an impressive 45-16 win over Georgia State on October 2. The Panthers kept it close in the first half, trailing just 14-6 at the half, but the Mountaineers blew the game open in the second half with 17 points in the third quarter and 14 points in the fourth.
Chase Brice had a season-high 326 passing yards on 20-of-28 passing to go along with three touchdowns. Corey Sutton had four catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. Malik Williams finished the game with seven receptions for 93 yards and a score and Christian Wells had two catches for 83 yards that included an 80-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers played without Camerun Peoples in the game, but the rushing attack still ended up with 163 yards. Nate Noel was the leading rusher with 12 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown. Anderson Castle had 12 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown. Jamir Smith added 30 yards on seven carries.
Louisiana (4-1, 2-0 SBC) held on for a 20-18 win at South Alabama this past Saturday. The Ragin’ Cajuns were able to do enough damage on the ground with 225 rushing yards as a team. Through the air, quarterback Levi Lewis struggled, completing just 9-of-20 passes for 49 yards. He was second on the team in rushing with 61 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
Running back Emani Bailey led Louisiana with 81 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Montrell Johnson added 49 rushing yards and Chris Smith had 40 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Since App State joined the Sun Belt in 2014, the Mountaineers and Ragin’ Cajuns rank first and
second, respectively, among its league members in overall wins (74-21 for App State, 56-38
for Louisiana) and wins against Sun Belt teams (50-9 for App State, 40-20 for Louisiana).
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN 2 with Chris Cotter handling play-by-play duties and Cole Cubelic handling analyst duties. The game can also be hard on the Appalachian Sports Network with Adam Witten and Noah Hannon in the booth and David Ware on the sideline.
Week 7 College Football Schedule
Thursday, October 14
Georgia Southern at South Alabama, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN U)
Navy at Memphis, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, October 15
Marshall at North Texas, 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
Clemson at Syracuse, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
California at #9 Oregon, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
#24 San Diego State at San Jose State, 10:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
Saturday, October 16
UCF at #3 Cincinnati, noon (ABC)
#10 Michigan State at Indiana, noon (FOX Sports 1)
#12 Oklahoma State at #25 Texas, noon (FOX)
Auburn at #17 Arkansas, noon (CBS)
#20 Florida at LSU, noon (ESPN)
#21 Texas A&M at Missouri, noon (SEC Network)
Nebraska at Minnesota, noon (ESPN 2)
Rutgers at Northwestern, noon (Big Ten Network)
Yale at UCONN, noon (CBS Sports Network)
Tulsa at South Florida, noon (ESPN U)
Ohio at Buffalo, noon (ESPN+)
Duke at Virginia, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN 3)
East Tennessee State at Chattanooga, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Samford at Wofford, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Ball State at Eastern Michigan, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
Akron at Miami (OH), 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Troy at Texas State, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
#11 Kentucky at #1 Georgia, 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Purdue at #2 Iowa, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
#19 BYU at Baylor, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Western Kentucky at Old Dominion, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN 3)
UAB at Southern Miss, 3:30 p.m.
Miami (FL) at UNC, 3:30 p.m. (ACC Network)
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN 2)
Toledo at Central Michigan, 3:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
Bowling Green at Northern Illinois, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Kent State at Western Michigan, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN U)
Arizona at Colorado, 3:30 p.m. (Pac 12 Network)
Fresno State at Wyoming, 3:30 p.m. (FOX Sports 2)
Vanderbilt at South Carolina, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
Texas Tech at Kansas, 4 p.m. (Big 12 Network/ESPN+)
VMI at Mercer, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
Rice at UT-San Antonio, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
The Citadel at Furman, 6 p.m. (ESPN 3)
#5 Alabama at Mississippi State, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Liberty at UL-Monroe, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
Colorado State at New Mexico, 7 p.m.
Utah State at UNLV, 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
TCU at #4 Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m. (ABC)
#13 Ole Miss at Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
#22 NC State at Boston College, 7:30 p.m. (ACC Network)
Iowa State at Kansas State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN 2)
Stanford at Washington State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN U)
Army at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
UCLA at Washington, 8:30 p.m. (FOX)
Louisiana Tech at UTEP, 9 p.m. (ESPN+)
Air Force at Boise State, 9 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)
#18 Arizona State at Utah, 10 p.m. (ESPN)
Hawaii at Nevada, 10:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
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