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Pep Rally Kicks Off The Pre-Game Experience, App State v. Miami Kickoff Set for Noon


By Jesse Wood

The liquor store has a line out the door. Folks are hootin’ and hollering as they zoom by the office on N.C. 105. Students are camping outside the stadium, and online smack talk certainly isn’t lacking leading up to Saturday’s football game against No. 25 University of Miami.

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A couple shots of Friday night’s pep rally. Photos by Ken Ketchie

The party in Boone started on Friday with a pep rally on campus at Peacock Hall lot, which is located adjacent to Howard Street in downtown. Tailgating and family strolling was the scene, where Chancellor Everts was on hand having fun.

A couple bands are slated to play, “Soul Benefactor and then “Arson Daily,” and planned guest speakers are Coach Satterfield and the team captains.

Friday’s official festivities end at 10 p.m., while kickoff is set for noon at Kidd Brewer Stadium and marks a nearly four-decade hiatus from ESPN. On Saturday, the lots open at 8 a.m., gates at 10 a.m. The game is sold out, with a record attendance of 34,000 to 35,000 expected. The high end of re-sale tickets were upwards of a $800.

photo-3For the Boone and the App State community, this is a historic matchup. Never before has App State hosted a game with Power 5 conference team, and the brand and pedigree of the five-time national champion Miami program makes this game especially special. Plus, the Hurricanes re-entered the Top 25 after Week 2.

If App State wins, Boone will go bonkers.

For Miami, this game certainly doesn’t offer the same reward factor.

App State is a tweener. It outgrew the FCS and is already clearly one of the better programs – if not the best –  in the Sun Belt Conference, yet aside from the earth-shattering Michigan upset in 2007 and the disappointing, overtime defeat against No. 9 Tennessee in Week 1 of this season, App State hasn’t fared well against top-tier programs like last year’s No.2 Clemson.

We’ll find out tomorrow.

Check out David Coulson’s preview here. See other High Country Press coverage of the upcoming matchup here.