June 25, 2013. The Southern Conference announced on Monday that Appalachian State University football’s Oct. 26 home matchup versus longtime rival Georgia Southern will be carried live on ESPN3. Kickoff is still slated for 3:30 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
For the second-straight year, the SoCon will not have an over-the-air or cable television package but will produce eight football broadcasts for ESPN3, ESPN’s internet platform. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, who have combined to win at least a share of the last nine conference championships, are featured only once in the eight-game ESPN3 package. Appalachian and GSU are in their final year in the SoCon after both schools announced in March that they would join the NCAA Division I FBS Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2014.
Altogether, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern have claimed 22 SoCon titles and nine NCAA Division I FCS national championships between them. Each of the last two seasons, the Mountaineers have knocked the Eagles from their perch atop the FCS rankings, beating No. 1 GSU in 2011 (24-7) and 2012 (31-28).
The other other game on Appalachian State’s 12-game 2013 slate that is currently set to be televised is the highly anticipated Aug. 31 season opener at Montana, which will air on over-the-air networks across the state of Montana. However, Learfield Sports (Montana athletics’ multimedia rights holder) and Max Media (which will produce the telecast) are aggressively collaborating to expand distribution beyond the state of Montana.
It is also expected that the Mountaineers’ Nov. 9 contest at Georgia will be televised, although arrangements likely won’t be finalized until the fall.
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