By David Coulson
The Mountaineers made a stirring fourth-quarter comeback, with two touchdown passes from surprising freshman starting quarterback Taylor Lamb in a little more than five minutes, but App State couldn’t overcome the almost complete lack of a kicking game.
Lamb’s two-yard TD strike to Simms McElfresh with six seconds left lifted the Mountaineers within one point and Zach Matics came on to almost certainly send the game to overtime with an extra point.
But for the second time of the night, Southern Mississippi crashed through the ASU line and blocked a kick to preserve the one-point win. Matics had a 25-yard, field goal attempt blocked in the first period and missed field goals from 43 and 42 yards later on in the game.
It was a frustrating night on many fronts for the Mountaineers (1-2).
Though Lamb completed 28-of-40 passes for 264 yards and App State rolled up a 455-329 advantage in total offense, the Mountaineers found it difficult to take advantage of their fortune.
Besides the kicking woes, no situation illustrated ASU’s frustration more than a six-play juncture of the second half when the teams exchanged three interceptions — the Mountaineer defense forcing two of those turnovers.
But the second of those App State takeaways was negated by an offsides penalty, taking away yet another Mountaineer scoring threat.
Appalachian’s offense was balanced and effective outside of the red zone for most of the night. Besides Lamb’s prowess through the air, sophomore running back Marcus Cox picked up 119 yards rushing on 19 carries and cut USM’s lead in halfway at 14-7 with a five-yard scoring burst midway through the second quarter,
ASU’s defense kept the Golden Eagles at bay until Lamb led the Mountaineers on an eight-play, 74-yard drive to tie the score with 5:08 remaining with his 10-yard TD connection to Malachi Jones.
Southern Mississippi struck right back to regain the lead, going 65 yards in six plays as Nick Mullens found George Payne for a 31-yard scoring play on a third-and-four situation with 2:22 on the clock.
Lamb was cool and collected as he led App State back for one more scoring drive of its own.
The poised youngster completed six of nine passes, including a fourth-and-10 aerial to Hunter Nunn for 17 yards to march the Mountaineers into scoring position.
Lamb’s pass to Montez McGuire with 22 seconds left was broken up, but Southern Mississippi was flagged for pass interference to give the Mountaineers the ball at the two and set up up the scoring play to McElfresh.
But the breakdown up front cost Appalachian the extra point and prevented Lamb and the Mountaineers from a chance to win the game in overtime.
App State will try to get back on its feet next Thursday when it travels to meet former Southern Conference rival Georgia Southern on the road for a 7:30 p.m. game that will open Sun Belt play for both schools in their first year at the Football Bowl Subdivision.
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