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Kickoff Time for Pivotal App State-Georgia State Sun Belt Game Set for 2 p.m. Showdown

By Tim Gardner

The Appalachian State football team’s first-place showdown at Georgia State on November 25 has been scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3.

Appalachian State, Georgia State and Troy are currently in a three-way tie for first place with 5-1 records in the Sun Belt Conference. All three teams have byes this weekend. Arkansas State, which fell to 4-1 in the league with a loss at South Alabama last Saturday, could join the first-place tie with a home win Saturday against Texas State.

Two days after Thanksgiving, the winner of the game in Atlanta between the Mountaineers (6-4 overall) and Panthers (6-3 overall) will be 6-1 in the Sun Belt with a chance to clinch at least a share of a conference title in its December 2 regular season finale. It will also be Appalachian State’s first visit to the Georgia State Stadium, which formerly was Turner Field, home of Atlanta Braves baseball.

Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield and first-year Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott were teammates on Mountaineer teams from 1991-95, with Satterfield playing quarterback and Elliott excelling as a defensive lineman. Elliott was also on former Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore’s staff when Satterfield began his coaching career as a Mountaineers assistant from 1998-2008. Elliott was later an assistant at the University of South Carolina for head coach Steve Spurrier. When Spurrier resigned midway through the 2015 campaign, Elliott was named the Gamecocks interim head coach. He posted a 1-5 ledger. He did not get hired on a permanent basis as South Carolina’s head coach and then resurfaced at Georgia State.

Appalachian State’s last game was a 27-6 win over Georgia Southern in which they limited the Eagles to only 191 yards of offense and no touchdowns. Quarterback Taylor Lamb threw two touchdown passes and running back Marcus Williams Jr. rushed for a career-high 130 yards.