By Tim Gardner
With anticipation building in the 1,000-plus days since the game date was first announced, Appalachian State and Wake Forest finally have a set kickoff time and broadcast channel.
The non-conference football game between the Mountaineers and Deacons in Kidd Brewer Stadium on Sept. 23 will begin at 3:30 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN3, the Sun Belt Conference announced Monday afternoon. With broadcast appeal in mind, the times and channels for many college football games are set 12 days in advance.
The agreement to resume the App State-Wake Forest series was announced in October 2014. The 23rd meeting between two programs separated by only 89 miles will be the first time the Demon Deacons have played football in Boone. The Mountaineers are scheduled to return to BB&T Field in Winston-Salem to play Wake Forest on Sept. 12, 2020.
When tickets for next weekend’s game became available to the public, they sold out in a matter of hours. It will be the second time an Atlantic Coast Conference school has played App State in Kidd Brewer Stadium, as Miami’s visit to Boone last year attracted a record crowd of 34,658.
App State and Wake Forest played 22 times from 1975-2001, and the Mountaineers were an FCS-level program when they won three of the last five games. The series took a break following the Demon Deacons’ 20-10 home victory in 2001. Wake Forest has a head-to-head winning record of 14-7-1 against the Mountaineers.