MOBILE, Ala. – Noel Cook and Jordan Fehr led an Appalachian State defense that surrendered just 139 yards as the 21st-ranked Mountaineers picked up a 30-3 Sun Belt Conference football victory over the University of South Alabama at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Saturday.
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Both recorded seven stops including a sack for a loss of seven yards by Cook as App State moved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the league this fall. The Mountaineers rushed for 313 yards — Raykwon Anderson accounted for 99 after a 67-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring, Marcus Williams Jr. added 94 — while Zac Thomas accounted for 174 yards of total offense.
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Keith Gallmon paced all players with 10 tackles and Riley Cole was credited with a pair of stops behind the line for the Jags, who are now 1-7 and 0-4 in the Sun Belt, with Tra Minter rushing for 94 yards on 23 carries to lead the offense.
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GAME FACTS
-App State had a 128-0 total offense advantage in the opening quarter, taking a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Thomas Hennigan midway through the period.
-Chandler Staton added a pair of field goals — from 19 and 34 yards out — to extend the Mountaineer lead to 13 points at the break as App State's defense surrendered only 23 yards on 23 plays over the first 30 minutes.
-A Williams Jr. touchdown and Staton's third field goal of the day stretched the App State lead to 23-0 at the end of three quarters.
-Frankie Onate helped South avoid the shutout with a 37-yard field goal with just under six minutes to go in the contest.
-The Mountaineer defense limited the Jags to a season-low 139 yards of total offense and 1-of-15 on third-down conversions.
-App State averaged 6.1 yards per play while recording a total of 445 yards.
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NOTES
-It was the second time this fall the Jaguars have taken on a nationally-ranked opponent — Nebraska was No. 24 to open the year — marking the first time in program history that South has played more than one top-25 team in the same season.
-The Mountaineers have won three straight meetings to take a 3-1 lead in the series between the two schools.
-Gallmon tied his previous career high with nine tackles in the opening half before going on to reach double digits in the category for the first time.
-It's the second time that the sophomore safety has led the team in stops as he also accomplished the feat against Memphis on Sept. 14.
-Cole equaled his career high in tackles for loss first set in the opener against the Cornhuskers, which included his second sack of the season.
-Shawn Jennings made his Jaguar debut in the opening quarter and would go on to finish the contest with five stops including a pair of assists behind the line of scrimmage.
-Sterrling Fisher was credited with a season-best four tackles — all solo — highlighted by a stop for a loss of six yards.
-Minter moved up to second on the school's all-time list in all-purpose yards after leading all players with 159, as with 3,663 over the last two-plus years he passed T.J. Glover.
-The Jaguars have been flagged for four or fewer penalties in five of the last six contests after being called for a season-high 11 in a Sept. 7 win over Jackson State.
-South recorded 116 of its offensive yards behind Desmond Trotter, who completed his first passes as a Jag including a 30-yard strike to Cade Sutherland late in the third quarter.
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THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
On where the team goes from here offensively: "We couldn't get much going at all really until the fourth quarter. We've got to look at what we need to do. I thought we moved the ball around a little bit better when Desmond [Trotter] got in the game; we were able to make a couple of plays and got some first downs. Appalachian State is good on defense. They held ULM to seven points and they're a good offensive team. The week before that game, they held Louisiana to seven points and they are one of the top 15 offenses in the country right now. We've got to do much better [offensively] but Appalachian State's a good football team. I told our guys [in the locker room] that there are some things we need to look at [offensively] to give ourselves a better chance to move the football. We need to figure out what we need to do offensively to score some points."
On the performance of the Jaguar defense: "I thought defensively, we played well enough to have a chance to win the game. We held them to 23 points for a large portion of the game and three of those points we gave them off a turnover and the defense held."
On if he's considering making a change at quarterback: "We'll see. We definitely need to move the ball better. Desmond will definitely have an opportunity. I haven't seen the final stats yet, but at half time we had one first down. We need to do something to find a way to move the football."
On the team regrouping mentally: "These guys have bounced back every single time. You challenge them to do that and if you have the right people that's what you do. The next game is the most important one because it's the next one. I think our guys have shown up to play each and every week. The last two weeks, our defense has really gotten after folks and we played well today defensively. Offensively, I thought we played hard, but obviously we didn't make enough plays. We've got to move some things around and shake some things up in order to try and find a way to score some points and give ourselves a chance to beat a really good football team. The opportunity was sitting there in front of us today. If we had been able to score some points, we could've upset a really good football team."
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Senior DL Sean Brown
On the defensive effort: "We just have to keep playing, fighting and clawing, and I feel like we did that. Late in the fourth quarter, we had a bust where they [Appalachian State] scored a touchdown. That's not acceptable, but we pretty much don't know the meaning of the word tired."
On moving forward: "We just have to keep chopping wood, and go back to the drawing board to get ready for Texas State. We have a bye week, so we can rest up and recover."
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Sophomore S Keith Gallman
On the defensive effort: "I thought we played pretty well early. We were able to get on and off the field, and held them to a couple of field goals. They are a good offense, but we just have to do our jobs and keep playing hard every play and execute the game plan."
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Senior RB Tra Minter
On the offensive performance: "We just got a late start. We started moving the ball a little late. Offensively, we practiced hard all week and knew what to expect. We just got a late start, and have to start faster."
Appalachian State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz
Overall thoughts: "I thought our defense played unbelievable today – held them [South Alabama] in check all game. It really allowed us offensively to find ourselves. We've struggled converting third downs and we really didn't play solid enough offensively, but we played well enough to win and we'll move on to the next one."
On the defense: "Any time you stop the run and get off the field on third down – I don't think they converted more than three first downs all game. They kept going out there and stuffing them and did a nice job."
On the confidence growing: "When you're playing well, you've got confidence in everybody and we've got to keep doing better. It will be a short week with a real test and we've got a lot of work to do."
On the team starting out: "I thought we had great energy and enthusiasm. Those guys love playing football. The whole team was ready to go. We just have to keep improving and working. There are lot of teams that didn't win today – we found a way to win on the road, which is always difficult. We have a standard that we want to play to and we have to hit that every single week. We had no turnovers today, which is awesome, and they turned it over once which is good. The red zone offense wasn't where we wanted it to be and third downs weren't where we wanted it to be."
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Up next: The Jaguars will not play again until taking a trip to face Texas State in San Marcos at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9.
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For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give
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