At 8am and the tailgate lots were already full. At 10am, a full 2 hours before kickoff the home students are already shoulder to shoulder, sideline to sideline. At App State every student who wants to get in, gets in...and do they!
Imagine Clemson or South Carolina going on the road to play at Coastal Carolina for the first time. That's the magnitude of what is happening here today.
It's a dangerous business stepping out of your door. In an era when conferences are flung between not just two, but three time zones, the norm — at least if you’re from a Power 5 conference — is to schedule light and schedule body bag games from the FCS, get an easy win and placate the fan base. Occasionally though, a "prestigious 5" team takes a risk. Virginia Tech went on the road at new Sun Belt member Old Dominion Friday night and turned the ball over FIVE times en route to a 20-17 loss last night, so one has to commend the University of North Carolina (yes, the one in Chapel Hill donned in baby blue) for going on the road to play arguably a top 3 program in its state and the AP pre-season #39 team.
Still more than 90 minutes from kickoff at time of writing, this game has too many question marks around it to predict a winner, but with several key players out and a redshirt freshman Drake Maye starting at QB for UNC going against a (seems like) 30 year old Chase Brice and an App State running backs room as deep as Howard Knob is tall (4,396 ft) but a veeeeeerry green WR corps, this game should be a barn burner.
Mack coached in Boone for one season in 1983 winning 6 of 11 games before heading off to start a Tulane program and still visits Boone regularly - will his first trip back as a coach end in smiles or a quiet 2 1/2 hour drive home?