 Blake Elder pulls in an 8-yard reception during Appalachian's 35-24 victory at Samford Oct. 11, 2008. The Mountaineers face the Bulldogs again Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium. File Photo by Christy Bullins
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by LINDSEY HUNTSINGER
Sports Reporter
After struggling through their first two games of the season, Appalachian State will take the field Saturday with something to prove to conference opponent Samford.
“I don’t think teams fear us as much as they used to, especially since they saw we lost two games in a row,” junior defensive back Mark LeGree said. “We just need to gain our respect back.”
The team faced a great deal of negative publicity, as the media took advantage of the Apps bye week to pick apart their performance against McNeese State.
LeGree said the
team used the negativity surrounding the last game as fuel to push them
harder in their upcoming conference opener.
“It’s
frustrating because we’re used to winning around here, and when we’re
losing it’s not right. We just want to get back to the way we used to
be,” LeGree said. “We’re working harder and we’re going to do better
this week.”
The
Mountaineers took advantage of their bye week to work out the subtle
kinks in their practice routine and the obvious ones in their game-time
execution.
“We had
that open week there and we worked full gear. Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday of the off week we practiced just like we did during two a
days,” head coach Jerry Moore said. “I think we know a little more
about our personnel right now. It’s our job right now to get the right
guys on the field.”
As they
prepare to face the strong running game of the Bulldogs, the
Mountaineers reorganized and upped the intensity of practices to
improve their game.
“Last
week practices were really good,” defensive coordinator John Wiley
said. “Obviously the kids didn’t feel good about what they had done on
Saturday the week before and we identified a few things that we have to
get handled, and part of that is the intensity with which we practice.”
Samford joined the Southern Conference in 2008, and last season was the first year Appalachian faced the Bulldogs.
“I’ve
said this a number of times—we didn’t know much about Samford, so we
weren’t prepared for them last year,” Moore said. “We went to play them
and we really found out what a good team they had.”
Samford
is a strong offensive team outscoring their opponents 82-40 in their
first three games of the season, and accumulating 990 yards in total
offense.
“They
have a nice running game, with a big tailback, and a very good
quarterback as far as his accuracy and arm strength, and quality wide
receivers,” Wiley said. “They’re going to make you try and commit to
the run and beat you with play-action and I would assume some bootlegs
after the McNeese game.”
The
Bulldogs are also known to take advantage of the element of surprise,
calling various plays and trying to keep their opponents unbalanced on
defense.
“They’re
very creative on what they do on third downs,” Wiley said. “They don’t
use the same personnel packages and they do some things to not let you
get a beat on what they’re doing.”
Saturday
marks the beginning of conference play for the Mountaineers, bringing
with it added pressure for the players to perform well.
“These
first two games, they’re important, but at the end of the day they
don’t matter as much as the conference games,” LeGree said. “They
decide where we will be seeded, and we have to win all those games to
get a good seed, so it does put on a lot of pressure.”
For
Wiley, there is no question this weekend is do or die. The Mountaineers
need to bring home a win to not only boost player confidence, but also
reaffirm Appalachian’s status as an elite football program.
“It’s
not win or lose—right now we need to win,” he said. “They need to win,
that’s the bottom line. Right now the only thing that’s going to
instill some confidence and swagger back into them is to go out and win
a football game.”
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