Appalachian State: The Story Of Their '09 Defensive Transformation

Those familiar with the tradition of Appalachian State football will tell you that the ingredients of many of Jerry Moore’s teams in the late 1980’s and throughout the ‘90’s was the play on the defensive side of the football. In fact, it was Appalachian State’s record-breaking defense that grabbed most of the headlines, rather than an offense that now grabs the headlines by putting up points as if they are going out of style.

Most who follow the Mountaineers will never forget that 1995 team that went undefeated in the regular-season, was spurred by a defense that featured the likes of defensive back Matt Stevens, linebackers Dexter Coakley and Joe Dibernardo and defensive end Shawn Elliott (who now serves as offensive line coach for ASU).

There are those other great names of the playmaking defensive ends, like K.T. Stovall, Josh Jeffries and in the more distant past Sean Swoope. There are too many names that have starred for the Apps under the direction of Moore to list here, but the point is he has coached some of the best to ever don the Black and Gold.

With nine starters returning on the defensive side of the football to begin the 2009 season, most had little doubt that the most-current edition would produce one of the best cohesive units the Mountaineers fielded under Moore. However, after starting 0-2 and giving up 522 yards and 40 points in a home loss to McNeese State, many wondered what had happened to a defense that featured the SoCon’s top two defensive players from the previous campaign and one nominated for the prestigious Buck Buchanan Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player.

However, after experiencing struggles in the first six weeks of the season, the defense has improved to become one of the stingiest units in the FCS over the last half of the season. Going into its Oct. 24 showdown with Georgia Southern, the Mountaineers were giving up 355.2 PPG., ranking fifth in the league in total defense, while giving up 26.3 PPG. to rank seventh in the league in scoring defense.

Coming into Saturday’s FCS quarterfinal showdown with Richmond, the Mountaineers are now fourth in the league in total defense, trimming 44 yards off their total from six weeks ago, yielding just 311.5 YPG. As far as the points the Mountaineers are allowing per game, the Mountaineers are now allowing just 21.5 PPG., which means the Mountaineers have trimmed a little over five points off their points allowed per contest, now ranking third in the league in scoring defense.

The defensive turnaround started mid-week prior to the Georgia Southern game, as the coaching staff challenged the Appalachian State defense to get better by saying that starting positions would be re-evaluated on the defensive side of the football in practice leading up to the matchup with its arch-rival.

The Mountaineer defense followed up that challenge by the coaches, yielding just 171 offensive yards to the Eagles and allowed only one offensive TD. ASU also recorded a season-high six sacks in the win, which were the most QB hits since last season’s 56-7 win over Jacksonville.

The Mountaineers most impressive performance over the six-week stretch was in the de facto Southern Conference championship game against Elon. The Phoenix came into the contest with the fifth-ranked offense in FCS, averaging 454.4 YPG. By the time the sun had gone down at Rhodes Stadium that evening, the Mountaineers had allowed only 270 yards of total offense and just 10 points to the high-powered Elon offense. The 270 yards of total offense by Elon represented a season-low.

In that stellar defensive performance, the Mountaineer defense picked off junior signal-caller Scott Riddle, one of the league’s best passers, three times, all of which led to ASU TDs. Those three interceptions in a single game were the most by Riddle in ‘09.

The most impressive stat over the last six games has been the ability of the Appalachian defense to limit opponents’ yardage as well as turn them over. The Black and Gold defense has allowed 350 or more yards to only two opponents during the six-week stretch-Chattanooga (351) and Furman (350)—and have recorded 16 turnovers in the six outings, with a turnover margin of +5.

The only game in which the Apps didn’t record a turnover against an opponent in the six-game stretch was in the regular-season finale against Western Carolina. Twelve of ASU’S 16 forced turnovers came as a result of interceptions. What’s even more amazing is the fact that the Mountaineers had only registered eight turnovers in the first six weeks of the ‘09 campaign and had a turnover margin of +3.

In terms of points given up to an opponent during the stretch, the Mountaineers have given up no more than 27 points to any opponent, with Furman’s high of 27 points coming in a blowout loss representing the standard. In those six games, the Mountaineers are only yielding an average of a little under 17 points per game.

One of the direct results of the improvement in turning over opponents down the stretch has been an improved pass rush. The secondary, and in particular safety Mark LeGree who leads the SoCon with seven picks, has especially benefitted from the ramped-up pass rush.

Over the six-game stretch, the Mountaineers have recorded 18 sacks, due in large measure to the bookend tandem of Lanston Tanyi and Jabari Fletcher, who have combined to register eight of the Mountaineers’ 11 sacks in the last three games. In all, the duo has combined for exactly half (14 sacks) of ASU’s total quarterback tackles this season. That improvement in the pass-rush department is especially impressive when you consider the Apps didn’t record a sack in the first two games of the ’09 season.

Another impressive stat to consider is the Mountaineers haven’t yielded 400 or more yards to an opponent, since surrendering a season-high 537 yards to the Wofford Terriers back on Oct. 17 in a 44-34 win over the Terriers.

We all know the potential of the App State offense, but with the improvement of the defense, a fourth national title is now within its sights, needing just three more wins to accomplish that historic feat. It’s rare that a team, at the Division I level, can start a season 0-2 and rebound to win a national title. However, nothing we’ve seen over the last 10 weeks, and in particular the last six outings, would offer anything to contrast that this ASU team isn’t fully capable of winning another title.

That improvement, along with the liberty to call the Mountaineers championship caliber, is almost directly a result of the transformation on the defensive side of the football over the last half of the season. If ASU should win a fourth title, it would have to join some elite company in winning a national title after an 0-2 start to the campaign. It’s already one of the best turnaround stories in Appalachian lore, as the Mountaineers are only the second team in school history to recover from an 0-2 start to make the post-season.

The only other team in school history to make that claim is the 1992 team, which began that campaign with losses to NC State and Wake Forest, but were knocked out in the opening round of the playoffs with a 35-10 loss at Middle Tennessee State. With ASU’s advancement into the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs, this Mountaineer squad has already advanced further than any other 0-2 squad in ASU football history, but won’t be happy until they become one of the few teams in NCAA history to win four national titles in five seasons.