A Look at the Recent History of the Appalachian State-Wofford Rivalry

For the second-straight season, one game will essentially decide the Southern Conference football titlle.

No. 3 Appalachian State (8-1, 6-1 SoCon) will host the No. 4 Wofford Terriers (8-1, 6-0 SoCon) at The Rock in what amounts to a de facto Southern Conference title game. No. 7 ASU traveled to No. 6 Elon last season in a battle of SoCon undefeateds, with the Mountaineers getting an impressive, 27-10, road win over the Phoenix.

This season, ASU will enter the game with one loss and in second-place, after Saturday’s 21-14 loss at Georgia Southern. Wofford took over the league lead, defeating Samford 10-3 on the road in a hard-fought win on Saturday.

With a victory on Saturday, Wofford would garner its first win at The Rock since the 2002 season, when the Terriers came to Boone and spoiled Homecoming festivities with a 26-19 win over the Mountaineers.

If Wofford is able to hand Appalachian State its second Southern Conference loss on Saturday afternoon, it would also mark the first time since 2002 the Mountaineers have loss back-to-back league games. In fact, the last time ASU lost a team not named Wofford or Georgia Southern was the 2005 campaign, when the Black and Gold dropped a 34-31 decision at Furman in mid-October.

The last time the Mountaineers lost two SoCon games was the 2007 season, when the Mountaineers dropped games at Wofford (42-31) and at home to Georgia Southern (38-35). The losses snapped ASU’s 30-game home game winning streak.

The 2007 season marked the last time the Mountaineers had to share a SoCon title, as the Black and Gold shared the league crown along with Wofford. It also marked the last season ASU was able to go on and win a national title.

Last Saturday’s 21-14 loss at Georgia Southern snapped ASU’s 26-game winning streak in SoCon games, dating back to the ‘07 loss to the Eagles. Now, ASU needs a win over the Terriers to clinch a share of a sixth-straight SoCon crown, matching Georgia Southern’s six-straight titles from 1997-2002.

Wofford is off to its best start since the 2003 campaign, when the Terriers won 12-straight games en route to its first Southern Conference title as a league member. That season saw the Terriers advance all the way to the FCS semifinals, before dropping a 24-9 decision to eventual national champion Delaware. 

Head coach Mike Ayers thinks this Wofford team might actually even be more talented than that 2003 team, which turned into the best team in school history. Ayers will meet his old friend Jerry Moore on Saturday, as the two now face off for a Southern Conference title.

The two veteran head coaches have coached for a combined 55 years entering the campaign. Ayers is in his 23rd season at the helm of the Wofford football program, while Moore is in his 22nd season as head coach of Appalachian State.

Both Ayers and Moore have had their respective teams in the Southern Conference title race every season since 2005. The only exception to that rule would be last season’s Wofford club, which finished the season an uncharacteristic 3-8.

Recent History of ASU-Wofford Rivalry

ASU and Wofford are no strangers to meeting with plenty on the line.

The first of what would become a healthy SoCon rivalry was that 2002 clash in Boone. On that particular afternoon, the Terriers took it to the preseason Southern Conference-title favorites in that contest, as they piled up 472 yards on the ground in the 26-19 win, spoiling that particular homecoming afternoon at The Rock.

Wofford rode the legs of veteran running back Jesse McCoy (then career-high 145 yds. rushing, 2 TDs) and got a surprising effort from true freshman halfback Gabriel Jackson (2 att., 72 yds., 61-yd game-winning TD run). It was one of the biggest road wins for the blossoming Southern Conference football power.

That victory still remains as the only win ever garnered by the Terriers at The Rock.

With the game tied at 19-19 late in the fourth quarter, the Terriers had the ball deep inside their own territory, at their own 39-yard line. That’s when the freshman Jackson took a pitch from quarterback Jeff Zolman and raced 61 yards for the game-winning score, stunning the ASU homecoming crowd of 17,297 on-hand at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The 472 yards generated by the Terrier ground attack still stands as a school record for yards surrendered by an ASU defense.

A stingy Wofford defense held a powerful ASU offense, led by senior quarterback Joe Burchette, to just 282 yards of total offense to get the win, intercepting him three times on the day. The Terrier defense held the Mountaineers to just 52 yards on the ground

A year later, the Mountaineers and Terriers squared off once again, with the Mountaineers nipping at Wofford’s heels in the Southern Conference title race.

After losing its league opener to The Citadel, ASU visited Gibbs Stadium winners of three-consecutive league games. The Terriers, meanwhile, were off to a perfect 4-0 start in the league and a No. 6-ranking in the Sports Network poll.

For the first time since the Terriers joined the SoCon in 1997, the Mountaineers would be underdogs against Ayers’ talented team.

Much like the ASU’s first national title game two years later, the Black and Gold would be without their leader under center, Richie Williams. He was sidelined with an ankle injury.

Eric Elsener would start under center on that Halloween afternoon in 2003. Like Burchette, he found it tough to get any sort of rhythm against a stingy Wofford defense.

However, ASU’s defense, led by Buck Buchanan Award candidate K.T. Stovall, was able to keep the game within striking distance for much of the afternoon, limiting Wofford’s powerful ground attack. ASU’s defensive efforts allowed the Mountaineers to get to the halftime break trailing just 3-0. 

Elsener’s last pass of the day would be a nightmare for Mountaineer fans. His errant throw was picked off and returned 41 yards for a score by Wofford linebacker Teddie Whitaker, giving the Terriers a 10-0 advantage.

Wofford would increase the lead to 17-0 on its next possession, as it pulled off a fake field goal to perfection. Holder Brandon Smith found backup tight end Cody Garland in the back of the end zone for a 17-0 lead, with 4:14 remaining in the third quarter.

Williams trotted onto the field and immediately injected some life into the ASU offense, which had been a dormant Appalachian State offense. He quickly tossed a 27-yard scoring strike to explosive wide receiver DaVon Fowlkes, cutting Wofford’s lead to 10, at 17-7.

After the ASU defense came up big once again, holding the Terriers on a fourth-and-goal, the Mountaineers’ lethal quarterback-receiving combo of Williams and Fowlkes struck again. This time they hooked up for an 88-yard pass-catch connection to cut the sixth-ranked Terriers’ lead to just three, at 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter.

After ASU’s defense held Wofford once again, ASU got the ball back with a chance to drive a stake in the heart of Wofford’s league title hopes. However, linebacker Blake Freeland stepped in front of a Williams pass and returned the ball well into ASU territory.

That play set up Jeff Zolman’s 2-yard scoring run with 2:36 remaining, and set the final score at 24-14. Wofford would go on to finish league play unblemished and claim the school’s first league title. 

It would be four years until the two had another meaningful matchup against one another. This time, the Mountaineers entered the matchup ranked No.1 in the nation, having defeated the FBS fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines, 34-32, just three weeks earlier.

ASU also had the Division I football’s longest winning streak, having won 17-straight games.

Wofford came into the showdown ranked No. 13 in the nation, with wins over NAIA Georgetown (38-21) and Charleston Southern (54-24), while posting a respectable loss to NC State (38-17). The Mountaineers were favored, but Wofford was considered by many to be ASU’s biggest challenge on the road to a SoCon title, especially with a slew of veterans on both sides of the football.

In fact, entering the 2007 season, Ayers had 19 returning starters from a team that had put up a respectable 6-5 season the previous season. The Mountaineers, who started a less-than-100-percent Armanti Edwards, who suffered a shoulder injury in the season opener against Michigan, fell behind the eight ball early in the contest. 

The Terriers surprised the Appalachian State defense, getting a 49-yard pass connection between senior signal-caller Josh Collier and junior wide receiver Andy Strickland to take an early 7-0 lead, with 5:11 remaining in the opening quarter.

ASU would get midway through the second quarter, as Edwards would scamper into the Wofford end zone from 10 yards out, tying the game 7-7 with 7:28 remaining in the half.

Wofford seemed as if it would take the lead into the halftime locker room. Backup quarterback Ben Widmyer found the end zone from seven yards out, giving the Terriers a 14-7 lead, with only 1:10 remaining in the opening half.

However, an ASU freshman quarterback-turned-wide receiver would take the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards for a TD. This gave the Terriers momentum entering the intermission, with the game tied 14-14.

After the top-ranked Mountaineers took a 17-14 lead by virtue of a Julian Rauch field goal, Wofford took control of the game in the third quarter. Wofford got TD runs from Dane Romero and Jeremy Marshall to take a 28-17 lead into the final quarter.

Kevin Richardson’s one-yard plunge early in the fourth quarter kept the Terriers within striking distance, as his boot cut the Terriers’ advantage to four points, at 28-24. Then Ayers went to his bag of tricks on Wofford’s next possession.

The fullback Romero took a handoff from Widmyer and tossed a perfectly-flighted nine-yard pass into the waiting arms of the halfback Marshall, giving the Terriers a two-score advantage (35-24) once again, with 11:04 remaining in the game.

In the true fashion of a champion in a heavyweight fight, the Mountaineers would respond, now under the leadership of backup quarterback Trey Elder, who came in for the injured Edwards after halftime.

The Black and Gold would find the end zone once again a little less than three minutes after the Terrier score. Richardson found paydirt for a second time in the half, this time from three yards out, cutting the Terriers’ advantage to four points once again, at 35-31.

ASU would get its only break of the afternoon on Wofford’s next possession.

The Terriers, who were mounting an impressive, nail-the-coffin-shut drive against a tired ASU defense, fumbled the football back to the two-time defending national champions at the seven-yard line. The recovery was made by Buck Buchanan Award candidate Corey Lynch.

The Mountaineers had 2:35 remaining on the clock to try and drive 93 yards for the game-winning score. However, it was the Wofford defense, which held what would go on to become the best offense in the history of ASU football, on four downs, taking over the ball at the ASU 30-yard line with 58 seconds remaining.

The Terriers would make it academic, as Kevious Johnson raced to the end zone on a 27-yard scoring scamper and capped the 42-31 upset of the top-ranked Mountaineers.

The 11-point win by the Terriers was one of the benchmark wins of the program’s decade membership in Division I college football. It set off raucous celebrations among the partisan Wofford crowd of 11,042 fans on-hand at Gibbs Stadium on that late September afternoon in ‘07.

The Terriers would go on to share the league title with ASU, garnering the school’s second FCS playoff invitation, as well as the program’s second league title. The Terriers would get perhaps an even bigger win for the program, as well as for the Southern Conference as a whole. in the postseason.

They traveled to Missoula, Mont., and coming away with a stunning 24-22 win over previously undefeated and top-seeded Montana in the opening round of the playoffs.

Wofford would bow out a week later in the FCS quarterfinals, with a 21-10 home loss to Richmond. ASU claimed its third national title with a 49-21 win over Delaware, establishing FCS football’s most recent dynasty.

ASU would exact its revenge on Wofford in a big way in the Terriers’ last trip to the High Country, on a chilly Halloween night back in 2008. The game pitted the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, in Appalachian State, against the nation’s No. 3-ranked team, in Wofford.

With the game billed as one of the biggest of the FCS season, the rare Friday night showdown would take place before a national-television audience. ESPN 2 cameras were on hand at Kidd Brewer Stadium to take in a frenzied atmosphere, which saw a capacity crowd of 30,931 to witness what they thought would be a classic.

Instead, the game turned out to be down-right scary. Appalachian State showed what it could do when it was hitting on all cylinders.

ASU’s 70-24 win was highlighted by the performance of freshman wide receiver Brian Quick, who hauled in four passes for 172 yards, with three of his receptions going for TDs.

Appalachian’s night was one of the more memorable offensive showcases in school history, coming against what was a talented, aggressive Wofford defense. It was a night which saw the ASU offense roll up 620 yards of total offense, while the Terriers totaled 497 yards of total offensive output.

The one bright spot for the Terriers in the contest was the play of Boone, N.C., native Eric Breitenstein. He rushed for 157 yards on 18 carries, leading an ASU ground attack which totaled 393 yards on the ground in the losing effort.

The 70 points scored by the Black and Gold marked only the second time the Mountaineers have scored 70 against a SoCon opponent in league history. The Mountaineers, of course, scored 79 points in a win over Western Carolina late in the 2007 season.

Though last season’s record indicated a disappointing season for Wofford, that certainly wasn’t indicative of how the Terriers played the Mountaineers on Oct. 17, 2009, when the Mountaineers traveled to Gibbs Stadium to take on the Terriers.

In what was one of the best performances put forth by the Terriers in the 2009 season, the Mountaineers had to overcome a 27-20 halftime deficit to come away with a hard-fought 44-34 win.

ASU scored the first points of the ‘09 contest, as Jason Vitaris connected on a 30-yard field goal with 10:22 remaining in the opening quarter.

Wofford’s offense would get going on the ensuing possession following Vitaris’ field goal. Halfback Derek Boyce took a pitch from quarterback Mitch Allen and scampered 74 yards for a TD on the Terriers’ first play from scrimmage.

And just like that, the Terriers found themselves on top, 6-3, with 10:08 remaining in the opening quarter.

That would be the last of the scoring in the opening quarter of play, as both defenses stepped up and limited offensive production. Early in the second quarter, Wofford got its second big run from scrimmage, as junior halfback Mike Rucker took a pitch from Allen and raced 64 yards for a score.

The touchdown extending Wofford’s lead to 10 points, with 13:47 remaining in the half.

The ASU offense finally awoke from its proverbial first-half slumber on its opening possession of the second quarter.

Brian Quick, the player that Wofford had no answer for a year earlier in Boone, was the first to find the end zone for ASU against the Terriers, hauling in a 27-yard pass from Armanti Edwards. This cut the Terriers’ advantage to just three, at 13-10.

As had become the theme for the afternoon, the ‘big play’ Terriers scored their third TD of 60 or more yards in the opening half. Allen connected with wide receiver Brenton Bersin for a 66-yard scoring pass, bringing the Terriers back to a two-score advantage, at 20-10, with 9:57 remaining in the half.

After a Vitaris 39-yard field goal to cap ASU’s next drive to make the score 20-13, the Terriers got the ball back and mounted their most impressive drive of the opening half of play. The Terriers took 6:18 off the clock and used 12 plays to move 78 yards, and take a 27-13 lead on Allen’s four-yard scoring run.

With only 48 seconds remaining until the intermission, it appeared that the margin might be 14 entering the halftime locker room. However, in true ASU offensive fashion, the Black and Gold would cut the Terrier advantage to one score and carry some momentum into the halftime break.

Edwards found paydirt on a 2-yard run as time expired in the half, making the score, 27-20 in favor of Terriers at the half.

Wofford got the ball to start the second half and continued its success moving the football against the ASU defense. The Terriers needed only six plays to move the ball six plays to cover 60 yards, culminating with an Austin Palmer 2-yard TD run.

The TD extended Wofford’s lead back to 14 points, at 34-20, with 12:22 remaining in the third quarter.

That would be the last points the ASU defense would allow in the contest. They outscored the Terriers 24-0 the remainder of the way to come up with the hard-fought road victory.

The Mountaineers cut the Terrier advantage to seven, when Devon Moore took a handoff from Edwards and raced 48 yards for a score, making it 34-27, with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter. The score was set up by junior safety Mark LeGree’s first INT of the season.

The score by the Apps had energized the Black and Gold defense, who came up big on Wofford’s ensuing offensive possession. They held the Terriers to a rare three-and-out.

ASU would get within four points, when Vitaris connected on a 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, making it 34-30.

Wofford would drive down to the ASU 31-yard line, looking to extend their advantage once again. However, the Black and Gold turned in their second big play of the second half.

Junior defensive end Jabari Fletcher forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker D.J. Smith, squelching any thoughts of a Wofford score.

Seven plays later, the Mountaineers took their first lead since early in the game. Moore scored his second TD of the afternoon on a 1-yard plunge, giving the Black and Gold a 37-34 lead with exactly 10:00 remaining in the game.

The Mountaineer defense got perhaps its biggest stop of the afternoon on Wofford’s next possession. The Apps forced the Terriers to punt from their own 38-yard line.

After the punt, ASU all but put the game on ice, when Edwards found "Wofford killer" receiver Brian Quick on a 57-yard bomb. The touchdown pass capped the scoring on the afternoon and giving the Mountaineers a 44-34 lead with 6:48 to go.

The final nail was put in the coffin when Wofford fumbled for the second time in the half and the ball was recovered by Fletcher with 4:01 remaining.

Wofford and ASU will be meeting for the 27th time in series history on Saturday, with ASU holding a 16-10 all-time series advantage.

Expect Saturday's game to come down to the fourth quarter. However, the scary thing for Wofford might be that ASU hasn't had "that game" yet.

Unfortunately for the Terrier faithful, they have already endured that nightmare once in their last trip up the mountain.