Auburn-Alabama.
Army-Navy
Michigan-Ohio State
Oklahoma-Texas.
All fantastic rivalry games! There is a Johnny-come-lately rivalry game that has often been epic in recent decades. Significant enough that the days leading up to the game are called “Hate Week.”
On Thursday night, the 35th edition of the Appalachian State – Georgia Southern game will take place in windy Boone, North Carolina. App leads the heated rivalry 19-14-1.
Appalachian State’s loss to Southern last year was very painful. Immediately upon being ranked for the first time in its brief FBS era, App was smoked 34-14 at Georgia Southern. The Mountaineers’ excellent QB, Zac Thomas, was knocked out of the game on App’s opening drive. Fourteen consecutive wins later, the Mountaineers cannot wait until Georgia Southern pays a visit on Halloween.
Georgia Southern has not won in Boone since 2007. That the Eagles could win in 2007 is particularly noteworthy for many reasons. App was coming off two FCS National Titles and was sporting a 30-game home winning streak. App would win an unprecedented 3rd consecutive title in 2007, despite its loss to Southern. More noteworthy to the general public was that this Mountaineer team ventured north to Ann Arbor for its 2007 opener and shocked 5th-ranked Michigan behind Armanti Edwards, a fleet of speedy wide receivers and a game-winning field goal block.
The Mountaineers got ample revenge the following year. App beat Southern, 37-36, thanks to Edwards’ successful goal line “leap” on 4th and 1 in the game’s final two minutes. App was not done wreaking revenge for its 2007 home loss. On Southern’s next visit to Boone, App’s 52-16 trouncing was not fully reflective of its dominance. Total yardage in the game: App 712 yards while only giving up 171!
More often, App has upset the Georgia Southern applecart. No less than 4 times, the Mountaineers upset Southern when the Eagles were the #1-ranked FCS team. My favorite upset was the 1987 game in frigid Boone, labeled as the Ice Bowl. App won 19-0, the first time Erk Russell was shut out in his illustrious Georgia Southern tenure. There was a snow-crusted hill at one end of Kidd Brewer stadium. Toward the end of the game, the cheeky student section carved out the following message in the snow to its visitors: “Can You Score?”
In 2003, Georgia Southern traveled to Boone, winner of the previous six Southern Conference titles. App upset #1 Georgia Southern, 28-21. Euphoric fans tore down the goal posts that would be paraded outside the stadium. One of the posts smashed a window on a Southern team bus. An accident or deliberate? Perhaps we will never know. Infuriated by such insult, Southern wreaked massive revenge the following year, annihilating App 54-7 in its most decisive victory over its Southern Conference archrival.
So, if you tune in on Thursday night, remember that you are not watching a random Sun Belt game. It is one of the most memorable rivalries in recent college football history. Given how often revenge has been a theme in this series, expect the Mountaineers to triumph.