Athens News · Dec 17, 2015
Ohio faces stern test in Appalachian State Mountaineers
The casual college football fan probably hears “Appalachian State Mountaineers” and thinks of the school that played in what was then Division I-AA and somehow beat the Michigan Wolverines at the “Big House” in Ann Arbor in 2007.
Fast forward eight years and the Mountaineers are a completely different program. In 2013, the school made the leap to the Sun Belt Conference, and now, after two years in the NCAA’s Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), Appalachian State has a combined record 17-7. This year, in their first year of bowl eligibility, the Mountaineers went 10-2, finished second in the Sun Belt, and on Saturday will play in their first bowl game since 1955.