Kade Hensley kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired, and Coastal Carolina beat Appalachian State 27-24 in Tuesday night Sun Belt college football action.
The Chanticleers (3-3, 1-2) won for the first time in Boone and handed the Mountaineers (3-3, 1-1) their first conference and home loss of the season.
Here are five things to know about Tuesday’s result:
1. Four App State games have been decided on the final play
The Mountaineers have lost three of those contests. They dropped a 40-34 decision at North Carolina in double-overtime and fell 22-19 at Wyoming, having a pass intercepted inside the Cowboys’ 10-yard line on their final offensive play. The lone win, over Louisiana-Monroe, also came on a field goal as time expired by Michael Hughes.
2. Coastal quarterback Grayson McCall further cemented his Sun Belt legacy
The redshirt senior from Indian Trail, N.C. (Porter Ridge HS), finished 19-of-28 for 373 yards and two touchdowns. He now has a win in Boone to add to his more than 9,000 career passing yards.
McCall had seven completions Tuesday of 30-plus yards, including a 63-yarder and touchdown throws of 51 (to Jameson Tucker) and 32 (to Kendall Karr).
3. Late Mountaineers turnover turned the tide toward Coastal
Despite giving up all those explosive pass plays, the App State defense stopped McCall on a crucial fourth-and-two deep inside its own territory late in the game. Caden Sullivan wrangled the Coastal quarterback for a one-yard loss, giving the ball back to the Mountaineers with less than five minutes to play and the score tied 24-24.
On App’s next play, quarterback Joey Aguilar hit a streaking Milan Tucker over the middle for a big gain. But what was the Mountaineers’ longest offensive play of the season — covering 69 yards — didn’t have a happy ending.
Coastal’s Keonte Lusk caught Tucker from behind and stripped the ball out of his hands. Teammate Abraham Temoney III fell on the fumble along the sidelines — it nearly rolled out of bounds — and the Chanticleers went 75 yards in 11 plays the other way to set up Hensley’s game-winning kick.
4. App State went most of the way without its top running back
Nate Noel came into the game with 651 rushing yards, averaging 130.2 per contest (second in the FBS). But he only had one carry against Coastal for one yard in the opening quarter.
Noel “tweaked” an ankle, according to ESPN in-game reports and didn’t return. The Mountaineers finished with 111 yards rushing, with the carries split between three other backs and Aguilar.
Coastal Carolina, meanwhile, rushed for 196 yards to go with 373 yards passing.
5. Road to New Orleans just got a lot tougher
App State isn’t out of the conference race by any stretch at 1-1 in the league. But Tuesday’s loss certainly made a return to the Sun Belt championship game more difficult. Just getting to six wins and bowl eligibility will be a stiff challenge.
Games remain at Old Dominion (3-3), home against Southern Miss (1-5), home against Marshall (4-1), at Georgia State (4-1), at James Madison (5-0) and home against Georgia Southern (4-1).
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