Leaves may change, but App St. doesn't

BOONE, N.C. — Upset-minded Citadel fans who made it up the steep grade past Possum Hollow and Blowing Rock had a chance Saturday to sample free chili from Sledgehammer Charlie's at a tent set up outside Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Then it was mostly a diet of football indigestion, a 47-21 Southern Conference loss to Appalachian State's mighty Mountaineers. The halftime score was 41-7.

Full fall foliage is near bloom on both sides of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sugar maples, poplars, beech and birch are about to change.

SoCon pecking order remains the same: Greenwood native Armanti Edwards and his pals are chased by everyone else in the most competitive Football Championship Subdivision league.

This is a good Citadel team, part of Kevin Higgins' annually upgraded master plan. Bulldogs players wear T-shirts that read "We Believe" and "2008."

But head coach Jerry Moore's three-time defending national champ Appalachian State team simply flexed against a homecoming opponent.

This operation belongs in Conference USA, at least.

And Appalachian State would make such a natural rival for East Carolina.

"We just needed more players to step up and make some plays to kind of keep the crowd down a little bit and get some confidence," Higgins said. "But we never really did that."

The Rock

Not many teams do. The Mountaineers, since their title streak started in 2005, have lost only one SoCon home game, to Georgia Southern last year.

"It's definitely a different atmosphere," Citadel quarterback Bart Blanchard said. "It's a lot louder, with their band and everything. We knew that coming in. We were prepared but we didn't come out and play like we needed to play."

Wofford, not Appalachian State, won the SoCon championship last season.

Furman and The Citadel are making strides, too. But while South Carolina's SoCon programs dream of league titles, Moore can aim higher.

With an enrollment of 16,600, Appalachian State has almost three times as many students as The Citadel, Furman and Wofford combined. Had Wofford won its second-round FCS playoff game last year instead of losing to Richmond, the Terriers would have traveled to Appalachian State for the next round.

Even when you win on the field, you are outflanked by wallets.

Kidd Brewer Stadium, aka "The Rock" and a hard place, expanded by 4,400 seats to 20,150 in the offseason. A school-record 30,718 people showed up for a loss to FCS No. 1-ranked James Madison in the home opener. All reserved seats are sold out for this season. A Citadel-style tower of club suites is due for 2009.

Move on up

Just as important for the head coach, there are no snowball fights at practice. Moore, in his 20th season in Boone, already has a fancy indoor facility for cold weather workouts.

All this makes the Mountaineers the kind of prohibitive SoCon favorite they looked like Saturday.

"Jerry has done a great job with the program here, obviously," said Higgins, who built a powerhouse at Lehigh before taking a Detroit Lions detour to The Citadel. "He's brought in some good character guys and some good athletes. When your No. 1 tailback (Devon Moore) goes down you bring in a guy (Devin Radford) who has played at Virginia Tech. That's a good situation to have."

So maybe the Atlantic Coast Conference would be better for Appalachian State.

You can probably think of a few ACC squads that might struggle in Boone.

Gene Sapakoff can be reached at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or 937-5593.