It’s safe to say Saturday’s game has been circled in Boone for quite a while. Ever since UNC and Appalachian State scheduled a three-game series years ago, September 3, 2022 loomed large. It will mark the Tar Heels’ first visit ever to Kidd Brewer Stadium, where a raucous crowd of 30,000-plus will be waiting for them. For redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye, it’ll be quite the venue for a first career road start.
But for head coach Mack Brown, the game is a long-overdue homecoming. Brown’s first ever head coaching job came at Appalachian State in 1983. He only stayed with the Mountaineers for one season, leaving to take the offensive coordinator job at Oklahoma. Saturday will mark the first time Brown has returned to Boone for a game since then.
That’s not to say Brown hasn’t been back at all. The Hall of Famer still has numerous connections to the area, and said he plans to move there permanently once he retires. This week, though, the mountains will seem a little less welcoming.
“I love the place. We’ve had a house up there for 30 years,” Brown said. “It’s funny this weekend that all of my friends are pulling against us. They all want us to lose, all my mountain friends. And I don’t like them this weekend either, so that’s just part of it. But the program has grown so much, and it’s in such a better place than it was when I went there.
“I’m so proud of them,” Brown added. “They’re one of the best programs in the country.”
While Saturday will be the Tar Heels’ first visit to the mountains, it’ll be the second meeting with the Mountaineers in four years. The first came in Brown’s first season back in Chapel Hill, when App State came into Kenan Stadium and won, 34-31. While defensive coordinator Gene Chizik was not on staff for that game, offensive coordinator Phil Longo was. He said the Mountaineers’ defense is one which does not forgive mental lapses.
“I just think they’re incredibly well-coached and they play well together,” Longo said. “They play hard, they play [physically]. And they force you to stay focused the entire game because if you sleep on a play, or you have a mental lapse on a play, or you’re not at your best physically on a play, then you’re gonna get beat.
“It’s an every-down focus. It takes some discipline and some mistake-free football to get after App State offensively the way we would like to try and do so.”
Chizik, on the other hand, is coming off coaching his first football game in five years. His defense struggled at times to contain Florida A&M’s quick passing attack, giving up 24 points to the Rattlers. But against the Mountaineers, Chizik said his focus is containing App State’s powerful rushing attack, led by star Camerun Peoples.
“If we’re gonna win the football game, it’s gotta be won with the front seven and being able to control the ground attack,” Chizik said. “They’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve got a great scheme. If you look up and down their offensive line, running backs, quarterback, it’s amazing how many fifth- and sixth-year guys they have. So what comes with that is a ton of experience and a lot of championship expectations there. So they expect to come into these games and win.”
Brown was well-aware of App State’s numerous veterans on the depth chart, which stands in stark contrast to the youth movement in Chapel Hill. He was also keen to bring up a rather dubious Tar Heel stat: they haven’t won away from Kenan Stadium since December… of 2020. It so happens that’s also the last time App State lost a game in Boone. Brown acknowledged history was not on his team’s side.
“They’re experienced with confidence and we’re not,” he said. “And the other thing is we haven’t won on the road. So all odds are against us this weekend. We’re banged-up. We’re taking a first-year quarterback to Boone; they’ve got a sixth-year guy. We’re going to a hostile environment, and we haven’t played well on the road in those. So we’ve got our hands full, and we’re gonna have to play great to have a chance to win.”
Tickets to Kidd Brewer Stadium have been sold out since mid-summer, and prices on the secondary market have been some of the highest of any college football game anywhere in the regular season. Boone will present a once-in-a-lifetime environment for Brown and the Tar Heels, but also the opportunity for one of the most memorable road wins in recent years… even if that is almost by default.
Featured image via The News & Observer/Robert Willett
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