Lamb, Appalachian State beat Georgia Southern 34-10

Taylor Lamb passed for 199 yards and ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns to help Appalachian State beat Georgia Southern 34-10 on Thursday night.

Jalin Moore added 126 yards rushing and Marcus Cox ran for 115 yards for the Mountaineers (6-2, 4-0 Sun Belt). Each had a touchdown run in the final quarter and Appalachian State scored the final 34 points after falling behind early.

Lamb put the Mountaineers on the board with a 14-yard run in the middle of the second quarter. Michael Rubino added field goals on each side of halftime and Lamb made it 20-10 with a 30-yard keeper late in the third.

Younghoe Koo's 32-yard field goal opened the scoring for the Eagles (4-4, 3-2) and Ukeme Eligwe returned a fumble 90 yards to make 10-0 late in the first quarter.

Georgia Southern never got moving on offense, though, and was outgained by the Mountaineers 498-159.

Appalachian State grabs 3 INTs in 37-19 win over Idaho

 Taylor Lamb threw for 220 yards and rushed for one touchdown, Jalin Moore had 114 yards rushing and a score, and Appalachian State beat Idaho 37-19 on Saturday.

Appalachian State broke it open with 13 unanswered points in the third quarter, highlighted by freshman Clifton Duck's 44-yard pick-6 on an overthrown pass. Moore extended the Mountaineers' lead to 30-9 lead when he powered up the middle for a 5-yard score.

Backup J.P. Caruso threw his first touchdown pass of the season for Appalachian State (5-2, 3-0 Sun Belt Conference) late in the fourth. Duck had two interceptions.

Matt Linehan went 26 of 41 for 294 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions for Idaho (4-4, 2-2).

The Vandals scored their first touchdown with 4 seconds remaining when Trent Cowan scored on an 8-yard grab. It was the first TD allowed by Appalachian State since Sept. 24.

Appalachian State cruises past Louisiana-Lafayette 24-0

 Taylor Lamb threw for 201 yards and a touchdown, Jalin Moore ran for 106 yards and two scores, and Appalachian State beat Louisiana-Lafayette 24-0 on Wednesday night for the Ragin' Cajuns' first home shutout since 2002.

Appalachian State (4-2, 2-0 Sun Belt) scored on its first four possessions, had a 24-0 lead at halftime and cruised in the second half.

On the Mountaineers' first offensive play, Shaedon Meadorscaught a deep pass from Lamb for a 56-yard gain and Moore punched it in from the 2 for a 7-0 lead. Appalachian State had an 11-play, 92-yard drive on its second drive but settled for a 21-yard field goal. Moore broke free with a cutback for a 41-yard touchdown run and freshman Collin Reed caught his first career touchdown pass from 8 yards out.

Meadors made six catches for a career-high 128 yards for Appalachian State. Lamb completed his first eight passes and was 12 of 16 - including a deflected interception - in the first half. He was just 3 for 10 after halftime.

Elijah McGuire had 43 yards rushing and 10 yards receiving to become the career leader in all-purpose yards for ULL (2-4, 1-2). The Ragin' Cajuns punted on their first three drives and Stevie Artigue's 47-yard field-goal attempt hit the left upright on their fourth possession.

Moore leads Appalachian State to 17-3 win over Georgia State

Jalin Moore ran for 45 of 159 yards for a touchdown to break a scoreless tie in the third quarter and Appalachian State intercepted four passes in beating Georgia State 17-3 on Saturday in a Sun Belt opener.

Moore weaved through the Panthers defense to score with 13:32 left in the third quarter.

Michael Rubino added a 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter before Rogier ten Lohuis gave Georgia State (0-4, 0-1) its only points with a 43-yard field goal. But the Mountaineers (3-2, 1-0) took the ensuing kickoff and used up nearly six minutes before Taylor Lamb threw 12 yards toShaedon Meadors for the final margin with 3:16 remaining.

Moore finished with 159 yards on 28 carries for Appalachian State, the preseason Sun Belt favorite, which has now won 14 of its last 15 conference games and returns 17 of 22 starters from last year's 11-2 squad.

Moore's 257 yard day leads Appalachian St over Akron 45-38

Jalin Moore ran for a career-high 257 yards and two touchdowns and Appalachian State hung on to beat Akron in a 45-38 shootout on Saturday.

The teams combined for 1,073 yards of total offense and 60 first downs.

Taylor Lamb threw for 280 yards and three scores for the Mountaineers (2-2), including strikes of 36 and 37-yards to Levi Duffield and Zy Letman.

Thomas Woodson found A.J. Coney on a 23-yard TD pass to give the Zips (2-2) a 14-10 lead midway through the second. But Lamb hit Duffield on the ensuing drive to spark a 21-0 scoring stretch for Appalachian State and a 31-14 halftime lead.

The Mountaineers never trailed the rest of the way, but a Mykel Traylor-Bennett 1-yard run for Akron cut it to 45-38 with 5:55 left. The Zips had a final drive to tie it, but turned it over on downs.

Woodson had 353 yards passing and three scores for Akron.

Kaaya leads No. 25 Miami over Appalachian State 45-10

 Brad Kaaya threw for 368 yards and three scores, Mark Walton ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns and No. 25 Miami rolled to a 45-10 win Saturday over Appalachian State in front of a record crowd of 34,658 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Miami (3-0) came in having scored a school-record 108 points in its first two games in wins over Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic. The Hurricanes picked up where they left off, scoring on their first four possessions to build a 24-0 lead.

Walton set the tone, busting through the middle of the line on Miami's first play from scrimmage and racing 80 yards untouched to the end zone. Kaaya added first quarter TD passes to David Njoku and Stacy Coley.

"There is a lot of weight on his shoulders, but he handles it well," Miami coach Mark Richt said of Kaaya. "... It was nice to see him play a really solid game."

Coley finished with five catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

"We have been tackling really well, but we didn't tackle well today," Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield said. "They are big backs, but we have to bring them down."

Appalachian State's top running back Marcus Cox left the game in the first half with a lower body injury and did not return.

THE TAKEAWAY

MIAMI: Some questioned why Miami scheduled a road game against Appalachian State, a team notorious for pulling big upsets (ask Michigan) and scaring the life out of others (ask Tennessee). Richt said Appalachian State's close loss to Tennessee got his team's attention.

"You better believe it," Richt said. "Everybody knew that it was not a fluke. It was physical play. It got our attention. I did not have to say something magical to get them fired up."

APPALACHIAN STATE: The Mountaineers came in brimming with confidence after taking then-No. 9 Tennessee to overtime in the season opener and winning 18 of its last 21 games. "Our mindset is we're one of the best teams in the country," linebacker Eric Boggs said last week. But Appalachian State was thoroughly outplayed in the first quarter by a more talented and physically superior Miami team.

UP NEXT

MIAMI: The Hurricanes are off next weekend before opening ACC play Oct. 1 at Georgia Tech. Miami has won six of its last seven games against the Yellow Jackets.

APPALACHIAN STATE: The Mountaineers (1-2) visit Akron next Saturday, their final tuneup before beginning play in the Sun Belt Conference.

Cox scores 3 TDs, Appalachian State tops Old Dominion 31-7

Marcus Cox ran for 133 yards with three first-half touchdowns and Appalachian State ran away from Old Dominion 31-7 on Saturday.

Cox scored on runs of 1, 2, and 10 yards - all following long drives - to help build a 24-7 lead at intermission. Michael Rubino added a 20-yard field goal.

On its first possession of the second half, ODU went for it on fourth-and-9 from the Mountaineers' 15, but David Washington was picked off by Clifton Duck in the end zone. After stopping Old Dominion on downs late in the game, Appalachian State (1-1) used an 11-play drive - which took over 5 minutes - before J.P. Caruso carried the last yard for the final score.

Ray Lawry rushed 15 times for 119 yards with a touchdown for the Monarchs (1-1).

No. 9 Tennessee escapes with OT win over Appalachian State

Exactly nine years to the day after it pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, Appalachian State nearly did it again.

A couple of missed kicks and an inability to recover an overtime fumble prevented the Mountaineers from getting it done.

Jalen Hurd pounced on quarterback Joshua Dobbs' fumble in the end zone and No. 9 Tennessee overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to escape with a 20-13 victory over Appalachian State on Thursday night.

"It's definitely heartbreaking," said Appalachian State's Marcus Cox, who rushed for 115 yards. "I feel like we put ourselves in position to win, and we just didn't capitalize when we should have."

Appalachian State was trying to stage a repeat of its 2007 upset of No. 5 Michigan, which marked the first time a Football Championship Subdivision program had beaten a Top 25 team. The Mountaineers have since left the FCS ranks and had their first season as a full-fledged Bowl Subdivision member last year.

Tennessee faced third-and-goal from the 2 when Dobbs ran to his right and lost control of the ball as he tried to stretch his arms across the goal line. Hurd won the scramble for the loose ball in the end zone to give the Volunteers their only lead of the night.

"I thought I was in, and then I just saw Jalen dive on the ball and I said, `All right, we're good. We scored,' " Dobbs said. "A touchdown's a touchdown."

Micah Abernathy ended the game by breaking up a pass into the end zone on fourth-and-5 from the 20.

The Vols tied it on Dobbs' 67-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone with 10:30 left in regulation. Appalachian State redshirt freshman kicker Michael Rubino, who earlier missed an extra point, was wide right on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 5:24 remaining.

Rubino's miss wasted a 57-yard punt return by Jaquil Capel that gave Appalachian State the ball at the 28.

Tennessee entered the season with its highest ranking since 2006 after winning its final six games last year, but the Volunteers looked nothing like a Top 10 team Thursday. The Volunteers committed two first-half turnovers and lost linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to a targeting penalty in the opening quarter as Appalachian State built a 13-3 lead.

"On a night where just about everything and anything went wrong, we found a way to win," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said.

Cam Sutton fumbled on a punt return and Appalachian State's Alex Gray recovered at Tennessee's 36 to set up the first touchdown, a 5-yard keeper from Taylor Lamb barely four minutes into the game. Appalachian State's other touchdown came in the second quarter on a 33-yard completion from Lamb to Cox.

THE TAKEAWAY

Appalachian State: The Mountaineers had lost by at least 28 points in each of their six meetings with Power Five teams since that Michigan game, but they showed Thursday that they could compete with college football's big-name programs. Appalachian State refused to get pushed around and kept Tennessee's offense out of the end zone for the first 49 1/2 minutes.

Cox showed he can run effectively against any team from any conference. Cox now has 4,203 career yards rushing to rank second among all active FBS players, behind San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey.

Tennessee: The Vols vowed they weren't overlooking Appalachian State and weren't distracted by sky-high preseason expectations, but something was clearly missing Thursday.

The biggest question surrounding Tennessee during the offseason was whether it could add efficiency and explosiveness to its passing attack. That area remains a major concern. Dobbs went 16 of 29 for 192 yards with one touchdown and an interception.

"I'm never going to apologize for a win, guys," Jones said. "I think we've learned around here wins are pretty hard to come by."

KEY NUMBERS

Appalachian State reached Tennessee territory on four second-half possessions but failed to score on any of them. ... Appalachian State controlled the ball for 33 1/2 minutes to keep Tennessee's offense off the field. ... Tennessee rushed for just 127 yards on 43 carries. ... Dobbs, who ran for a combined 1,160 yards in 2014-15, had minus-4 yards rushing on nine carries.

UP NEXT

Appalachian State: The Mountaineers have their home opener Sept. 10 against Old Dominion. Appalachian State must avoid looking ahead to its Sept. 17 home game with Miami.

Tennessee: The Volunteers face Virginia Tech at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The Sept. 10 "Battle at Bristol" is expected to draw over 150,000 fans, which would mark the largest recorded attendance for a college football game.