Losing the Jug

Appalachian State had its game against Western Carolina University wrapped up. Sixth-year senior and safety Nygel Rogers picked off an errant pass and returned it for a touchdown. The Apps nursed a 27-16 lead with under 5:00 to go in late Nov. 2004.

The game against Western is not an ordinary game: it??s the Battle of the Old Mountain Jug. It??s a game that is Michigan v. Ohio State, albeit on a much smaller scale. It??s hated rivals. And Appalachian had won the annual game 18 of the last 19 years.

While it appeared the Mountaineers would finally claim their first road win of the season, the team collapsed down the stretch.

Backup quarterback Justin Clark entered the game for the Catamounts and completed all five of his passes for over 130 yards and two touchdowns, the second one being the game-winning pass.

Western 30, Appalachian 27.

The loss ensured ASU would remain winless on the road that year and that the team would finish with a 6-5 record: it??s worst since the early 90s.

It was one of the lowest points for ASU football in quite some time, and there would be consequences. Director of Athletics Roachel Laney ?®resigned,?∆ but in reality, he was forced out by new leadership on campus. Charlie Cobb was hired from N.C. State as the new AD.

It may have been a low point that chilly night in Cullowhee, but there was nowhere to go but up.

An embattled coach

Head coach Jerry Moore is not a young man. In fact, the 66-year-old Texas native is the oldest man to ever coach at Appalachian State. He??s a good Christian man, too, one whom I have had the pleasure of interviewing several times.

Ol?? Jerry took a lot of heat for the 2004-05 season, but it was nothing new to him.

In an era of ?®what have you done for me now?∆ in college football, many fans simply forgot Moore was the man who helped turn Appalachian into a national power. What they remember Moore for is... the decline. Moore took ASU to the national semifinals against Montana in 2000. They were 10-1 that year.

Since 2000, Moore??s records have been 9-2, 8-3, 7-4 and 6-5. He missed the playoffs his last two years before this season, something unheard of at Appalachian State.

He has been crucified on message boards, slammed in newspapers ... but the old coach just kept on trucking. He had to watch head basketball coach Houston Fancher receive a contract extension without ever winning the conference.

All Moore did was lead the team to the playoffs numerous times and win the conference championship, but here he was in 2005, entering the last year of his contract with no clue as to his future.

Jerry Moore knew this might be his last year coaching, especially with a new chancellor and a new athletic director. The crafty veteran had one more make-or-break season.

His response? Coaching the team to an 8-3 record, a No. 2 seed in the playoffs and a semifinal showdown against Furman.

Moore always had the same philosophy about each of his teams: ?®Play to our potential.?∆ I typically hate when coaches say that, but Moore was right. The last three years (combined record of 21-12 and one playoff appearance), the team did not play to its potential and Moore knew that had to change.

He engrained in these players a sense of team unity. And he had a little help along the way.

Senior leadership

Many former Appalachian State players had a swagger to them. Whether it was Josh Jeffries or Dexter Coakley chasing down quarterbacks, or Derrick Black making a huge play, the senior leadership had style.

In 2003, the 7-4 year, Moore relied heavily on Black and wide receiver Sterling Hayward for that crucial veteran leadership.

Black had a mouth that ran a mile a minute: he hoped everyone remembered his huge play that won the game against Furman in 2002. And if you didn??t know it, he would make sure to tell you time and time again.

Hayward was a good vocal leader, but lacked actions to follow. After a 1-3 start in 2003, the Mountaineers switched to a run-dominant offense. With freshman tailback Alan Atwater and super-sophomore Richie Williams running, the Mountaineers began to find a rhythm.

Despite winning, the receiver secretly wanted the ball more. He wanted to catch touchdown passes.

The Mountaineers entered this season with less than 15 seniors on their roster, but all of them had experience.

Perhaps the greatest offensive player in ASU history, Richie Williams demands the most out of everyone. Coaches have called him the greatest on-field leader they have seen.

Smiling and goofing around off the field, Williams is a terror on the field, always serious and always getting the job done. He works terribly hard in practice, more so than most guys, and is respected for it. His work in practice, complemented with his overall talent, has given Williams an ungodly amount of respect from teammates, who would likely walk in front of traffic for him.

With Richie in the game, you have a chance against anybody, as proven by his amazing performance against LSU, one of the top programs in Division I-A (ASU only lost 24-0 ... the spread was 50 points).

But there is more to the team than Richie Williams. There??s Jermane Little, the wide receiver who left the program in 2002, but came back this season. Little broke his leg in the game against LSU, but has been a cheerleader on the sidelines.

In a playoff game against Southern Illinois, Little was forced to sit in the stands due to the NCAA allowing all playoff teams to only dress 54 athletes.

Little did not just sit in the stands and cheer. Midway through the second quarter, he called sophomore receiver Dexter Jackson over. Jackson had just run an incorrect route, and Little explained how to properly run the route and made some other suggestions. Just call him Coach Little.

Later in the game, Jackson caught a 50-yard touchdown pass to clinch the 38-24 victory.

The Road to the Playoffs

Appalachian made the playoffs for various reasons. Mainly, the defensive unit improved from being ranked last in the conference in most statistics to being ranked first in sacks and in the top three in various categories.
After suffering injuries in 2004, ASU was finally healthy in 2005.

Not only were they healthy, but the players were talented and, maybe more importantly, under the radar, as nobody expected much from this team.

Finally, the offense was more balanced. No longer did Richie Williams attempt 50 passes a game. Rather, the attack was controlled. The team could run all day or they could throw all day, and the senior quarterback was a much smarter player.

After a loss to Division I-A Kansas, Appalachian made their mark against Coastal Carolina in the third game of the season. Against this ranked opponent, Appalachian dropped 30 points in the first half and would have scored 30 more if the humble Jerry Moore didn??t call off the dogs at halftime.

The Mountaineers, at 3-1, would travel to Greenville, S.C. to take on the hated Furman Paladins. The Paladins and ASU have a history. The last five games between the schools had been decided by 16 points, and this battle was no different: Furman emerged victorious after scoring a touchdown on its last drive after a terrible pass interference call.

But the game taught Appalachian a lesson: a 3-1 start had raised the team??s confidence to new heights. The loss showed that they could be beaten.

Appalachian lost one more game, to LSU, but finished at 8-3.

The Mountaineers survived Lafayette in the first round of the playoffs and then blitzed Southern Illinois, 38-24.
Yes, the team had gone from 6-5 and being lashed out at by alumni, students and fans alike, to the national semifinal game.

A familiar foe stood in their way of a title.

Furman

Saturday??s semifinal game was the second time Appalachian had faced a Southern Conference school in the semifinals ?? the first time was in 1988 when the Mountaineers lost to Marshall.

Appalachian jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and seemingly took control, but then Richie Williams went down and an entire fan base held its collective breath.

Williams was down with an ankle injury. The pain on his face as he tried to walk it off was evident. He was done for the game.

Backup Trey Elder came in and completed a long touchdown pass his first play ?? but the momentum was clearly Furman??s after the Paladins scored two quick touchdowns and learned that Williams was out for the game.

The old coach, coaching the most important game of his life, was without his best player ... Richie Williams, who had given so much to this program. Surely, the Mountaineers were cooked.

But not in this story.

Elder, despite two fumbles, managed the Mountaineers very well and kept the team within two points for most of the game.

Furman took a 21-20 lead into the fourth quarter, but a huge fourth down stop from the 1-yard line gave ASU life. Last year, Furman would have cakewalked into the end zone. But that was last year.

Late in the quarter, Elder drove ASU down to the 1-yard line and scored on a QB sneak to give ASU the lead. It would be up to the defense, the unit that disappeared last year, to make the stop.

Furman drove valiantly, but ASU defensive end Jason Hunter stripped Furman quarterback Ingle Martin with under 30 seconds to go. Appalachian recovered.

As fans poured onto the field, Coach Moore simply held his head high. He deserved it.

Richie Williams, on crutches, encouraged the crowd to charge the field.

As the goalposts came down in Saturday??s 29-23 playoff semifinal victory, Appalachian had officially gone full circle.

This was not the same team that choked in Cullowhee. This was a team who battled ?? for its ailing superstar, its embattled coach and itself.

Many players celebrated with fans, knowing the game was one of the greatest in Appalachian history.

Players knew this was a special win. Players knew they had potentially altered the course of one coach??s career. And they knew one more thing.

They were headed to Chattanooga.


Brad Norman, a senior at Appalachian State University, is the editor-in-chief of The Appalachian, ASU??s twice-weekly student newspaper.