App State Needs to Play 'Almost Perfect Football' to Pull Off Upset

CLEMSON- App State comes to Clemson on Saturday looking to slay another giant.

The Mountaineers will always be remembered for going to the Big House and taking down Michigan back in 2007, but there have been more big wins since.

In 2019 App State went into Williams-Brice and knocked off the rival Gamecocks. That same season the program also went on the road and beat North Carolina. In 2022 they went to Texas A&M as a 19-point underdog and beat the No. 6 Aggies 17-14. It was the program’s first ever victory over a team ranked inside of the Top 10. Add in a Top 25 win in each of the past three seasons, and this Mountaineer program knows what success looks like.

This week App State travels to Death Valley, looking to pull off another improbable upset. The Tigers, who opened as a 16.5-point favorite, have won all five games in the series, with the two teams having last played in 2015. Clemson came away with a 41-10 win in that contest.

“It is a big task for us for sure,” App State head coach Shawn Clark told the Winston-Salem Journal . “Coach Swinney has a great program down there. He has been there 15 years, won multiple conference championships, national championships. We will just have to go down there and play almost perfect football.”

The Mountaineers have proved more than capable of playing on the big stage and Clark believes his team will be ready.

“It is a game our players are looking forward to,” Clark added. “We like these kind of big moments on a national stage.”

While No. 25 Clemson comes in fresh off of a 34-3 drubbing at the hands of top-ranked Georgia, App State took down ETSU 38-10 in its season-opener.

The Mountaineers did not turn the ball over in its first win of the season and Clark said his team will need a repeat performance to have any hope of pulling off the upset against a Clemson team that is 65-3 at home in the College Football Playoff era.

“We have to go down there and make sure we play App State football,” said Clark. “make sure we take care of the football and play clean. Can’t have turnovers in these kind of games. We will have to keep it close to the fourth quarter and see what happens. Our kids, the moment won’t be too big for them.”

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