Canceled Power 5 games could slow national reputation of surging Appalachian State
The Big Ten’s move to a conference-only schedule on Thursday sent ripple effects to Boone.
The Appalachian State football team’s Sept. 19 game at Wisconsin — one of two the Mountaineers had scheduled against Power Five opponents in 2020 — has been canceled.
“COVID-19 has caused very difficult decisions to be made throughout intercollegiate athletics,” Appalachian State Director of Athletics Doug Gillin said in a statement. “We are disappointed that our student-athletes will not have the opportunity to play at Wisconsin in 2020. We are working to best position our football program for the upcoming season.”
For an athletic department that cut three sports in late May due to financial concerns amidst the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a financial hit. App State’s trip to Madison, Wisconsin, this fall would have netted the school a $1.25 million payout, as reported by the Winston-Salem Journal.
For a Group of Five stalwart that went 13-1 last season, won a fourth straight Sun Belt conference title and finished 19th in the final AP Top 25 poll, it’s also hit to the program’s trajectory.
Over the last decade, the Mountaineers have willingly scheduled Power Five teams such as Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Penn State.
They’ve earned a knack for giving those teams (see: Penn State) a run for their money — and, in the case of North Carolina and South Carolina last season, flat-out beating them in their home stadiums.
Appalachian State’s nonconference schedule is full through the 2024 season, as reported by the Journal, so a reschedule of the Wisconsin game in the near future is unlikely.
The Mountaineers’ second game against a Power Five team in 2020 is up in the air, too. Appalachian State is scheduled to play at Wake Forest on Sept. 11, a week before its now-canceled Wisconsin trip.
The ACC, which announced Thursday it would delay all fall Olympic sports until at least September 1, has not officially moved to a conference-only schedule. But college football insider Brett McMurphy of Stadium reported that the league has floated the idea.
Big-time opponents have boosted App State’s national image dating back to its famous 2007 upset of Michigan. Since the 2015 season, when the Mountaineers became bowl eligible in the FBS, they’ve also helped boost the résumés of former coaches Scott Satterfield (now at Louisville) and Eli Drinkwitz (now at Missouri). The Mountaineers, now under coach Shawn Clark, have also won five straight bowl games.
Without Wisconsin on its schedule, App State is down to three 2020 non-conference football games: home games against Morgan State on Sept. 5 and Massachusetts on Sept. 26, and the aforementioned road game at Wake Forest on Sept 11.
In his statement, provided to the News & Observer through a department spokesperson, Gillin said App State is “also working on volleyball schedule changes based on the Big Ten announcement, as well as the ACC’s announcement to postpone fall Olympic sports until September.”