“They’re electric athletically,” said the 10th-year Miami coach, a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award as college football’s coach of the year. “They’re high-scoring. They went into the ‘Big House’ as a Division I-AA team and beat Michigan, but they were good prior to that.”
“We are excited to play in the Cure Bowl against Miami (Ohio),” Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark said. “Our team kept digging all season. We have battled through adversity, and we won the Sun Belt East division. We will be proud to travel to Orlando and represent our university and one of the best conferences in America.”
The Mid-American Conference-champion RedHawks (11-2) and and Sun Belt Conference-runner-up Mountaineers (8-5) from Boone, N.C., are scheduled to meet at FBC Mortgage Stadium on the campus of the University of Central Florida in at 3:30 p.m. It will be televised on ABC — Miami’s third appearance on the network — though, according to local media reporter John Kiesewetter, the broadcast will most likely start on Spectrum channel 992 and altafiber channel 258 before being picked up after the end of the Bengals-Vikings game, which is airing on WCPO Ch. 9 in Cincinnati. as well as NFL Network.
Appalachian State won its final five regular-season games, including an upset of then No. 18 and undefeated James Madison on Nov. 18, on the way to winning the Sun Belt East Division championship before losing, 49-23, to Troy in the conference championship game. The Mountaineers also took then-No. 17 North Carolina to double overtime in Week 2 before succumbing.
Junior quarterback Joey Aguilar has thrown for a school-record 3,546 yards and 33 touchdowns, but Appalachian State will have to deal with the loss to the transfer portal of running back Nate Noel, who rushed for 834 yards and five touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Kanye Roberts seems to be a capable replacement after gaining 648 yards and scoring seven touchdowns, including two in the Sun Belt championship game.
Appalachian State is 6-1 in bowl games since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2014.
“They’re a really, really talented team,” Martin said. “This will be an awesome, awesome challenge.”
Miami will be dealing with its own losses to the transfer portal, most notably quarterback Aveon Smith, who decided to leave after taking over for the injured Brett Gabbert in Week 8 and leading the RedHawks to four straight wins, the MAC championship and a bowl game.
Henry Hesson and Maddox Kopp will share the quarterback duties for Miami
The good news for Miami is that several players announced that they were entering the transfer portal before deciding to opt out and stay with the program. Among them were junior Graham Nicholson, winner of the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top place kicker. Nicholson missed just one of 27 field-goal tries in 2023 and his only miss on an extra point bounced off an upright.
His 23 regular-season field goals set an FBS record for the most field goals in a perfect regular season. Making his first two in Miami’s MAC Championship-game win over Toledo tied the all-time FBS single-season record for consecutive successful field goals.
The RedHawks left for Orlando on Tuesday, right in the middle of exam week, which complicated matters. Martin hoped it would not an insurmountable issue.
“The biggest shame would be if these kids didn’t get to enjoy their bowl trip,” Martin said. “The faculty has always supported us. Some online exams proctored on the trip will probably have to happen. The kids will be working hard, but we’ll need support.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Miami vs. Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m., ABC, 980, 1450
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