As I'm typing this up, I still have no idea how they're going to play this game Saturday given everything that has happened in/around Boone over the past few days. Since no announcements have been made, I'm working under the assumption this is going to happen...
As I was updating the opponent metrics from last week from WMU to App State, besides the big passing numbers by App, the two teams are pretty similar. In fact, I think if you take the QBs out of the equation, Western Michigan has been a better team so far this year. The issues for the Mountaineers have been a puzzling given that they were most people's pick to win the East and was in the discussion potentially to be the G5 Playoff representative.
They've had issues running the ball consistently, Aguilar has thrown the ball a lot (164 attempts in 4 games) but hasn't been efficient, they can't stop the run, and their pass defense has been one of the worst in the country through 4 games. On top of that, their KR team has been bad, they haven't returned a single punt this year, and their punter is in the bottom three punters in the country in terms of Net Punting (one spot behind ours
).
This is obviously a very winnable game if we can get after Aguilar, stick to our assignments in the secondary, and don't turn the ball over on offense.
As I was updating the opponent metrics from last week from WMU to App State, besides the big passing numbers by App, the two teams are pretty similar. In fact, I think if you take the QBs out of the equation, Western Michigan has been a better team so far this year. The issues for the Mountaineers have been a puzzling given that they were most people's pick to win the East and was in the discussion potentially to be the G5 Playoff representative.
They've had issues running the ball consistently, Aguilar has thrown the ball a lot (164 attempts in 4 games) but hasn't been efficient, they can't stop the run, and their pass defense has been one of the worst in the country through 4 games. On top of that, their KR team has been bad, they haven't returned a single punt this year, and their punter is in the bottom three punters in the country in terms of Net Punting (one spot behind ours
).This is obviously a very winnable game if we can get after Aguilar, stick to our assignments in the secondary, and don't turn the ball over on offense.
| Marshall (2-2) | Appalachian State (2-2) | |
| PPG | 25.0 (91st) | 23.3 (96th) |
| Points Allowed | 25.8 (82nd) | 35.8 (125th) |
| Total Offense | 377.8 (82nd) | 438.3 (41st) |
| Rush Offense | 193.5 (35th) | 130.8 (100th) |
| Pass Offense | 184.3 (102nd) | 307.5 (15th) |
| Offensive Pass Effic | 133.26 (77th) | 124.17 (101st) |
| 3rd Down Offense | 37.9% (83rd) | 38.5% (80th) |
| Total Defense | 369.3 (83rd) | 453.3 (121st) |
| Rush Defense | 193.5 (112th) | 212.8 (121st) |
| Pass Defense | 175.8 (33rd) | 240.5 (100th) |
| Defensive Pass Effic | 123.38 (56th) | 164.15 (129th) |
| 3rd Down Defense | 32.2% (34th) | 41.7% (99th) |
| Turnover Margin Per Game | +0.50 (45th) | -1.00 (113th) |
| Penalty Yards Per Game | 38.7 (21st) | 60.25 (88th) |
| Net Punting | 33.22 (130th) | 32.95 (131st) |
