Appalachian State triumphs in slippery slugfest of a bowl game over Miami (Ohio)
As the Appalachian State defense high-stepped off the field with 2:39 left in the game — a few moments after Mountaineer defenders Ronald Clarke and EJ Jackson contributed to the team’s game-sealing fumble and subsequent recovery — Robert Griffin III shared what we were all thinking from the broadcast booth.
“And how many fumbles is that now?!”
The answer: 11.
Six for Miami of Ohio alone.
And the sixth — and the third one lost — was the final rush that broke the dam holding Saturday’s contest in question.
A few plays later and App State coach Shawn Clark happily threw his hands up to the sky that had provided gobs and gobs of rain and soaked in the reality: The Mountaineers (9-5) had defeated Miami OH (11-3) by a score of 13-9 in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida — and had won their first bowl game since 2020 in the process.
It wasn’t pretty, though. The unrelenting rain made sure of that. (And it made sure that the viewers at home couldn’t clearly see what was going on at certain camera angles, with water blurring the lenses seemingly every drive.)
Each team had three turnovers and one touchdown apiece. There were drops and fumbled snaps and receivers ripping off their gloves midway through the first quarter, searching for any sort of grip in a damp arena where puddles formed wherever there was paint. (As play-by-play announcer Bob Wischusen described it: “It was beautiful when we arrived ... now it’s a Monet.”)
App State, everywhere besides the final scoreboard, dominated. The Mountaineers outgained their opponent 388 to 227 and notched 167 more passing yards. That dominance was apparent early — two possessions that ended in turnovers on downs in the red zone at the end of the first half kept their lead at 6-3 heading into halftime — but it particularly opened up in the second half.
The key to their passing attack was their junior quarterback Joey Aguilar, the team’s 6-foot-3, 220-pound player of the game, who bounced back from an early interception to put up great numbers: 18 for 32 for 211 yards passing and five carries for 14 yards rushing, including a touchdown in the third quarter on a zone-read action to give the Mountaineers a 13-3 lead that seemed insurmountable at the time. Aguilar came into Saturday afternoon as third in the country in touchdown tosses with 33 — behind only Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU and Bo Nix of Oregon.
The factor that made that lead not impossible to come back from? Miami’s Rashad Amos. The sophomore Redhawk running back notched 33 carries for 180 yards and supplied his team’s only touchdown — a 23-yard scamper to cut the game to 13-9 with 2:05 left in the third quarter. (The Redhawks missed the extra point — in large part, again, thanks to inclement weather.)
No scoring in the fourth quarter meant an App State victory. The Mountaineers are now 7-1 in bowl games since jumping from the FCS ranks and being FBS bowl eligible in 2015. They’ve only missed the postseason once, in 2022, when the squad went 6-6 but wasn’t selected.
“As Coach said in his interview, ‘Have you ever been to Boone, North Carolina?’” Aguilar said in a postgame ESPN interview, his “Joey Cool” charisma shining through. “It rains, it snows, and it’s sunny all in one day, so we practice in these conditions.”
“It’s nothing new for us,” the quarterback added.
Same could be said for the Mountaineers’ program, triumphing in a bowl game once again.
