App State lands top seed

Appalachian State began its season as the third-ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision. On Sunday, after a nine-win regular season that included a share of its sixth straight Southern Conference championship, the Mountaineers were awarded the top seed in the FCS playoffs.

"It's a great honor to be chosen as the top team in such a strong field but, more importantly, it is a huge advantage for us to know that the road to the national championship game goes through [Kidd Brewer Stadium]," said ASU coach Jerry Moore, who led the Mountaineers to three straight titles from 2005-07.

The Mountaineers (9-2), who had to rally from 21 points down in the fourth quarter of their opener to beat the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, are one of three SoCon teams to make the 20-team field. Wofford (9-2) received an at-large bid, as did Georgia Southern (7-4).

Appalachian State and Wofford earned first-round byes, as did the top 12 teams in the field, and Georgia Southern will host South Carolina State (9-2) on Saturday.

In what should be a much-anticipated second-round game, Wofford will visit Jacksonville State (9-2) on Dec. 4. The Mountaineers will face the Western Illinois-Coastal Carolina winner in the second round.

The Mocs likely would have made the field with a victory last Saturday at Wofford, but the Terriers squashed UTC's hopes of a seventh win in a 45-14 rout.

Along with Appalachian State, the seeds are No. 2 William & Mary (8-3) and No. 3 Delaware (9-2) from the Colonial Athletic Association and Big Sky rivals No. 4 Montana State (9-2) and No. 5 Eastern Washington (9-2).

Noticeably absent from the field is Montana, which had made the playoffs 17 years in a row. The Grizzlies, finalists the past two seasons, finished 7-4, but only had six Division I wins.

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