| Boone, NC � November
2010 � With its second de facto Southern Conference championship
game in as many years just days away, Appalachian
State University (ASU) football returned to the practice field on Monday
to begin preparations for Saturday�s mammoth tilt with Wofford.
Appalachian (8-1, 6-1 SoCon) fell to No. 3 in both of this week�s major NCAA Division I FCS polls (The Sports Network media poll and the AFCA coaches poll) after its 26-game SoCon winning streak was snapped with a 21-14 overtime loss at Georgia Southern last Saturday. Wofford (8-1, 6-0 SoCon) rose to No. 4 in both polls, setting up the second ASU-Wofford matchup in three years that features a pair of top-5 teams. In 2008, No. 2 Appalachian throttled No. 3 Wofford, 70-24, in a nationally televised contest at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone. The winner of Saturday�s showdown clinches at least a share of the 2010 SoCon championship and the league�s automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Football Championship. The Mountaineers faced an identical winner-take-all scenario last Nov. 14 at Elon when they jumped out to a 21-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter and never looked back en route to a 27-10 triumph that clinched ASU�s fifth-straight SoCon title. With a win on Saturday, Appalachian would secure its sixth conference championship in a row, tying Georgia Southern (1997-2002) for the SoCon record for consecutive league titles. Wofford can earn its third SoCon crown since 2003 with a victory. While an ASU win would give it no less than a share of the conference championship and the SoCon�s automatic postseason entry by virtue of the tiebreaker, the Mountaineers can not win the title outright this weekend. The Apps must win on Saturday and Wofford must lose at home to Chattanooga the following Saturday to give Appalachian the championship alone. The Terriers would clinch the outright league championship with a win over ASU and would share the title with the Mountaineers should they lose on Saturday in Boone but rebound to defeat UTC in the regular-season finale. Saturday�s contest kicks off at 3 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium and can be seen live across the Southeast on SportSouth. Due to the contractual agreement between SportSouth and the Southern Conference, live streaming video will not be available for Saturday�s game but the Appalachian ISP Sports Network radio broadcast of the game can be heard for free at GoASU.com. An archive of the game�s video broadcast will be available to GoASU TV premium subscribers on Saturday evening. Media Contact:
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