ASU vs. Villanova
Odds and ends heading into Saturday’s FCS quarterfinal game between Appalachian State and Villanova:
The game will be the first meeting between the programs.
“Last year we unfortunately had to play two teams in our league in the playoffs, and that’s never fun,” Coach Andy Talley of Villanova said. “We’re happy this year that at least we can play some other people that haven’t seen us and we haven’t seen them and that makes for a little more interesting game.”
ASU is 21-10 against current Colonial Athletic Association teams, and 9-2 against them in the postseason. Villanova is 3-0 against current SoCon members, Furman and The Citadel.
Saturday’s game will match the FCS’s No. 7 scoring offense against the No. 8 scoring defense. ASU is averaging 35.2 points a game. Villanova has allowed 17.0 points a game.
Running back Devon Moore of ASU, who re-aggravated a thigh injury against Western Illinois, practiced Wednesday for the first time this week and is expected to play against Villanova.
Anthony Wilson, a junior and reserve defensive tackle, missed last Saturday’s game as result of a knee injury sustained in practice last week and will likely be out for the remainder of the season.
A victory Saturday would mark the 200th win for Coach Jerry Moore at Appalachian State. Moore is 199-78 in 22 seasons at ASU. Overall, Moore is 226-126-2 in 29 seasons as a head coach. He and Villanova’s Andy Talley (215-124-2) are among 12 Division I head coaches with more than 200 wins.
ASU has won at least 10 games in a season for the sixth straight year. The only other Division I programs (FCS or FBS) to win at least 10 games each of the last six seasons are Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
Either the Southern Conference or Colonial Athletic Association will have two teams in next week’s semifinals. Both leagues are assured of having one advance (Georgia Southern plays Wofford in one quarterfinal; Delaware plays New Hampshire in another), and a second will be the ASU-Villanova winner.
Between the two leagues, they’ll have three of the four semifinalists.
Matt Szczur, Villanova’s versatile running back and wide receiver, is back from an ankle injury that sidelined him for seven games this season.
Szczur was the CAA’s player of the year on offense and special teams last season when he accounted for 2,239 multipurpose yards. He was the only player in Division I to have a touchdown rushing, receiving, passing and on a kick return.
“The return of No. 4 Matt Szczur had a great effect on how we played football because Matt not only can provide the big play, which he did on the 48-yard touchdown catch that he had (last Saturday), and he was a big factor in the Wildcat,” Talley said. “So having him back gives us a few more weapons in terms of how we can attack people.
“With Matt, you can do so many more things formationally. You can line him up in different spots and challenge some different areas of a defense. When you put him the Wildcat he can throw as well as run. He sees the field very well and has a lot of speed. He has a chance to explode and break a big one for you at any point in the game. And now you really can’t double any one of our receivers because you have to know where he is. We do a lot of different things with him.”
Szczur was selected in the fifth round of the 2010 major-league baseball draft by the Chicago Cubs and spent last summer in their minor-league system, finishing with Class A Peoria. He had a combined .347 batting average at three levels.
Mark LeGree, ASU’s free safety who has recovered from a hamstring injury that sidelined him in the Mountaineers’ final regular-season game against Florida, will be among ASU’s secondary members charged with containing Szczur and wide receiver Norman White, who has 10 touchdown receptions this season.
“I know about Szczur, and that he’s an all-purpose player, and the difficult part about that is that he didn’t play (for seven games) this season and we only have two games of him on film, so we didn’t get to see much,” LeGree said. “They have another good receiver (White) who’s big and tall and fast. And the quarterback (Chris Whitney) is not the type to run and slide. When he runs, he’ll put his head down and he’ll hit you. They’ve got a good team.”