If there was any doubt before, there shouldn’t be now. Coastal Carolina is a rivalry and App State needs to admit it.

On Saturday, under the colorful leaves, one team got hyped while another didn’t. One team, which created an evil boogeyman to combat, overcame a two-touchdown hole, while another, which maybe was treating this week too even-keeled, blew a two-touchdown lead at home.

This has parallels to Georgia Southern 2019. Not only in terms of the horrid black hole feeling in your gut afterward, but also a rookie head coach not respecting the rivalry enough.

Dowell Loggains was hired to win two specific games. This was one of them.

There needs to be questions asked about the effectiveness of Dowell’s offense once it gets out of rhythm. The offense converted tough third downs in the first half, but didn’t in the second half. Third straight game with no fourth-quarter touchdowns. Losing both Ramseys on the offensive line turned out to be brutal. It gave J.J. Kohl no time to throw the ball.

The defense was the big shocker. Coastal ran patiently, waiting behind blockers and getting 7-8 yards at a time later in the game. They took advantage of App State’s twitchy and sometimes over-pursuing defense. Was that the formula to beat the App State defense or a one-off?

Losing four years in a row hurts. It should.

Now about the postgame fight.

After the final snap and Dowell electing not to call his final two timeouts (which I don’t know how to feel about), some App State players elected to immediately go to the locker room. Even without all the stuff that happened, it’s a bad look for those players to pout their way to the locker room.

Instead of good games and whatnot, some Coastal players decided to plant their flag on Block A at midfield, right in the middle of everyone. At that point, I don’t care if you’re a starter or last string; if you’re an App State player, you protect the Block A. Who appears to Orlando Leon (No. 52) is the first to react, but he wasn’t the closest App player. He had pride in the Block A.

Some of the pouty players went straight to the locker room and then turned and headed to midfield once the fracas started. Some didn’t.

A visiting flag planting at Kidd Brewer has only happened once before. It was the same Georgia Southern 2019 game mentioned earlier. But it wasn’t right after the game; instead, it was a good 5+ minutes after when the entire App State team had left the field. Georgia Southern players tried to plant the flag at midfield, but couldn’t. Then Georgia Southern DC Scot Sloan yelled at those players. I saw all this happen myself.

This was different. It was two middle fingers in the face of everyone associated with App State. It was Graeme Souness at Fenerbache boldness. It was 90s punk rock in the face of 80s hair metal. It should be a flashpoint for years of hostility.

The days after brought news that two more players are off the team for different reasons. It leaves the front seven of the defense shorthanded at Old Dominion, which many chalked up as a possible loss in the preseason.

A team that should have been 5-2 is now staring at 4-4. Culture has seemingly been prioritized over short-term success.

The last time the team had a disappointing home game after beating up a local foe, i.e., Charlotte and Lindenwood. Then it was Southern Miss, which started well but then letting turnovers turn the tide.

All of a sudden, the road looks very bumpy.