ECU had to win this game. To accomplish the great things they believe their team is capable of, this was a springboard. Back-to-back Military Bowl wins over ACC teams, nine wins in 2025 and a fancy-schmancy new offensive coordinator who will help the team score a bazillion points and run a ton of plays.

For App State, this was an extra blessing. Deep down, most App State fans would have been OK with a loss here. You might disagree, sitting here in the afterglow of victory, but this wasn’t a game that would mentally break the Mountaineers unless it was completely lopsided.\

The goals are later on. And for ECU, that’s true as well, but this was more psychological for them. Even if the Pirates finish 10-2, this will seem like one that got away.

Losing four straight to an in-state rival who is in a “lesser conference” that spends less money than you causes a crisis of confidence. Especially since it looked the same as two years ago: home team goes tempo, pushes the lines around, gets an early lead, then the visitors gain control and hold control.

There will be more games in this series. It might be a few years before that. And for that time, when coaches recruit kids in high schools from Murphy to Manteo and in small towns with the best BBQ you’ve ever eaten, served on a paper plate, one team is 4-0 versus the other. When a fan in a black and gold shirt sees a fan in a purple and gold shirt at a farmer’s market, a downtown city street, an Outer Banks beach or a mountain trail, they both will know whose team won.

While ECU suddenly realizes they have identity issues on offense, App State knows what it is. Game one success versus an overmatched foe bore fruit in game two against a peer. The floor of expectations is higher than it was before this game.

This was Dowell Loggains’ biggest win as App State coach. Last season’s only road win was at Georgia State, who, like ECU, seems to have a similar mental block versus App State. But that Georgia State game was cruise control after the first quarter. This was a mostly well-executed game plan.

Versus Maine, the offense didn’t force the ball down the field. Why? It didn’t need to. The screens and boundary passes stretched the Maine defense enough for the skill players to get big gains.

Against ECU? Malachi Singleton overcame the false starts to move the chains on third down, something that wasn’t done versus Maine.
As good as the preparation and execution were on offense, the late-game play calling seemed lacking. It looked like an NFL coach calling offensive plays that could work in the NFL with NFL players. It didn’t work for App State.

The defense looked shaky at times against the tempo, but tempo also means that a 1st and 10 can turn into 4th and 5 in no time. That leads to second-guessing and slowing of drives, which ECU did. Just like two years ago.

ECU was 2 of 13 on third down. Major credit to the App State defense for bowing up when needed. And the tackling looked pretty good. No. 99 Aaron Clark looks to be a force in the middle of the defensive line.

This was far from perfect. The false starts drove fans and coaches crazy. Two first-quarter timeouts on consecutive plays caused Dowell to turn red. There were defensive lapses and offensive miscues, but everything seems fixable.

The false starts need to be fixed ASAP. ECU will claim it was the atmosphere, but a half-full stadium doesn’t fray nerves.

Next up is Charlotte. The 49ers were expected to be 1-1 going into this game, but a calamitous 3OT loss to The Citadel puts them at 0-2.

They’ve never beaten App State and have a major opportunity in front of them. Many will expect not only an App State win, but a stylish win.

Some might be looking forward to a 3-0 App State going to Raleigh. Charlotte has a good offense that can string some drives together. The 49ers’ challenge will be finishing those drives, which they couldn’t do at Ole Miss. App State’s challenge will be to stay grounded. Winning in college football is hard, even when it’s expected.

App State isn’t back yet, but the memo is being drafted. It can’t be delivered this coming week. And despite our hopes, it might not be the following week. Before the season, most fans would have taken being 3-1 going into Sun Belt play. That would still be a good place to be when September ends.