Here we go again. Round No. 42 of the Elon University/Appalachian State University "rivalry."
On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Elon will host Appalachian State for the final time as Southern Conference and FCS rivals, if you can even call them rivals anymore.
Cutting straight to the chase and the cold truth, there isn't any more "going for bragging rights" against Appalachian State for Elon. That went out the window long before Scott Riddle or even Terrell Hudgins stepped on campus years ago.
The Phoenix haven't beat Appalachian State since 1964 when George Tucker was the head coach. Riddle and Hudgins couldn't do it. Thomas Wilson and Aaron Mellette couldn't do it. So why should Mike Quinn and Rasaun Rorie do it? There's an easy answer to that question. You can fill in the blank yourself.
With the two meeting Saturday for the last time in who knows how long, the game is just that: another game.
Week 4 of the regular season doesn't pose the visual of rivalry week for the Phoenix and Mountaineers. Now, all that's left for both Elon and Appalachian State is a game that's now just another matchup where one team adds to the win column and the other picks up the pieces to try again next week. That's it.
Elon comes in with a record of 1-2 while Appalachian State, under first-year head coach Scott Satterfield, comes in with a surprising mark of 0-2.
The Phoenix are coming off a loss in which the offense struggled to do anything, only mustering 10 points against North Carolina A&T State University. The week prior, the Aggies topped Appalachian State in Boone, becoming the first team from the state of North Carolina to beat the Mountaineers at home in 32 years.
Last week against North Carolina A&T was something like the start of the regular season for Elon, in a sense. In the first two weeks of the season, the Phoenix played up a level against Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Georgia Tech and down a level against West Virginia Wesleyan College, a Div. II school. For the first time on the young season, Elon played a team on a level playing field and fell flat.
Junior quarterback Mike Quinn went 25-of-46 for 295 yards and a touchdown, but the Phoenix could only gain 45 yards on the ground and Elon only scored 10 points.
Appalachian State has struggled in its first two games with senior quarterback Jamal Londry-Jackson, the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in the Southern Conference, at the controls. He underwent ACL surgery in January but came back in time to start the season opener against the University of Montana — a 30-6 loss on the road against the Grizzlies.
Londry-Jackson has been relieved in both games by sophomore quarterback Kameron Bryant. Against the Aggies, he replaced Londry-Jackson at halftime and nearly brought the Moutaineers back from a 21-6 deficit, but a missed field goal with two seconds left ended their chances.
Bryant went 21-of-31 for 191 yards and two touchdowns and could play a large part against the Phoenix should Londry-Jackson look like the struggling quarterback he's been through two games this season.
Who knows if the Phoenix are going to take on the Mountaineers ever again. Odds are at some point down the road, yes. But all that's on the line this weekend is a win and a loss in each team's last first Southern Conference game before taking off for different conferences after the season. There are no bragging rights as to who goes out of the conference on top between these two teams. That was decided years ago. If Elon finds a way to win for the first time in nearly 50 years, congratulations, but Appalachian State has the argument they had the Phoenix's number for nearly 50 years.
If Appalachian State wins, the Mountaineers take off for the Sun Belt Conference and Div. I knowing they absolutely owned a team they didn't even consider a rival. Oh and they get their first win of the season, a desperately needed win after the struggle that was the first two weeks. Besides, they're probably more worried about getting on track to face teams like Georgia Southern University further down the road.
It's kind of like the situation with Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The real rivalry is Duke against North Carolina. N.C. State just thinks they're a part of it. And I'm a self-proclaimed Wolfpack fan.
The bottom line is this game doesn't mean what it has meant in the past. Why? Because Appalachian State doesn't consider this a rivalry game after having not lost to Elon since 1964. It's just a game in which they can bring a bunch of fans and get rowdy while Elon fans leave at halftime.