BATON ROUGE — Turns out there will be a top 10 match up on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium after all as Appalachian State moved up to No. 7 in both major I-AA polls this week following its 35-25 win over Chattanooga.
Appalachian State, winners of three straight and five of its last six, bring a 6-2 overall mark into Tiger Stadium on Saturday. The Mountaineers’ only losses this season have come at Kansas by a 36-8 count and to Furman by a 34-31 margin. Furman is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the I-AA ranks.
The Mountaineers, a member of the I-AA Southern Conference, are ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches poll and they are No. 7 in The Sports Network poll. The No. 7 ranking for Appalachian State is the highest for the Mountaineers since the 2002 season.
Saturday’s contest will be the fifth for the Tigers against a team from the I-AA ranks. Other I-AA games for LSU include a 70-14 win over Arkansas State in 1991, a 58-0 victory over Western Carolina in the first game of the Nick Saban era in 2002, a 35-10 win over The Citadel in 2002 and a 35-7 victory over Western Illinois during the national championship season in 2003.
LSU, winners of five in a row, will bring a 6-1 overall mark into the Appalachian State contest. The Tigers have three wins over top 15 ranked teams this year, including back-to-back victories over then-No. 11 Florida and No. 15 Auburn. LSU is ranked No. 6 in the nation in the Associated Press poll as well as the USA Today Coaches poll.
LSU is coming off its best offensive game of the year as the Tigers exploded for 56 points and 566 yards of offense in their 56-3 win over North Texas a week ago.
The Appalachian State game will serve as LSU’s final non-conference contest of the year as the Tigers travel to face fourth-ranked Alabama next week followed by another road tilt against Ole Miss on Nov. 19. LSU closes out its regular season on Friday, Nov. 26 against Arkansas in Tiger Stadium.