App's 70 points prompt perusal of history

Were Appalachian State's 70 points in the Mountaineers' surprising blowout of Wofford in Boone Friday night a school record? Well, not quite. In fact, ASU piled up 79 points against Western Carolina in its last regular-season game of 2007.

The Catamounts, though, were completing a winless league season, and scoring against them wasn't exactly a major challenge. What Appalachian accomplished on Halloween went far beyond that--the Mountaineers clobbered the only other undefeated team in the Southern Conference, and a team that had beaten them a year ago. It was something of a statement game; Appalachian, which has occasionally looked beatable this season, appeared to move into a higher gear as it aims for a fourth straight national championship.

The Mountaineers have now scored at least 30 points in 27 of their last 31 games.

But back to those records. The most points an ASU team ever scored came in a 115-0 burial of Piedmont College back in 1936. That team, coached by the Kidd Brewer for whom the current stadium is named, went 8-1.

By the way, those 115 points aren't even close to the NCAA record. Georgia Tech clobbered Cumberland 222-0 in 1916. After the Apps clobbered Piedmont, the teams never played again. The following year, Piedmont was replaced in the season opener by, uh, Cumberland.

Appalachian won, 39-0.

--Stan Olson