Appalachian State beat Georgia State last week for their seventh straight Sun Belt win and tenth win in 11 games stretching over the last two years (the only loss coming to Clemson earlier in the season). Much of that success has come with a shift in the team’s focus to establishing the running game and more specifically Marcus Cox. Last season was the team’s first playing a FBS football schedule, and head coach Scott Satterfield’s squad sputtered coming out of the gate. The team lost two of their first three games with their only win coming against Campbell, and some of the fan base was beginning to worry about the school’s decision to move up in competition level. This was the turning point for the offense, and when Cox truly became the focal point. #14 has provided the base for the rest of the offense to build upon.
Cox is underrated nationally, but has the ability to run the ball up the middle, out on the edges or become a threat in the passing game. The 5 foot 10 inch, 200 pound back burst onto the scene his freshman year, in which he didn’t get his first start until the third game of the season. Despite the lost time, Appalachian State’s star still rushed for over 1,250 yards and 21 touchdowns (15 rushing). Those were the third most points for a season in school history. He also was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and came in second for the Jerry Rice Award for the top FCS Freshman player.
In his sophomore season things once again started slowly for both he and the team, as it took time to regain his form following offseason surgery and moving to the FBS level. Following the Michigan opener, where he gained 47 yards in a backup role, Cox had a total of 233 yards and two touchdowns against Campbell and Southern Mississippi. The loss to the Golden Eagles was a heartbreaking 21-20 loss.
This is where the season began to feel like panic mode and looked like a season which was headed straight downhill. Next up was long-time rival Georgia Southern, who totally ran over Appalachian and backed over them for good measure. These Eagles held Cox to 39 yards. South Alabama followed that up by holding him to only 16. This was the inflection point for Appalachian’s star runner. The offense a needed a boost and he has provided it ever since.
Appalachian lost another disappointing game, this time to Liberty, but the offense broke out with 48 points (final was 55-48). The sophomore had 111 yards and a touchdown in this contest, and it was the beginning of his recent stretch of strong games. Mountaineer fans were close to walking off the cliff at this point with a record of 1-5 and coming off a loss to the FBS, Flames.
This is when coach Satterfield got the team turned around for the season and they hit their stride to finish with 6 straight victories. During that 6 game stretch to end the 2014 campaign Cox had 969 yards (161.5 per game) and 13 touchdowns all against Sun Belt competition. He would end up going over 100 yards in 8 games for the season including 6 of the last 7. The winning streak began with 123 yards and 3 touchdowns against Troy (7.7 per carry), and hit its peak versus Georgia State with a career high of 250 yards and 3 tds. The Louisiana Warhawks were the only team during last year’s winning streak to hold him below the century mark, but they still gave up 150 all purpose yards including a season high 5 catches for 56.
The next two games were the defining moments of the season for the team from Boone. Cox led the Mountaineers to road victories over conference favorites Arkansas State and Louisiana Lafayette. In the first contest he carried the ball 40 times for 229 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns (5.7 yards per carry). In the second contest he had 151 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries against the top rushing defense in the Sun Belt. Being in their transition year the Mountaineers were ineligible for a bowl game despite reaching 7 wins, but Cox finished the season 22nd in the country with 1,415 rushing yards, and tied for 11th with 19 rushing touchdowns.
The modest Cox is still focused on the success of the program over his own. When I asked the Junior about his goals for the year he said, “My main goal for the season is to help my team win the Sun Belt and make it to our first bowl game!”
The team has begun the journey towards that goal and Marcus Cox’s success has led the charge. The leading Mountaineer running back is currently 37th in the country with 565 yards on 95 carries this season (6.1 per carry) with 2 touchdowns. His 6 game streak of games with over 100 yards rushing was broken last week by Georgia State (held to 76 yards) when they stacked the box against him, but it only opened up the passing game for Taylor Lamb. Outside of the Clemson game the Mountaineers have outscored their opponents by a score of 166-16 this year, and are tenth in the country with 270.2 average yards per game rushing. Expect Cox to get back over the century mark when they head to face Louisiana Monroe this week. The Warhawks held him under the number last season, but are currently 118th in the country giving up 243.2 yards per game. I wouldn’t expect this game to be as close as the thriller in Boone last season which came down to a game winning field goal by Appalachian with 29 seconds left. If this season is like last year’s script, now is the time to start watching Appalachian’s star runner, because he could be poised to shine his brightest over the remainder of the year.
