He touted the Mountaineers’ offensive balance, an undersized, but very quick and aggressive defense and dangerous special teams play. Troy (9-2, 7-0) has used similar attributes to set up Saturday’s showdown in Boone, N.C. The winner will capture the Sun Belt’s East Division and will host the league’s inaugural championship game on Dec. 1.
Brown agreed that Troy and Appalachian State (8-2, 6-1) are similarly constructed.
“Defensively, both units are smaller but fast,” the coach said. “Both put a premium on taking away the run and creating negative plays. Offensively, when (quarterback) Kaleb (Barker) was playing and when (Appalachian State’s) Zac Thomas was playing, I think there’s a lot of similarities between the two teams.