With all the things that have changed over the last five years on the football field at Georgia Southern, one thing has remained the same.
    App Week.
    Carson Hill doesn’t care that Appalachian State is the No. 1 team in the nation heading into Saturday’s homecoming game at Paulson Stadium. The senior cornerback is the only Eagle who was on the field the last time GSU defeated the Mountaineers — a 38-35 win in Boone, N.C. on October 20, 2007 — and he’ll take ASU any way he can.
    “It doesn’t matter of they were 0-8 coming into Paulson,” said Hill. “It’s App week. It’s a rivalry.”
    Hill wasn’t aware that the win over the Mountaineers marked the last time they lost a Southern Conference game to date.
    “They haven’t lost a conference game? I didn’t even know that,” he said. “They haven’t lost a conference game since we beat them in ’07? Wow. So we need to beat them and ’07 doesn’t matter now.”
    Hill isn’t the only Eagle to have success against Appalachian State. Much of the coaching staff has been a part of the rivalry from 1997-2005.
    In fact, Victor Cabral, Georgia Southern’s assistant defensive line coach, was a player between 2000-2004. From 2000-2002, the Eagles defeated ASU four times in three years, including a win in the quarterfinals of the 2001 playoffs, and Cabral remembers each one.
    He also remembers the loss on the road in 2003.
    “They tore down their goal post and put it through our bus,” said Cabral about the reaction of the ASU fans after their team’s win in ’03. “That upset us pretty much, and the next year we beat them 54-7. That’s just the way it is around here.”
    Head coach Jeff Monken, who was an assistant from 1997-2001, saw his share of losses in Boone, too. He remembers the goal posts coming down in 1997 and 1999, two-straight GSU road losses to the Mountaineers.
    “It’s how much things have changed,” said Monken. “They were tearing the goal posts back then when they beat us. Now they’re at the top.”
    Quarterbacks coach Mitch Ware, who was the offensive coordinator from 2002-05, was a part of two wins in Paulson and two losses in Boone against ASU.
    He also remembers the last time the No. 1 ranked team in the country came to Paulson. It was Furman in 2005, and the Eagles came away with the win. He doesn’t want to draw any parallels.
    “I’ve thought about that,” said Ware, “but this team needs to leave their own legacy. They know the histories and the traditions of the program.”
    With so many freshmen getting playing time this season, it shouldn’t take long for them to realize the significance of “App Week.” Monken figured it out after that first loss back in 1997.
    “It was kind of a dreary day up there,” said Monken. “Their locker room is right next to ours, and I remember them pounding on our windows after the game. I realized at that point what a big rivalry it was. We beat them here the next year.”
    The Eagles have already forgotten about 2009, when App State ran away with a 56-12 win in Boone. So has the first-year coaching staff. To them, it’s a brand new “App Week.”
    “It was always the one to look forward to,” said Cabral about his playing days. “It was going to be competitive, it was going to be a great environment, it didn’t matter what the records were, it didn’t matter who was ranked where and it didn’t matter where it was at. It was a street fight and it was fun. It makes the Southern Conference what it is, and we loved it. I love being a part of it again.”

    Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.