Turn Around and Just Look: What App State and NC State Fans Saw in the Same 31-31 Score

App State left Raleigh with a 41-31 loss. Yet one moment inside Carter-Finley captured something deeper about the cultures surrounding these two football programs.

There are no moral victories in college football.

The scoreboard does not grade effort. It does not care how hard you fought back, how much adversity you overcame, or how close you came to changing the ending.

NC State beat Appalachian State 41-31 Saturday night in Raleigh.

That is the result.

Still, I walked out of Carter-Finley Stadium feeling something beyond disappointment.

I felt proud of the way App State battled.

And one moment in particular will stick with me for a long time.

“Turn Around and Just Look”

App State had just completed a comeback that seemed almost impossible a couple of hours earlier.

The Mountaineers had trailed 21-0.

They had been down 28-7 late in the first half.

They entered the fourth quarter trailing 31-17.

Then, suddenly, the scoreboard read:

NC State 31. App State 31.

There were 9:41 remaining in the game.

My buddy Christian leaned toward me.

“Turn around and just look.”

So I turned around.

He wanted me to look at the faces of the NC State fans around us.

The expressions were incredible.

Despair.

Disappointment.

Disbelief.

And maybe most of all, that unmistakable look that seemed to say:

“Here we go again.”

I knew exactly what I was looking at because I grew up in the Triangle.

I know Duke, Carolina and NC State sports. I grew up around the rivalries, the jokes, the heartbreaks and all the strange bits of local sports history that make complete sense to someone from this part of North Carolina and sound ridiculous everywhere else.

I also know plenty of NC State fans.

And among the State fans I know, there has long been this underlying fear that somehow, some way, something is going to go wrong.

One week before App State arrived in Raleigh, that feeling had been reinforced in almost unimaginable fashion.

NC State led Vanderbilt by 17 points during the game and still held a 31-28 lead in the final seconds. Vanderbilt eventually forced a fumble at the goal line and recovered it in the end zone as time expired to win 35-31.

Now here came App State.

The Wolfpack had built a three-touchdown lead.

And somehow the Mountaineers had erased every bit of it.

31-31.

Christian told me to turn around.

I saw State fans wondering how this one might slip away.

Then I looked back toward the App State side.

I knew what those fans were thinking too.

We can win this thing.

Two Fan Bases Looking at the Same Scoreboard

That was the fascinating part.

Two fan bases were sitting inside the same stadium.

They were watching the same game.

They were looking at the same 31-31 score.

And they seemed to be seeing two completely different futures.

From where I sat, many State fans looked like they were waiting for something bad to happen.

The App fans around me seemed convinced something amazing was about to happen.

Maybe that comes from the histories we carry into the stadium with us.

Fans learn how to watch games through experience.

Every unbelievable comeback adds a little more belief.

Every gut-punch loss leaves behind a little scar tissue.

Eventually those experiences become part of the culture.

And App State fans have seen some things.

Why App State Fans Keep Believing

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a lot of App State football history with my own eyes.

I was there for the Miracle on the Mountain moments.

I was there during the run of three straight FCS national championships.

I was there when App State beat North Carolina.

I was there when the Mountaineers beat South Carolina.

I was there in College Station when they stunned Texas A&M.

I was there in Knoxville when App took Tennessee to overtime and came agonizingly close to another massive upset. Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs fumbled at the goal line in overtime, and Jalen Hurd recovered the ball in the end zone for the score that eventually beat the Mountaineers.

I’ve watched App win games that looked lost.

I’ve watched them turn games that should have been over into absolute chaos.

And sometimes I’ve watched them do all of that work only to come up painfully short.

Ask any North Carolina fan who remembers that afternoon in Boone in 2022.

UNC led App State 41-21 entering the fourth quarter.

App State scored 40 points in the fourth quarter.

Forty.

The Mountaineers had a two-point conversion with a chance to take the lead with 31 seconds remaining.

They missed it.

Carolina returned the ensuing onside kick for a touchdown.

Somehow App State scored again.

With nine seconds left, the Mountaineers had another two-point conversion with a chance to tie the game.

They missed that one too.

Final score: 63-61.

That game may have taken years off the lives of everyone in Kidd Brewer Stadium.

It also reinforced something App fans already believed.

As long as there is time on the clock, there is a chance.

Sometimes that belief pays off.

Sometimes it leaves you staring at the field wondering how in the world your team came that close.

Either way, the belief remains.

App State Spotted NC State 21 Points

Saturday night felt familiar in another way.

Over the past few seasons, App State has had games where it takes the Mountaineers far too long to get rolling.

Against NC State, they essentially spotted the Wolfpack three touchdowns.

NC State led 21-0 before App finally got on the board.

Later it was 28-7.

App managed a field goal before halftime to make it 28-10, which at least gave the Mountaineers something to carry into the locker room.

Then App started playing football.

Malachi Singleton connected with Sam Pickett III for a 54-yard gain on the opening possession of the second half.

Jaquari Lewis finished the drive with a touchdown.

28-17.

NC State added a field goal.

31-17.

Then the fourth quarter arrived.

Keaton Braddock pressured NC State quarterback CJ Bailey, and Aaron Clark came away with an interception.

App turned it into a touchdown when Singleton found Pickett in the end zone.

31-24.

Now Carter-Finley was getting uncomfortable.

Then App State did something even better.

James London executed an onside kick.

Joe Reddish recovered it.

App State had the football again.

A few plays later, facing third-and-1, Singleton faked the handoff and found true freshman tight end Gavin Barber wide open for a touchdown.

Extra point good.

31-31.

That’s when Christian leaned over.

“Turn around and just look.”

For a Moment, You Could Feel the Cultures Collide

That moment was bigger than a tied football game.

It felt like decades of fan experience colliding inside one stadium.

NC State fans had just watched another comfortable lead disappear.

App State fans had just watched their team claw out of another situation where almost everything had gone wrong.

One side was thinking about what might go wrong next.

The other was thinking about how incredible the ending might be.

Of course, we know what happened.

NC State answered.

The Wolfpack drove 75 yards and retook the lead on a Duke Scott touchdown with 5:08 remaining.

App State failed to answer.

NC State added a field goal.

41-31.

Game over.

NC State won.

App State lost.

There Are No Moral Victories

I keep coming back to that because it matters.

There are no moral victories.

App State did not go to Raleigh hoping to make the game interesting.

The Mountaineers did not make that fourth-quarter comeback so everyone could congratulate them for trying hard.

They wanted to win the football game.

They put themselves in a position to do it.

Then NC State responded and finished the job.

That should bother App State.

The slow start should bother them.

Falling behind 21-0 should bother them.

Finally reaching 31-31 and then allowing a 75-yard touchdown drive should bother them.

A team with championship goals has to look at those things honestly.

There is also something valuable in discovering how your team responds when everything starts going wrong.

App State could have folded at 21-0.

They could have folded at 28-7.

They could have folded when NC State pushed the lead back to 31-17.

They kept coming.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, they had the entire stadium wondering whether App State was about to do it again.

That tells me something about this team.

Imagine Four Quarters of That

My biggest question coming out of Raleigh has very little to do with whether App State can compete.

We saw the answer.

They can.

The question is what happens when this team learns to play that way from the opening kick.

Imagine the App State team we watched claw back from 21 points down showing up in the first quarter.

Imagine that urgency from the opening possession.

Imagine that aggression before the Mountaineers have dug themselves a hole.

Imagine four quarters.

I’ve seen an App State team do that before.

The 2019 team finished 13-1. It won at North Carolina. It won at South Carolina. It won the Sun Belt Championship and finished the season ranked in the Top 20.

That team carried an expectation with it every Saturday.

App State has spent years building a football culture where fans believe something special can happen until the clock reaches zero.

Saturday night showed flashes of the kind of team capable of feeding that belief again.

The next step is making those flashes last four quarters.

What I Will Remember From Raleigh

Years from now, I probably will not remember every statistic from this game.

I may have to look up who had how many yards or exactly how much time remained on a particular drive.

I will remember 31-31.

And I will remember Christian leaning over to me.

“Turn around and just look.”

I’ll remember looking at the faces around Carter-Finley.

I’ll remember what I thought those State fans were feeling.

Then I’ll remember turning back toward the field, surrounded by App State fans who had watched their team spot an ACC opponent 21 points and somehow believed they were about to win anyway.

NC State ultimately proved those fears wrong and those hopes wrong.

The Wolfpack earned the win.

The Mountaineers took the loss back up the mountain.

Still, that moment said something about college football that a final score never could.

Every fan base carries its history into the stadium.

Every comeback reminds you of another comeback.

Every collapse reminds you of another collapse.

Every impossible finish teaches you what to expect the next time the fourth quarter gets weird.

And App State fans have been trained for a long time to believe.

Down seven?

There’s a chance.

Down 14?

There’s time.

Down 21?

Wake up and start playing.

Because we’ve seen this story before.

Sometimes App State pulls it out.

Sometimes the comeback ends a few yards short.

Saturday night in Raleigh ended with a loss.

I still walked out proud of the fight.

And if this team ever figures out how to play all four quarters with the urgency it showed while erasing that 21-point deficit, we might have some very interesting Saturdays ahead.