It was over early.
Appalachian State University built a 31-0 lead in the first half and went on to deal the University of Maine’s Black Bear football team one of the worst losses in program history, 55-3, at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina on Saturday.
It was the opener for the Football Bowl Subdivision Mountaineers, who were coming off a 5-8 season and brought in 73 new players including 43 transfers.
Mountaineers second-year head coach Dowell Loggains was a former offensive coordinator for four National Football League teams and for the University of South Carolina.
One of those transfers, former Purdue University quarterback Malachi Singleton, had a memorable Appalachian State debut as he completed 22 of 24 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He went 18-for-20 for 250 yards in the first half alone and tossed all three of his TD passes in the opening 30 minutes.
The Football Championship Subdivision Black Bears are now 1-1 and have lost their last eight games against teams in the FBS.
FBS schools have significantly more resources than FCS schools.
UMaine is now 4-26 against FBS opponents.
UMaine received a $350,000 guarantee for the game at Appalachian State.
UMaine had won the only two previous meetings with Appalachian State but both occurred when the Mountaineers were in the FCS and both were playoff games held in Boone. The Mountaineers moved up to the FBS in 2014.
Appalachian State racked up 647 yards to UMaine’s 250 including a 369-74 advantage in the first half. They had a 34-12 edge in first downs including a 19-3 margin in the first 30 minutes.
UMaine didn’t pick up its initial first down until Rashawn Marshall scampered 14 yards with 3:28 remaining in the first half.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring with 6:10 left in the first quarter when Treyaun Webb capped a four-play, 78-yard drive with a two-yard run.
James London made it 10-0 with a 31-yard field goal 45 seconds into the second quarter.
Singleton fired a five-yard TD pass to Darrin Fugitt with 9:32 left in the half to finish off a six-play, 70-yard drive and make it 17-0.
Appalachian State pressured Anthony Pecorella into a rare poor punt, an 11-yarder, and that set the Mountaineers up at the UMaine 40-yard line and it took them eight plays to cash on a 14-yard pass from Singleton to Samuel Pickett III with 4:18 left in the half.
UMaine finally strung together a drive in which the Black Bears moved the ball from their own 19-yard line to the Mountaineers’ 28-yard line.
But Caleb Pitts intercepted an Eddie Buehler pass and returned it to the Appalachian State 45 and it took the host six plays to move the ball 55 yards and Singleton found Pickett III again, this time for a seven-yard score with only seven seconds left in the half.
The Mountaineers made it 38-0 in the third period on Jaquari Lewis’ 12-yard run before UMaine would register its only points of the game on Sam Tremblay’s 40-yard field goal.
Appalachian State added fourth-quarter touchdowns runs of 36 yards by Nate Branch and 28 yards by Jackson Grier before London concluded the scoring with a 32-yard field goal.
Pickett III had five receptions for 76 yards and Branch had five for 55 yards. Lewis was the game’s leading rusher with 11 carries for 69 yards and Ja’Quez Cross had seven for 66. Alex Mitchell had a team-high six tackles, Carson Sloan had five and Colton Phares had four tackles, a sack, an interception and a pass breakup.
Buehler completed 18 of 32 passes for 198 yards. He was intercepted twice. Nick Lauglin had four receptions for 26 yards and Evan Wallace had three for 19. Marshall led the Black Bears in rushing yards with 37 on 13 carries. Freshman Aidan Winter carried the ball four times for 17 yards on the game’s last drive.
Linebackers Sam Oppenheimer and Noah Carpenter were the game’s leaders in tackles with 14 and nine, respectively. Oppenheimer also broke up a pass.
Safety Jeremiah McGill had seven tackles.
Pecorella, the reigning Coastal Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Week, launched three of his five punts at least 50 yards.
UMaine will play its home opener against Merrimack on Saturday at 5 while Appalachian State will travel to take on East Carolina on Saturday at noon.