Appalachian State Mountaineers

The Appalachian State Mountaineers bring a genuine college football dynasty down from the mountains of Boone, North Carolina, playing home games at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Black and gold Mountaineers teams won an unprecedented three straight FCS national championships before shocking the sport with a historic 2007 upset over fifth-ranked Michigan. Since jumping to FBS and the Sun Belt in 2014, App State has been the league's most successful transition story. The Mountaineers remain the program every Sun Belt East rival circles on the calendar.

Appalachian State fielded its first football team in 1928 and rose to prominence after joining the Southern Conference in 1972. The Mountaineers won three consecutive FCS national championships from 2005-2007, becoming the first Division I program to three-peat since Army in the 1940s, and famously beat No. 5 Michigan 34-32 in September 2007, the first time an FCS team ever beat an AP-ranked FBS opponent. App State moved to the Sun Belt Conference and FBS in 2014 and has since won four Sun Belt championships (2016-2019), the most successful FBS transition in NCAA history.