BUIES CREEK – Campbell’s fast start has carried the football program into new territory: a national ranking for the first time in its modern history.

The Fighting Camels entered the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 at No. 22 on Monday after a 42-14 victory over North Carolina A&T. Campbell also received votes in the AFCA coaches poll, placing just outside that ranking’s top 25.

Campbell is 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Coastal Athletic Association, its best start since 2019. The Camels are unbeaten against FCS opponents and, with the win over A&T, captured their first CAA opener since joining the league in 2023. The surge follows a 2-10 season in 2025, when Campbell finished 2-6 in conference play.

The ranking followed Campbell’s most complete performance of the season. Quarterback Kamden Sixkiller completed 23 of 25 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns, a 92% completion rate that the CAA said was the best in the FCS this season. He shared the league’s Offensive Player of the Week honor, his second CAA weekly offensive award of the season. Running back JJ Cowan produced 185 yards from scrimmage and three scores, and wide receiver Jyron Waiters added seven catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns as the Camels rolled up 574 yards of offense.

Photo Credit: Campbell Sports Media

Campbell opened the season with a 49-37 road win at ETSU and followed with a 28-19 home victory over then-No. 24 Western Carolina. The Camels have surpassed 500 yards of offense in each of their wins, and Sixkiller has thrown for at least 330 yards against all three FCS opponents. A loss at Florida is Campbell’s only setback through four games, but the wins were enough to lift the program into the national poll in the 19th season of its modern era.

The Camels return to CAA play at Hampton on Saturday, Sept. 26. They visit North Carolina Central on Oct. 3 before returning to Barker-Lane Stadium to face Towson in the Oct. 17 homecoming game.

BOONE — In the midst of an 11-game winning streak and a 5-0 start to the 2019 season, Appalachian State received national recognition Sunday in the form of its second Top 25 ranking in the program's brief FBS history.

At 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play heading into Saturday's homecoming game against Sun Belt west division leader ULM (3-3, 2-0), App State is No. 24 in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the Amway Coaches Poll. It's the highest ranking in any poll in the Mountaineers' FBS history and the first ranking of App State by the coaches. It also marks the highest ranking for any Sun Belt team since the league was established in 1976. App State joined the Sun Belt in 2014.

As one of 12 unbeaten FBS teams and one of three Group of Five conference teams with an unblemished record, the Mountaineers have defeated East Tennessee State, Charlotte, in-state ACC program North Carolina on the road and Sun Belt foes Coastal Carolina (at home) and Louisiana (on the road).

App State's 11-game winning streak is the nation's third-longest active streak behind Clemson (21) and Ohio State (12). Since 2015 — during a run that includes three straight league titles and four consecutive bowl wins — the Mountaineers have the nation's fifth-best winning percentage thanks to a 46-11 record.

In Eliah Drinkwitz’s first season as head coach, the Mountaineers are among the nation's leaders in several special teams and offensive statistical categories and are coming off a brilliant defensive performance in a 17-7 road win over Louisiana, who entered that contest with the nation's No. 1 rushing attack. App State is tied for the national lead in fewest turnovers lost (2) and most blocked kicks (4). The Mountaineers are 10th in scoring offense (41.0), tied for fifth in defensive touchdowns (2), eighth in kickoff returns (28.8), ninth in third-down conversions (50.0), 11th in pass completion percentage (70.4), 12th in punt returns (15.5) and 12th in red zone offense (95.5).

Last year, App State earned its first Top 25 ranking as an FBS member (No. 25 in the AP poll) thanks to a 5-1 start that featured five straight wins following an overtime loss at Penn State. App State teams in 2019 and 2018 account for two of the three Sun Belt Conference teams to ever receive a Top 25 ranking.

Saturday's homecoming game against ULM kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium and marks the Mountaineers' first home game as a nationally ranked FBS team.

Kidd Brewer Stadium is sure to be rocking this Saturday as Appalachian State will play its first home game ever as a nationally ranked team.

BOONE — Appalachian State has made history again during its record-setting start in FBS football.

At 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Sun Belt Conference, the Mountaineers earned their first Top 25 ranking as an FBS member when the newly released AP Poll on Sunday listed App State at No. 25.

It's tied for the highest ranking ever for a Sun Belt team, as Troy's one-week appearance at No. 25 in the AP Poll during the 2016 season is the only other case of a Sun Belt team being ranked in either poll. With a school-record 78 voting points in this week's Amway Coaches Poll, the Mountaineers are one spot outside the 25th spot, 17 voting points behind Miami.

App State Earns First-Ever AP Top 25 Ranking

Led by head coach Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State is currently in its fifth season of FBS competition, and it's the only program with a bowl win in each of its first three eligible seasons following the complete transition. The Mountaineers are 40-10 in their last 50 games and 30-3 in their last 33 league games.

App State led in the final minute of a 45-38 overtime loss at Penn State to open the 2018 season, and it has won its last five games by a combined score of 231-49. That includes a 35-9 road victory on ESPN2 against Arkansas State, the preseason West Division favorite in the Sun Belt Conference, and a 27-17 home victory against Louisiana on Saturday. A touchdown by the Ragin' Cajuns with 1:03 left Saturday accounts for the only second-half points given up by Appalachian's defense since the Penn State game.

The Mountaineers are currently No. 5 nationally in scoring offense (44.8 points per game), No. 11 in scoring defense (15.7 points per game), No. 8 in yards allowed per game (294.8), No. 17 in offensive yards per game (476.0) and tied with Utah State for No. 1 in special teams touchdowns (four).

Appalachian was unofficially No. 29 in last week's AP Poll and No. 31 in last week's Coaches Poll. The Mountaineers return to action Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. road game at Georgia Southern on ESPNU.

The 2018 football team is the first App State team to be ranked nationally in the top 25 since the 2016-17 wrestling team closed that regular season at No. 19.

Rank	School	Votes	Prev
1	Jacksonville State (7-1)	3953 (139)	1
2	Illinois State (7-1)	3825 (18)	3
3	Chattanooga (7-1)	3540	4
4	Eastern Washington (6-2)	3275	5
5	Richmond (7-1)	3240	6
6	North Dakota State (6-2)	3097	7
7	Sam Houston State (6-2)	2843	8
8	Coastal Carolina (7-1)	2753	2
9	McNeese State (8-0)	2710 (1)	10
10	Portland State (7-1)	2699 (1)	12
11	South Dakota State (6-2)	2280	14
12	William & Mary (6-2)	2268	16
13	Harvard (7-0)	1964	15
14	James Madison (7-2)	1841	9
15	Charleston Southern (7-1)	1738	24
16	Fordham (7-2)	1349	11
17	UNI (4-4)	1282	18
18	Eastern Kentucky (5-3)	1227	13
19	North Carolina A&T (7-1)	1176	20
20	Southern Utah (6-2)	799	NR
21	Youngstown State (4-4)	670	25
22	Montana (4-4)	609	17
23	Indiana State (4-4)	436	21
24	Dartmouth (6-1)	335	22
25	Citadel (6-2)	295	NR

Others: Montana State (286) , Grambling State (224) , Eastern Illinois (176) , Bethune-Cookman (173) , Western Illinois (153) , Central Arkansas (97) , Alcorn State (82) , North Dakota (60) , Dayton (43) , UT Martin (36) , Northern Arizona (33) , Villanova (27) , Towson (15) , Southeastern Louisiana (13) , Western Carolina (11) , New Hampshire (9) , South Dakota (8) , Liberty (6) , Colgate (5) , Kennesaw State (5) , Penn (4) , Southern Illinois (2) , Duquesne (2) , South Carolina State (1)