App State’s Brice Finds Horn on Miracle Hail Mary to Beat Troy

On the day it hosted ‘College GameDay,’ App State stunned Troy on a miracle throw as time expired.

After hosting ESPN’s College GameDay live from Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday morning, Appalachian State opened Sun Belt competition against Troy.

In a back and forth affair, the game lived up to the hype that College GameDay was hoping for. 

After a 23-yard Michael Hughes field goal late in the 3rd quarter, App State took its first lead since 13:48 to go in the opening quarter, 24–21.

Troy running back Kimani Vidal opened the scoring in the 4th quarter, helping the Trojans regain the lead 28–24 with a one-yard touchdown run with 10:10 to play. 

Fast-forward to the final minute of the game. With a four-point lead and facing fourth down at its own 11-yard line with just seconds to play, Troy quarterback Gunnar Watson ran out of the back of his own end zone in an effort to run some clock. The intentional safety by Troy made it 28–26 with 20 seconds to play.

App State, out of timeouts, would get the ball back with limited time on the clock. With 15 seconds to play, returner Ahmani Marshall took the free kick out to the App State 47. After three straight Chase Brice incompletions, the Mountaineers faced 4th and 10 with two seconds to play.

And that’s when this happened...

AS CALLED BY @AdamBWitten AND HEARD ON THE @varsity APP: pic.twitter.com/QztnYi7T8k

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 17, 2022

On an absolute miracle heave, Brice found receiver Christan Horn on the 53-yard heave as App State captured the victory.

Here’s another look at the Hail Mary from a different angle.

THEY DID IT!!!! THE HAIL MARY 🙌🏽!!!!!!!#beattroy pic.twitter.com/926VAjwGoW

— Maria Santora (@MariaSantoraTV) September 17, 2022

App State now moves to 2–1 on the season, and 1–0 in Sun Belt play, while Troy falls to 1–2 overall and 0–1 in conference play.

Here are some of the best social media reactions to the game-winning throw from Brice.

In Appalachian State’s 3 games so far, there have been a total of 5 scoring plays in the final 0:31 by either team. The game against Texas A&M was the only one that wasn’t competitive right until the end.

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 17, 2022

Here's the App State deflected Hail Mary TD.

Host College GameDay and win like this. They'll never forget this day. pic.twitter.com/IjonkpWejr

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 17, 2022

App State scored 40 points in a quarter and it's the third most exciting thing to happen in its season

— Matt Brown (@MattBrownCFB) September 17, 2022