Is Appy State’s QB a threat to UR in playoff game?

He is the FCS version of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, a run-pass threat and MVP on a huge winner. But what if Appalachian State QB Armanti Edwards can't effectively run due to injury?

That was the case last season, when the University of Richmond eliminated ASU 33-13 in Boone, N.C., in the FCS quarterfinals. Edwards dealt with hip and knee issues vs. the Spiders. He suffered the injuries in the next-to-last regular-season game.

Edwards ran eight times for a net of three yards vs. UR. After the Spiders' victory, he said he felt fine. Last week, he acknowledged that was not so.

"I couldn't run at all last year [in the postseason]," said Edwards, who required knee surgery last winter.

In 2007, Richmond played at Appalachian in the semifinals, and Edwards ran 31 times for 313 yards and four TDs in a 55-35 win. His ability to run in Saturday's quarterfinal at UR Stadium may be the game's key.

"I can run a little bit this year," Edwards said. "The whole backfield was banged up last year, our running backs and me. Right now we have healthy running backs, so we can do pretty much what we want to."

Edwards again is less than 100 percent because of a sprained knee suffered late in the regular season. During ASU's 20-13 win over South Carolina State Saturday in the playoffs' first round, Edwards ran 9 times for a net of minus-1 yard.

Regardless of Edwards' fitness level, the fourth-seeded Spiders (11-1) will face the FCS' marquee program. The Mountaineers (10-2) won three straight national championships 2005-07, and have made the playoffs 15 times in the 21 seasons Jerry Moore has been their coach.

"We just feel like a different team, like we're in a different season," Edwards, a senior, said of the playoffs. "We know it's win or go home right now, so everybody just gets really hungry around this time.

"We've been here plenty of times. It's nothing new to us. We like this time of year. We're ready to roll."

Like Appalachian, UR wasn't dominant in its first-rounder. The Spiders got by Elon 16-13. The Phoenix finished as runner-up to ASU in the Southern Conference, whose title the Mountaineers have won five consecutive years. Appalachian prevailed 27-10 at Elon late in the season.

"At this point, win ugly or win pretty," said coach Mike London, whose 2008 Spiders were FCS champions. "People get down because they don't win by enough. You win by one point or 21 points, that's a great win.

"Yeah, we have to play better, but now there are eight teams in the country that have a chance to keep playing, and we're one of them."