Appalachian State University
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40 free Appalachian State University trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Appalachian State University sits more than three thousand feet up in the Blue Ridge town of Boone, and it has a habit of punching above its weight. A small academy for mountain families grew into a major public university, and its football program produced one of the most famous upsets the game has seen. This quiz collects the best Appalachian State fun facts in one place. Expect the school's founding story, the mascot and his odd name, stadium lore, national championships and giant-killing wins, and alumni who became country stars, bestselling authors, coaches and pro athletes. A few questions cover campus oddities, from the library's racing archive to the student nightclub. It is written for students, alumni, Mountaineer fans and families planning a campus visit, and for anyone who enjoys college trivia. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn the backstory even when you guess wrong.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In 2007, Appalachian State football won 34–32 at which fifth-ranked Big Ten team in a famous upset?
Michigan
Michigan fell from No. 5 out of the AP Top 25 entirely, the first time a single game had knocked a top-five team out of the poll.
Q 02The Old Mountain Jug, Appalachian State's rivalry trophy with Western Carolina, is an old jug for what?
Moonshine
Moonshine gave the 25-pound trophy its start: the campus bookstore manager donated the old jug in 1976 and his wife painted it gold.
Q 03Which country star studied criminal justice at Appalachian State and played his first country show in Boone?
Luke Combs
Luke Combs worked as a bouncer at a Boone bar before he ever took its stage, then left school short of a degree to chase music in Nashville.
Q 04Appalachian State's mascot Yosef takes his name from a mountain-dialect way of saying which everyday word?
Yourself
Yourself is the idea behind Yosef: any fan with a heart of black and gold counts as one. He debuted in the 1942 yearbook, filling a spot left one picture short.
Q 05Appalachian State's mountainside football stadium in Boone, opened in 1962, is known to fans by which nickname?
The Rock
The Rock hosted a 30-game home winning streak, then the longest in Division I, until Georgia Southern snapped it in October 2007.
Q 06Which future WWE champion played volleyball at Appalachian State in 2005 and 2006 before transferring to NC State?
Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair, daughter of ring legend Ric, had captained her high school to two state volleyball titles and did not begin training as a pro until 2012.
Q 07Which future NBA MVP drew one of the Holmes Center's biggest crowds when his team visited Appalachian State in 2009?
Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry was starring for Davidson that season. Until 2023, only his visit and the arena's opening night against North Carolina had drawn 7,000 fans.
Q 08Appalachian State's library holds a Stock Car Racing Collection with a gift from which NASCAR legend's family?
Richard Petty
Richard Petty's family gift shares the five-story library with a special room of rare books on English history, a collection reaching back to the 16th century.
Q 09Which country singer with a marketing degree from Appalachian State gave out his album Carolina on campus?
Eric Church
Eric Church gave the copies away at a release-party concert the night before the album came out. His early bar band included his college roommate and his brother.
Q 10Appalachian State graduate Stephen Dubner, once in a band signed by Arista Records, co-wrote which bestselling book?
Freakonomics
Freakonomics grew into a book series and a radio show he hosts, but Dubner walked away from music just as his college band, The Right Profile, landed its deal.
Q 11Charles Frazier, who earned a master's degree at Appalachian State in the 1970s, wrote which Civil War novel?
Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain was his first novel and won the 1997 National Book Award for Fiction; its success brought an $8 million advance offer for his second.
Q 12Appalachian State began in 1899 as a small mountain academy meant to train people for which profession?
Teaching
Teaching was the mission from day one: the first 53 students met in a borrowed building while townspeople gave money, labor and materials for the school's own.
Q 13Installed in 2008 at the highest point on Appalachian State's campus, what became a symbol of its green energy work?
A wind turbine
Q 21Appalachian State football stepped up to the top FBS level in 2014 by joining which conference?
Sun Belt
Sun Belt life began 1–5, but the Mountaineers won their last six games of 2014. The NCAA's transition period still kept them out of a bowl until the next season.
Q 22Appalachian State's football three-peat of 2005–07 was the first in Division I since which team's 1944–46 run?
Army
Army last managed it around the end of World War II, and the Mountaineers were also the first to win three in a row since the FCS playoffs began in 1978.
Q 23Which Appalachian State quarterback became the first player to win the Walter Payton Award twice, in 2008 and 2009?
Armanti Edwards
A wind turbine more than 153 feet tall went up beside the Broyhill Inn, picked specifically because it looks like an industrial-scale machine.
Q 14Which magazine put Appalachian State on its cover the week after the football team's 34–32 upset in 2007?
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated billed the game as the "Alltime Upset", and the win also led that night's SportsCenter.
Q 15Appalachian State safety Corey Lynch sealed the famous 2007 football upset by blocking what on the final play?
A field goal
A field goal from 37 yards was the home team's last chance, and the Mountaineers had retaken the lead with only 26 seconds left on a short kick of their own.
Q 16Which Hall of Fame coach led Appalachian State football to three straight national titles from 2005 to 2007?
Jerry Moore
Jerry Moore had only one losing season in 24 years in Boone, and a statue of him now stands outside the stadium's north end zone.
Q 17Which future national championship-winning coach got his first head coaching job at Appalachian State in 1983?
Mack Brown
Mack Brown, who later won a national title at Texas, went 6–5 in his only season in Boone, then left to become offensive coordinator at Oklahoma under Barry Switzer.
Q 18In 2022, Appalachian State football won 17–14 away from home against which sixth-ranked SEC team?
Texas A&M
Texas A&M was a 19-point favorite, but the Mountaineers held the ball for more than 41 minutes, including a nine-minute drive to the winning kick.
Q 19Which traveling TV pregame show first visited Appalachian State in 2022, broadcasting from Sanford Mall?
College GameDay
College GameDay made Boone the 96th city it had visited, and the Mountaineers capped the day by beating Troy on the final play before a sold-out stadium.
Q 20Appalachian State football beat Troy 32–28 in 2022 on what kind of last-play touchdown?
A Hail Mary pass
A Hail Mary pass from Chase Brice was tipped by a Troy defender, and Christian Horn caught the deflection and ran it into the end zone.
Armanti Edwards was also the first Division I quarterback to throw for 9,000 yards and run for 4,000 in a career, yet he reached the NFL as a wide receiver.
Q 24Which Appalachian State linebacker won two Buck Buchanan Awards and made three Pro Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys?
Dexter Coakley
Dexter Coakley, a high school safety who was moved to linebacker in Boone, became the school's first College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2011.
Q 25Appalachian State's stadium is named for which coach, whose 1937 team was unscored upon in the regular season?
Kidd Brewer
Kidd Brewer's 1937 squad outscored its regular-season opponents 206–0 before losing a postseason game 7–0, and he later ran twice for statewide office.
Q 26Appalachian State's stadium was the first venue in the Carolinas with which feature, debuted against Elon in 1970?
Artificial turf
Artificial turf reached Boone before anywhere else in either Carolina, and in 2003 the school was again among the first colleges to switch to FieldTurf.
Q 27Appalachian State was founded in 1899 by two brothers, known as B.B. and D.D., who shared which family name?
Dougherty
Dougherty brothers Blanford and Dauphin opened the school as co-principals with Dauphin's wife, Lillie, leading classes, and Blanford stayed in charge for 56 years.
Q 28Before it became Appalachian State, the school opened in 1899 as an academy named for which North Carolina county?
Watauga
Watauga Academy's wooden building burned in 1946, and its steeple bell, one of the few artifacts known to have survived, is still displayed on campus.
Q 29Appalachian State was founded to serve isolated North Carolina mountain counties once known by which nickname?
The Lost Provinces
The Lost Provinces sat behind the high Blue Ridge, cut off from the rest of the state, and had no highway to points east until a turnpike was begun in 1911.
Q 30Appalachian State's mascot Yosef debuted in the 1942 yearbook, a publication named for which mountain shrub?
Rhododendron
Rhododendron pages listed the mascot as a first-year student called Dan'l Boone Yoseff, and the second f was dropped from his name in 1947.