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After nine months of winter and summer conditioning and spring and fall practice, three-time-defending NCAA Division I national champion Appalachian State University football opens the much-anticipated 2008 campaign on Saturday afternoon at defending Bowl Championship Series champion LSU. The unprecedented matchup of last year’s national titlists kicks off at 5 p.m. EDT and will be televised live on ESPN and on ESPN360 (click here to view free ESPN360 online broadcast).

Appalachian and LSU have combined to win five of the last 10 Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision – formerly Division I-AA) and FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision – formerly Division I-A) national championships. ASU is the only team to ever win three-consecutive titles at the FCS level and LSU to earn two championships under the BCS umbrella, which dates back to 1998.

Other notes about the ASU-LSU matchup include:

• Since the inception of Division I subdivisions in 1978, Appalachian is 7-35-1 versus FBS/I-A opponents.

• In last year’s opener, ASU became the first Division I FCS team to ever defeat a nationally ranked Division I FBS opponent when it shocked AP No. 5 Michigan, 34-32.

• Appalachian has an opportunity to equal the feat this week, as LSU is ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Top 25 college football poll.

• Saturday’s meeting is the second all-time between ASU and LSU. In 2005, Appalachian trailed just 14-0 going into the fourth quarter despite dropping a touchdown pass and having a field goal carom off an upright on separate drives in the third quarter. ASU went on to fall, 24-0, marking the last time that the Mountaineers were shut out.

• The setback at LSU in 2005 immediately preceded a six-game winning streak for Appalachian to end the season, culminating with the first of ASU’s three-consecutive national titles.

• The Mountaineers are 1-10 all-time versus current members of the Southeastern Conference. In 1975, ASU quarterback Robbie Price led the Apps to a 39-34 triumph at then-independent South Carolina.

• LSU is one of only four teams that ASU has ever played that has won an FBS national championship. Auburn, Clemson and Michigan are the others. Appalachian has never played a team the year after it won an FBS national title.

• The Mountaineers return 13 starters from last year’s team (five offense, six defense, two specialists). The Tigers return 16 (seven offense, five defense, four specialists).

• ASU is 12-0 all-time when playing on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU and has won 13-straight nationally televised games.