Appalachian State Mountaineers: Returning to Camelia Bowl
The Appalachian State Mountaineers might consider winter homes in Montgomery, AL.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers are headed back to the bowls again this season. The co-champion of the Sun Belt Conference is headed to the Camelia Bowl. That game will be played in nine days on December 17 in Montgomery, AL against the Toledo Rockets of the Mid American Conference.
This marks the second straight trip of the Mountaineers to the Camelia Bowl. They played the Ohio Bobcats in the same game last year and produced a fair amount of fireworks before winning on a late field goal.
The Bobcats are not the opponent this time. That honor belongs to the Rockets, who have one of the better helmets in all college football. Toledo also has a history of success within its conference. This is the school that produced Bruce Gradkowski among others.
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This year Toledo has senior running back Kareem Hunt with almost 1400 yards of rushing on the season. He is balanced by a passing game led by Logan Whiteside at quarterback with over 3,000 passing yards on the year.
The Toledo defense has been good against comparable competition, but they have struggled against two offensively minded teams. Both Western Michigan and BYU managed to score more than fifty points and win against the Rockets. BYU did it with a pounding run game and 286 yards from Jamaal Williams. Western Michigan also did something similar with 198 yards from Jamauri Bogan.
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The point is that the Rockets can be had with a rushing attack. Appalachian State is big with the rushing attack. Common opponents are sparse but Toledo did play two teams that App played last year. The Rockets beat Arkansas State by a 31-10 margin in week one while losing to Ohio 31-26. The Red Wolves were the co-champions with App State this year.
It figures to be a close game with App coming out on top if the Mountaineers can stick to their identity. This will especially mean stopping the run on defense.