Appalachian State Mountaineers: Headed to Camelia Bowl

Appalachian State Mountaineers will be headed to their first bowl after their transition to FBS.

The Appalachian State Mountaineers just completed a ten win season. Their only two losses occurred to Conference Champions Clemson and Arkansas State. They finished things off with a game against the South Alabama Jaguars in Mobile.

Being in the Sun Belt does have some downsides. The league has few bowl spots that it can fill and the coveted one to the New Orleans Bowl only goes to the champ. Last year Appalachian State was not able to go the bowls because of the prohibition during the transition to FBS. This should fire up the fan base to go to the first bowl that the Mountaineers have ever played since their promotion.

The Mountaineers will be returning to Alabama to play in the Camelia Bowl. The Camelia Bowl is named after the state flower of Alabama and is played in the state capital of Montgomery. The venue is the Cramton Bowl, which was the old home of the Blue-Gray game. The game was created only last year and its naming rights are owned by Raycom even though the game is essentially owned by ESPN.

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The Camelia Bowl pits teams from the Sun Belt against the teams of the Mid-American Conference. This year the Mountaineers will be playing the Ohio Bobcats. The Bobcats are still coached by former Nebraska coach Frank Solich. They went 8-4 on the season to finish second in the MAC East.

Going to a bowl game offers some additional benefits to the Mountaineers. They gain the ability to practice during the bowl practice time. This allows a team to gain time to work and improve outside of the normal season. Teams like the Charlotte 49ers are not allowed this privilege.

The Mountaineers will also be on television nationally and have the ability to advertise their program that way too. They fight for the Camelia Bowl on December 19th, meaning they won’t truly mess with fans’ holiday season.