Camellia Bowl
Cramton Bowl - Montgomery, AL
Kickoff: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. ET
Line: Appalachian State -7.5, Total: 55

Appalachian State will make its first-ever bowl appearance on Saturday when it takes on Ohio in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL.

The Mountaineers (6-6 ATS) flourished in their second FBS season with 10 wins, and the lone defeats came to unbeaten Clemson and Sun Belt champion Arkansas State. Since that last loss, the team has won three straight games by a combined score of 109 to 54. The Bobcats (8-4 ATS) are also riding a three-game win streak (SU and ATS) that includes a 26-21 upset at double-digit favorite Northern Illinois in the last game. Ohio also has much more postseason experience with this being the school's sixth bowl trip in the past seven years. However, most of the betting trends favor Appalachian State, with the most telling trend being that college football underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points, coming off two straight conference wins are just 26-65 ATS (29%) in the past 10 seasons versus an opponent off a road victory. The Mountaineers are also a better team away from home at 5-1 SU with a +21.8 PPG margin while the Bobcats are 3-3 SU with a minus-6.8 PPG margin. Ohio also has a slew of injuries to deal with, including TE Connor Brown (illness) and DBs Devin Bass (thumb), Blake Scipio (groin) and Nathan Carpenter (groin) all expected to miss Saturday's game, while four others are questionable to play -- TE Keith Heitzman (knee), DE Trent Smart (undisclosed) and OLs Jared McCray (knee) and Joe Anderson (groin). There are no significant injuries reported by ASU.

Can Appalachian State win handily in its first-ever FBS bowl? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the bowl season. The experts enter bowl season on a roll with a combined 57% ATS (52-39) Best Bets record over the past three weeks, highlighted by StatFox Scott's 66% ATS mark (19-10). StatFox Brian is 58% ATS (11-8) and StatFox Dave has a 55% ATS (12-10) record during this timeframe.

Ohio is a decent offensive team with 27.4 PPG and 424 total YPG, and those numbers have jumped to 33.7 PPG and 484 total YPG over the past three contests. The club prefers to run the football with 57% of its plays staying on the ground, which has led to a quality 187 rushing YPG on 4.4 YPC and an average possession time of 32:27. The Bobcats also throw for 236 YPG on 7.5 YPA, but their quarterback situation is shaky, as it's not clear whether senior QB Derrius Vick (1,809 pass yds, 7.3 YPA, 10 TD, 6 INT) or junior JD Sprague (785 pass yds, 9.0 YPA, 7 TD, 1 INT) will be starting under center. Vick hasn't played the past two games due to a nagging ankle injury, but threw more interceptions (4) than touchdowns (3) in his past five games. Sprague won each of the past two games by completing 21-of-33 passes for 367 yards, 4 TD and 0 INT, and he is clearly the better runner with 190 yards on 4.5 YPC compared to Vick's 177 yards on 1.9 YPC. The best ball carrier on the team is sophomore RB A.J. Ouellette (642 rush yds, 4.7 YPC, 5 TD), who has rushed the football 52 times for 261 yards (5.0 YPC) and 2 TD over the past two games, but speedy 5-foot-7 RB Daz'mond Patterson (497 rush yds, 4.9 YPC, 9 TD) is also a capable back. Ohio's defense has given up 24.8 PPG on 371 total YPG this year, and those numbers have improved greatly to 17.3 PPG on 313 total YPG in the past three contests. The Bobcats allow 157 rushing YPG on a hefty 4.8 YPC this season, and also give up 214 passing YPG on 6.5 YPA and 60% completions. A big deficiency has been turnovers, as Ohio started the season with 15 takeaways in the first six games of the year, but has forced only four turnovers during the past six contests.

Appalachian State knows how to put up big numbers with 37.2 PPG on 470 total YPG this season, including 39.3 PPG on 488 total YPG away from home. This is also a run-heavy offense that keeps the ball on the ground two-thirds of the time. The club constantly feeds junior RB Marcus Cox, who has 1,261 rushing yards (5.8 YPC) and 8 TD this year. Cox topped the century mark in rushing yards seven times this year, including a season-high 192 in the regular-season finale at South Alabama. The Mountaineers can also throw the football with sophomore QB Taylor Lamb, who produced 2,263 passing yards (8.8 YPA), 29 TD and only 8 INT, which places him eighth in the nation with a 166.1 rating. Lamb has plenty of reliable pass catchers to work with in WRs Shaedon Meadors (439 rec yds, 3 TD), Malachi Jones (433 rec yds, 3 TD) and Simms McElfresh (424 rec yds, 6 TD). He also has a big target in 6-foot-4 TE Barrett Burns, who caught only 12 passes all year, but six of those grabs resulted in touchdowns. The ASU defense has been tough this season in allowing only 18.2 PPG and 318 total YPG, thanks in large part to Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year DL Ronald Blair, who had 7.5 sacks, 67 tackles and 18 Tackles for Loss. The run-stop unit holds teams to 134 YPG on 3.5 YPC, while the passing defense limits opposing quarterbacks to 184 YPG on 6.4 YPA and 61% completions. Although the Mountaineers forced three turnovers in their final game, they had zero takeaways in each of their previous three contests.