Appalachian State beat Toledo in an exciting Camellia Bowl on Saturday in Montgomery, 31-28. It was the third year of the Camellia’s existence as a modern bowl game, and for the third time in a row, the teams on the field treated fans to a close game.
2016 Camellia Bowl final score: Appalachian State beats Toledo after unusual missed field goal
This was a good bowl game with a really odd ending.
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
App State kicker Michael Rubino kicked a 39-yard field goal to break a 28-all tie with just a hair over five minutes to play. The Rockets drove downfield and had a chance to win or tie the game in the final two minutes, but Jameson Vest’s 30-yard field goal try (after a weird delay of game penalty on Toledo) missed wide right, preserving the game for the Mountaineers. It looked like it would’ve been good from five yards closer, but the delay of game caused a five-yard backup.
College football has 40 bowl games, and many of them are not prestigious. The Camellia is one of the many. But every year, some of these games turn out brilliantly and become a useful way to spend a few hours. The Camellia fit that bill in 2014 (Bowling Green 33, South Alabama 28) and 2015 (App State 31, Ohio 29). The streak kept rolling for another year, thanks to the Mountaineers and Rockets.
This one was back-and-forth a lot, with the teams trading scores sometimes quite quickly. After Toledo tied the game at 21 in the third quarter, for instance, Appalachian State’s Darrynton Evans ripped off a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Immediately after that, Toledo mounted a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took all of 1:33 off the clock. That’s the kind of game the Camellia Bowl was in 2016, and it was great.
Both Appalachian State and Toledo had strong, sort of under-the-radar seasons. The Mountaineers won a co-championship in the Sun Belt, along with Arkansas State, and played in their second bowl game in three years since becoming an FBS program for 2014. The ‘Eers would’ve played in a bowl in 2014, too, if they hadn’t had to wait out a re-classification period. Scott Satterfield’s got a strong program.
Toledo’s season never got a lot of ink, because the Rockets shared the MAC West with a certain 13-0 Western Michigan team that’s bound for the Cotton Bowl. They lost their head coach, Matt Campbell, to Iowa, after a strong showing in 2015. They elevated offensive coordinator Jason Candle to replace him, and Candle really didn’t miss a beat. The Rockets should be MAC contenders for a while.
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