Appalachian State vs. Toledo, Camellia Bowl 2016: Mountaineers win a wild one

Both sides are right. Bowls are a cynical money-making exercise, an excuse for ESPN inventory, and an outdated way for all the wrong people to maintain some semblance of control over college football. They’re also happy, bonus football.

We are at both extremes in 2016. We once again had 80 bowl bids to give out and fewer than 80 bowl-eligible teams, a sure sign of bloat and excess. We’re also loaded with perhaps more interesting bowl matchups than we’ve ever seen.

Bowl games are good. There are too many of them. Both things are true.

We’re holding steady at 41 on this year’s schedule, counting the National Championship, and again have multiple 5-7 teams that made it in because we ran out of 6-6 teams (Mississippi State and North Texas this time).

Appalachian State won the Camellia Bowl on Saturday, which is great. But the Mountaineers, apparently, want more.

Specifically, they want Bama.

Football games are 60 minutes long.

Motivation is a tricky thing in bowl games. You might be rusty. You might be undergoing a coaching change. You might come out firing, only to find your attention span is not what it was a couple of months ago.

Toledo was trailing Appalachian State, 31-28, late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Camellia Bowl in Montgomery. The Rockets lost by that same score, and they came by their loss in a hard-to-explain-why way.

The Rockets’ offense faced a fourth-and-2 at the Mountaineers’ 8-yard line. They lined up and appeared ready to try for a conversion, playing for the win and not the tie. But then they never ran a play.

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.

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.

Appalachian State and Toledo both had nice seasons. The Mountaineers won a share of the Sun Belt title, and the Rockets came within one win, against Western Michigan, of catching the Cotton Bowl–bound Broncos in the MAC West. WMU, Houston, Navy, and Boise State spent the year battling to be considered the top Group of 5 team, but both the Mountaineers and Rockets were competitive behind them.

They are solid teams. Now they’re playing each other, in Saturday’s Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.

College football’s bowl season is upon us. A full schedule is here.

There are 40 bowl games spread from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2, with the National Championship on Jan. 9. Unless you’re watching on multiple monitors and are really committed, you won’t catch all of them. (If that is your plan, more power to you.)

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

The Camellia Bowl came onto college football’s postseason scene in 2014, and it announced itself by way of a wild fourth quarter in its inaugural game between Bowling Green and South Alabama.