New Orleans Bowl 2018, Appalachian State vs. Middle Tennessee: Where, when, and team info

This year’s New Orleans Bowl kicks off this Saturday, and the matchup between Appalachian State and Middle Tennessee will be the last game of day one of college football’s bowl season. The Mountaineers lost their head coach Scott Satterfield to Louisville earlier this month, but interim head coach and longtime Mountaineer assistant Mark Ivey should do just fine leading this team on the sidelines.

Las Vegas odds gives the Mountaineers a 7-point edge, and S&P+ gives App State a 77 percent of winning on Saturday. App State has never played in this bowl game, whereas Middle Tennessee will be making its first trip to New Orleans since 2009.

The Sun Belt champions had a great year, slotting in the top 20 in S&P+ and destroying most of their schedule. Their year was almost even better, but they narrowly missed upsetting Penn State in Week 1 and took a second loss to Georgia Southern, two weeks after star running back Jalin Moore was lost for the season with an ankle injury. They found a good replacement for former longtime starting QB Taylor Lamb, sliding in sophomore Zac Thomas and getting good throwing and running out of him. The defense was the team’s biggest strength, led by a whole bunch of juniors and seniors.

The Blue Raiders are bowling for the fourth year in a row and the eighth time in 13 years under coach Rick Stockstill. They’re one of the most reliable mid-majors anywhere, and they’ve gotten a lot better as the year’s gone on. This game will be the last together for Stockstill and his son, Brent, who’s been his QB the last four years.

It’s literally in the name. It’s the other New Orleans bowl game because there can never be too many excuses to go watch football in the Big Easy.

9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 15. ESPN on TV, and WatchESPN for streaming.