2021 Boca Raton – Western Kentucky vs Appalachian St
posted December 16
The Game
Take a break from the CRISIS OF THE VACCINATED and check out the Boca Raton Bowl! This should be a very entertaining battle as the high-powered Hilltoppers battle Appalachian St. Both of these teams lost in their conference title games but have combined for 18 wins on the season.
Let’s do ittttttt.
The Details
Appalachian St -3 Western Kentucky (68)
MEGALOCKS LINE – Appalachian St -1.5
MEGALOCKS Market Consensus – Appalachian St -0.8
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: Appalachian St 35.5 Western Kentucky 32.5
Appalachian St offense vs Western Kentucky defense
The Mountaineers have a balanced offense (#37 FBS rush, #59 pass) that’ll be able to move the ball effectively on the Hilltoppers’ defense. QB Chase Brice has thrown for over 3,000 yards but has thrown 10 INTs (23 TD) and will be without #1 target WR C Sutton. They still have a legit duo at WR in M Williams and T Hennigan but nobody else on the team has more than 200 receiving yards. The focus will be getting it done on the ground with the 1-2 combo of N Noel and C Peoples who’ve combined for over 1900 yards and 18 TDs. The TOPPERS are weak vs the run (#81 FBS) and recall that they allowed 304Y to UTSA in the C-USA title game. The good news for WK is a pass D that’s ranked #2 (!) in the country in INTs (19). They’ll hope to snag a pick or three in order to give their devastating offense more opportunities.
Western Kentucky offense vs Appalachian St defense
What a THROW GAME! Star QB B Zappe has already thrown for over 5,500 (!) yards and 56 TDs entering this contest and is just 289 yards away from breaking the season passing yards record and 5 TD passes from shattering the season TD throw mark. Get ‘cho popcone, yo. Can he do it? Well he’s got a pair of 1,000-yard WRs in J Sterns and M Tinsley who’ve booked over 3,000 (!) receiving yards and 26 TDs as we approach press time. The ground game is an afterthought so it’ll be the great passing attack vs a stingy pass D that’s ranked #12 (!) in the FBS in efficiency (12-15 TD to INT). This will be the Mountaineers’ greatest challenge of the year. It’s also arguably the Toppers’ toughest task to date. WK will be happy to know that Zappe has only been sacked 15 times in 639 attempts so it’s unlikely that the Mountaineers fine pass rush (36 sacks) will be able to do much damage.
Trends, Intangibles and More!
Don’t forget to roll out of bed early as this bad boy starts at 11:00am……WK has played the #110 schedule according to Sagarin…..App St #104…..WK’s best win?….Marshall or ODU…..App St has taken down E Carolina, Marshall, Coastal Carolina…..The Mountaineers are 6-0 all-time in bowl games and HC S Clark is 2-0….WK is 4-3 and have a bad taste in their collective mouths after getting rolled by Georgia St in last year’s LendingTree Bowl.
Summary
It’s a tough call. Logic dictates that you go with the more balanced team. AMIRITE? We’ll PEE INTO THE WIND and back one of the best units (on either side of the football) in the country and hope that they can win the turnover battle and get a few extra possessions. That would almost certainly be the difference in what should be a very entertaining game.
Conclusion
Lean – Western Kentucky +3
Note:
‘Official play’ implies we have played the game for our standard wager amount.
‘Lean’ implies we are comfortable suggesting ‘small potatoes’ on the game if you want to get down on some sweet action.
‘No leanage’ implies we won’t be involved in the game from a betting standpoint. In-game wagering possibilities only.