I do declare that the most sparsely attended bowl game of the season might be the Camellia Bowl. This year’s edition will pit the 7-5 Eastern Michigan Eagles against the 9-3 Georgia Southern Eagles. This is the first time these two teams have ever met, and both programs are looking for rare bowl victories. Georgia Southern has been to just one bowl game before this, while this is Eastern Michigan’s fourth bowl appearance.
BookMaker is the only place to bet all 41 college football bowl games this season. BookMaker has the best lines for bettors, and your stocking might be a little bit fuller if you play here. The Camellia Bowl will take place on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. ET at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
NCAA Football Betting at BookMaker.eu
Eastern Michigan +2.5
Georgia Southern -2.5
Total 47.5
Odds Analysis
Eastern Michigan might be the toughest place to win at in the country, so it’s pretty incredible to see what Chris Creighton has done. Creighton has given a spark to a moribund program, and the Eagles are now making their second bowl appearance in three years. This year, Eastern Michigan pulled off perhaps its biggest upset yet, knocking off Purdue on the road, and the Eagles nearly defeated both San Diego State and Northern Illinois too, losing to both teams in overtime. Eastern Michigan finished the year with wins in five of their last six games though, with the one loss coming against a very good Army team.
Bringing back the option has made Georgia Southern a team to watch once more. The Eagles have had their best success with the option, and they rode that to a great year in Chad Lunsford’s first season at the helm. Losses to Troy and Louisiana-Monroe kept Georgia Southern out of the Sun Belt title game, but the Eagles were able to defeat a ranked Appalachian State team and beat rival Georgia State to close out the season.
Matchup to Watch
It’s no secret that Georgia Southern is going to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible against Eastern Michigan. The Eagles ran the ball on 85 percent of their plays this season, and they run it more than any other team outside of the service academies.
Wesley Fields is the team’s leading rusher, but Georgia Southern rotates out running backs in order to keep players’ legs fresh considering how much they run.
Shai Werts has proven himself to be a solid quarterback in this system, and he has been very successful through the air for an option quarterback. He averages around nine attempts per game, but he has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and has thrown 10 touchdowns without an interception. Having a quarterback that can throw the ball well enough is huge when you run the option, and Werts has been good enough to make teams pay that try to crowd the line.
Player to Watch
Tyler Wiegers has been pretty competent for Eastern Michigan since transferring in from Iowa as a graduate transfer. He has shared the duties with Mike Glass III at times this year, but Wiegers has been the team’s signal caller for the lion share of its games.
Wiegers isn’t the running threat that Glass can be, but he has been a solid passer. He has completed 64.8 percent of his passes, and he has been decent enough through the air.
Live Betting Preview
Eastern Michigan is a fundamentally sound team, and I think that will help the Eagles pull off a small upset here. To stop the option you have to be disciplined in your assignments, and the Eagles are well-coached and have proven to be just that over the last few years. They have had two full weeks to prepare for Georgia Southern, and that will pay off.
NCAA Football Odds: Eastern Michigan 20, Georgia Southern 17
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