Boca Raton Bowl – Western Kentucky vs. Appalachian State Spread, Line, Odds, Predictions, Picks, and Betting Preview
The 2021 Roofclaims.com Boca Raton Bowl goes down Saturday, December 18, between the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (8-5) and Appalachian State Mountaineers (10-3).
Both teams enter having lost in their conference championship game. In the Sun Belt Championship game, Western Kentucky dropped 49-41 to UTSA. The Hilltoppers rebounded after a 1-4 start to the season, winning six straight before the conference title game loss. Quarterback Bailey Zappe leads the nation’s No.1 passing offense. Zappe has 5,545 passing yards and 56 touchdowns on the season. All eyes will be on him to see if he can break the NCAA’s single-season touchdowns record. He sits four shy of Joe Burrow’s 60 TDs, a single-season record.
App State fell in the Sun Belt Championship game to Louisiana. It was the second time the Mountaineers have fallen to the Ragin’ Cajuns this season. Their only other loss came on the road against Miami in a nail-biter. Considering the Hurricanes were the #22 team in the country at that time, and App State almost came away with a win (25-23 loss on a late field goal), it’s evident that the Mountaineers are one of the top Group of 5 teams in the country yet again.
App State averaged 187 yards per game on the ground and should be able to exploit a Western Kentucky rushing defense that gave up over 300 yards on the ground to UTSA in the C-USA Championship game. Western Kentucky is the flashy name given the high-powered offense, but App State is the much steadier program. A look through WKU’s results tells you that the six-game winning streak came against the soft part of the C-USA conference schedule. The best team they beat in that stretch was clearly a 7-5 Marshall team.
As for the total, we can only look to the Over. WKU will be doing everything in their power to get Zappe the single-season passing TD record. App State will be able to move the ball all game long on the ground, and they have a trio of dangerous receivers to keep the Hilltoppers honest.
