Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Camellia Bowl Prediction Game Preview

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Buffalo vs Georgia Southern prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Camellia Bowl, Tuesday, December 27

Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Camellia Bowl Prediction Game Preview

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Buffalo vs Georgia Southern How To Watch

Date: Tuesday, December 27
Game Time:12:00 ET
Venue: Crampon Bowl, Montgomery, AL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Buffalo (6-6), Georgia Southern (6-6)
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Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Camellia Bowl 5 Things To Know

Camellia Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

Get ready to hear the name Kyle Vantrease a whole lot. Good at Buffalo over his five years, he transferred to Georgia Southern and helped change up the program under head coach Clay Helton.

All of a sudden, the Eagles went from being known for its option offense to finishing fourth in the nation in passing. It was a grind late in the year, but a wild 51-48 win over Appalachian State – with 389 yards from Vantrease – booked the bowl ticket.

Buffalo has done okay for itself without Vantrease, too – even if it took a LOT of work to get here. It started 0-3 – including a Hail Mary loss to Holy Cross, won five straight, lost three straight, and it was out of the mix after the Akron game was postponed thanks to a blizzard. It was a dogfight, but the 23-22 Bull win was enough to get bowl eligible.

This just the sixth bowl game in Buffalo history. It’s actually the seventh, but the 1958 team turned down its invitation to the Tangerine Bowl. The program lost its first three bowls starting in 2008, but under now-Kansas star coach Lance Leipold it won the last two in 2019 and 2020 – the latter the Camellia against Marshall.

It’s the fifth bowl for Georgia Southern, winning three of the four since making the first appearance in the 2015 GoDaddy. The last appearance was a dominant 38-3 blasting of Louisiana Tech in the 2020 New Orleans.

– The Camellia Bowl has been in a few different locations over the years, but it’s now settled in at Montgomery. It’s also been one of the most consistently awesome bowl games over the last eight seasons with the first seven all decided by eight points or fewer before Georgia State blasted Ball State 51-20 last year.

CFN Experts Dec 20-27 | CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

Why Buffalo Will Win The Camellia Bowl

The defense has to crank up the takeaways.

The offense is too inconsistent and the special teams are awful, but the defense knows how to force mistakes.

For all of the good things Georgia Southern does, it’s got a problem when it starts turning the ball over. It’s 2-3 when giving it away multiple times – and the two wins were by the skin of its teeth in shootouts. UB takes it away in bunches with four or more turnovers forced in four games.

If that doesn’t work, it’s all about controlling the clock.

No, Buffalo’s offense isn’t great, but at least it operates with a deliberate pace to stay in control. Georgia Southern doesn’t care about that, moving quickly to keep defenses on their heels. There’s going to be a problem if the Eagles work fast and make mistakes, but …

Why Georgia Southern Will Win The Camellia Bowl

With a few rare exceptions, this isn’t the type of Buffalo team that did a good job of keeping up in shootouts. It could score here and there, but it was just 2-6 when it didn’t come up with more than 31 points and 1-6 when allowing more than 27.

The Georgia Southern offense has the ability to turn out the lights in a hurry if it comes up with a few early scoring drives. The offensive line is fantastic at keeping defenses out of the backfield – that’s partly because of the pace of the attack – and the offense keeps on cranking up yards through the air.

Buffalo is 0-3 when giving up 283 passing yards or more. Georgia Southern got there in every game but four.

Camellia Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Prediction, Camellia Bowl History

Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Camellia Bowl, What’s Going To Happen

Georgia Southern will get its offense moving and Buffalo won’t be able to counter.

The banged up Eagle receiving corps will be okay, the defense will just good enough, and Vantrease will have a solid performance keeping things moving in tough spots. This is where the six years of college football will kick in.

Buffalo has the ability to get the offense moving just enough to come up with several surges against the leaky Eagle D, but it won’t be match the pace.

Buffalo vs Georgia Southern Camellia Bowl, Prediction, Line

CFN Prediction: Georgia Southern 38, Buffalo 27
Line: Georgia Southern -3.5, o/u: 67
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3.5
Camellia Bowl Must See Rating (out of 5): 3
CFN Experts Dec 20-27 | CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

Camellia Bowl History

Dec 25, 2021 Georgia State 51, Ball State 20
Dec. 25, 2020 Buffalo 17, Marshall 10
Dec. 21, 2019 Arkansas State 34, FIU 26
Dec. 15, 2018 Georgia Southern 23, Eastern Michigan 21
Dec. 16, 2017 Middle Tennessee 35, Arkansas State 30
Dec. 17, 2016 Appalachian State 31, Toledo 28
Dec. 19, 2015 Appalachian State 31, Ohio 29
Dec. 20, 2014 Bowling Green 33, South Alabama 28

2022-2023 Bowl Schedule, Predictions

Story originally appeared on College Football News



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