Camellia Bowl Preview

Camellia Bowl
Middle Tennessee (6-6) vs. Arkansas State (7-4)

Breaking Down Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders had yet another let down season as injuries hammered their star players in Brent Stockstill and Richie James once again. Stockstill has been injured for major parts of the last two seasons, and without him slinging it, the Blue Raiders were much less effective, and when James was out, Stockstill was much less effective as well.
Stockstill is good to go for this one, as he has thrown 10 TD passes over his last 4 starts. He seems to be as healthy as he has been over the last 24 months, and is averaging 205 yards passing per game. John Urzua is much less effective if needs be called on, as he tossed just 7 TDs to 9 INTs.
Richie James will likely not play this week, so Ty Lee takes his new found leadership role into the bowl game. Lee caught 74 passes this season for 916 yards and 5 TDs. Middle Tennessee will use a lot of quick out passes, and likes to play the margins.
Not one back carried the ball 100 times in 2017, and that has caused a major downturn in production from MTSU in that area of the offense, as they average, as a team, 144.17 yards per game rushing. Tavares Thomas, a converted LB, leads the team with 8 TDs rushing.
Since Stockstill returned, the fortunes of the team have as well, as they come into this game winning 3 of their last 4 games. Stockstill started all 4.
MTSU gives up a lot of plays defensively, as several DBs are in the tackle leader board. Jovante Moffat, also a DB, leads the team with 95 tackles on the season. They allow 212 yards passing and 136.58 yards rushing per game, so they are mostly solid, but get stung from time to time.
They average 7.33 tackles behind the line per game, with sophomore LB Khalil Brooks leading with 15.5 TFLs. He also leads with 6.5 sacks.
All of that pressure up front resulted in just 4 INTs, but Mike Minter, Jr. had a solid year with 9 PBUs. MTSU also only forced three fumbles all season.
Canon Rooker was solid at PK this season, as he hit 14/17 FG attempts, but he did manage to miss 2 PATs. Matt Bonadies struggled at punter, however, as he averaged just over 39 yards per punt.
The kick return game is nothing special, as the Blue Raiders average just under 21 yards per return, while Reed Blankenship is dangerous as a punt return man, averaging over 10 yards per return there.

Breaking Down Arkansas State: Arkansas State is explosive on offense, averaging 38.5 points per game this season. Justice Hanson is a big play QB who has passed for 3630 yards and 34 TDs, but he has also been picked off 15 times in 11 games. Five receivers have caught 30 or more passes this season, so the Red Wolves love to spread the field on any given play. Chris Murray has caught 44 passes, and leads the team with 9 TDs, while TE Blake Mack has 7 scores on the season.
Hanson added 6 scores as a runner, and the run game is led by Warren Wand, who fought injuries all season, yet still manged 6 rushing scores of his own.
Arkansas State allows just under 25 points per game defenively, and boasts one of the best defensive players in the nation in DE Ja'Von Rolland-Jones, who finished with 39.5 TFLs over the last two seasons. He registered 51 tackles in 2017, with 13 sacks. He has 26 sacks over the last two seasons. Arkansas State allows 242.3 yards passing per game, while they hold teams to just 137 yards rushing per contest. Justin Clifton and Blaise Taylor are to be avoided in the passing game, as they each finished with 13 PBUs on the year.
Sawyer Williams is a bit adventurous in the kicking game, as he hit just 15/21 FG attempts, and also missed 5 PATs. Cody Grace is solid in the punting game, averaging 40.91 yards per punt.
Arkansas State is also sloppy in kick return defense, as they have allowed 3 TD returns on the year. As good as Taylor is in the secondary, he is also a strong punt return man who averages 13.44 yards per return, with one return to the house.