The rest of the world may be tuning into Thursday Night Football, but you should be careful not to miss out on tonight’s South Alabama-Appalachian state game, which kicks off just under an hour beforehand. Right now, the line sits with App State as a touchdown home favorite and a total landing on 62.5 points. I actually think there is a clear angle in this game, so let’s dive into the South Alabama-Appalachian odds for Thursday. We’ll also dive into our expert picks and predictions for South Alabama-Appalachian State. If you need more college football betting advice, check out our guide to college football +EV betting.
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South Alabama-Appalachian State Odds, Expert Pick & Prediction
South Alabama-App State Odds
Pick & analysis by Ben Rasa. See all his picks here!
South Alabama: +220 | App State: -275
South Alabama +7: -105 | App State -7: -115
Over 62.5: -110 | Under 62.5: -110
Odds via BetMGM
South Alabama-App State Expert Pick
Let’s begin with South Alabama, who is hitting the road here in hopes of pulling the upset. This is a team that barely returned any production on either side of the ball, and so far this year, it’s shown. They got things started with a 52-38 loss to a North Texas team that has had its own struggles this year. The Jaguars followed that up by hitting the road and losing 27-20 to a middling Ohio team.
Both of those data points illustrated the issues with the lack of returning production for this squad that I simply don’t know how they addressed. It isn’t all bad, as in their last game, they scored 87 points in a shortened timespan against FCS Northwestern State. Obviously, that game means less to me since it came against inferior competition.
Appalachian State started the season with a 38-10 win over FCS ETSU before catching an angry Clemson team coming off a bad loss to Georgia. The result was a 66-20 loss in which App State surrendered 56 first-half points. But like the Northwestern State game for South Alabama, I don’t read a lot into that one, as the game got away from them on the road against a good opponent.
Last week’s game was a far more useful data point. App State battled back on the road to take down a solid East Carolina squad, 21-19. Truth be told the game was filled with turnovers on both sides, so it was a high variance affair.
However, App State returns quarterback Joey Aguilar and his 33 touchdown passes from last year. Around him is a solid backfield, and the top four pass-catchers from last year’s team also return. Defensively, they are strong up front and held ECU to just 98 yards rushing on 30 carries.
By now it should be pretty clear that my interest is on the Appalachian State side tonight, and I will look to lay the 7 points. Make sure you shop via our live odds tool as there are still some sevens out there, and that half-point matters versus getting 7.5.
The security of having Aguilar at QB, a defensive line that will mitigate the rush and just a ton more experience across the board is what does it for me here. Add in that this is a home, in-conference game, and App State should be plenty ready to go to start their quest for a Sun Belt crown tonight. I’ll call for a double-digit win for the Mountaineers and think we will quickly see the talent disparity on display tonight.
South Alabama-App State College Football Expert Pick: App State -7 -115 at BetMGM
