The App State Mountaineers come into their Week 9 matchup off a pair of impressive wins after poor weather hampered them in their loss to Old Dominion. In Week 7, they battled back from a double-digit deficit at Coastal Carolina to win 35-32, and they followed that up by dealing James Madison their first loss of the season last week in overtime despite catching almost two touchdowns on the point spread and again facing a double-digit deficit in the first half.
On the other side, Georgia Southern comes into this game off a bye; the Eagles last played on Thursday of Week 7, so they will have benefited from more than two weeks of rest and preparation for the Mountaineers. That bodes well for the Eagles, especially defensively, where they rank 2nd in the the Sun Belt in scoring, yielding 22 points per conference game.
Two consecutive double-digit comebacks, with the latter coming against a previously-unbeaten squad, prevents a bit of a hangover situation for App State in this matchup. The Eagles may be 3-4 SU, but they’re 6-1 SU, including 3-0 ATS as favorites and 3-0 ATS at home. Combining the two, the Eagles have been home favorites only once this year, a game in which they covered against FCS Charleston Southern while laying 28.5 points, but they’ve been pretty good in this spot of late. In fact, the Eagles have covered seven straight home games in the favorite role dating back to their win and cover over App State in the final week of the regular season in 2024. I like that home magic to continue this Saturday.
Appalachian State vs Georgia Southern prediction: Georgia Southern Eagles -5.5 (-107) at the time of publishing. Playable to -6 (-115).
