Buffalo vs. Georgia Southern: Camellia Bowl preview, prediction, pick for 12/27

Yardbarker Quick Pick

How about Clay Helton's first season as coach at Georgia Southern? The Eagles won at Nebraska and beat a ranked James Madison squad in October. A big reason for their success is running back Jalen White, who totaled 914 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. On the other side, it's been a streaky season for Buffalo, which opened 0-3, then won five straight before losing three in a row and needed a 23-22 win over Akron to become bowl eligible. The Bulls will be looking for a third straight bowl win. — Jeff Mezydlo, Yardbarker

Prediction: Georgia Southern (-3 1/2)

Georgia Southern, in its first season under coach Clay Helton, became bowl-eligible by beating Appalachian State 51-48 in double overtime in the final game of the season. Buffalo became eligible for postseason by with a last-minute 23-22 win over Akron in their season finale.

"I feel like you have two teams who really had to fight their way in," Helton said. "When you look at college football, only half the teams get the opportunity to play one more game together and we are honored to be able to do that."

Vantrease was a big reason for Georgia Southern's success. He passed for 3,901 yards and 25 touchdowns and was named third-team All-Sun Belt Conference. Vantrease engineered the team's dramatic 45-42 win over Nebraska on Sept. 10.

OddsChecker pick

OddsChecker's Matt McCuen makes it pretty clear: "I am backing the Bulls with the points here. ... Buffalo is a team that is better than their record indicates, and I trust that they will do enough to stay within this number. They should know Vantrease very well and have a good game plan to go against him. Let’s cash in on the dog! 

He threw for 1,861 yards and eight touchdowns in 10 games for Buffalo in 2021 and was the quarterback when Buffalo won the Camellia Bowl.

Buffalo linebacker James Patterson laughed and said, "I can't really wait to get after him and just show him that after all these years of him being in a red (non-contact) jersey, he's going to be in a different-colored jersey."

Georgia Southern had 11 other payers named all-conference, including tackle Khalil Crowder, wide receiver Khaleb Hood (80 receptions, 896 yards, three TDs) and linebacker Marques Watson-Trent (105 tackles), who each made the second team.

Buffalo had seven players named to the All-MAC team, including kicker Alex McNulty, linebacker Shaun Dolac (134 tackles, 4.5 sacks) and safety Marcus Fuqua (60 tackles, seven interceptions), a third-team AP All-America selection. McNulty, a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, was voted the conference's special teams player of the year and set a single-season record with 21 field goals.