Cure Bowl: Low Scoring Affair Goes App State's Way

Even with a 13-9 final score, the Appalachian State Mountaineers offense did just enough to win the 2023 Cure Bowl

ORLANDO, FL - Rainy conditions throughout the entirety of the game caused the matchup between Miami (OH) and Appalachian State to be a low scoring affair, as the Mountaineers won by a final score of 13-9.

In the lead up to Saturday, one of the key departures due to the transfer portal was Appalachian State running back Nate Noel - the Mountaineers' leading rusher with 834 yards and five touchdowns.

Noel leaving put Kanye Roberts and Anderson Castle as the two main backs. Robertson ran for 648 yards and seven touchdowns this season prior to Saturday. Against the RedHawks, Roberts ended the afternoon with 10 carries for 48 yards.

Even with the loss of Noel, the Mountaineers still ran a two back system, as Anderson Castle shared reps with Roberts. He ended the game as the teams leading rusher with 20 carries for 119 yards.

As for the RedHawks, who lost less players to the portal, Rashad Amos bounced back with 33 carries, which is a program record, 180 yards and a touchdown against a Mountaineer defense that has struggled to stop the run this season.

With one quarterback out for the season and the other one deciding to enter the transfer portal, the RedHawks had to shift towards redshirt sophomore Henry Hesson to start the game.

Hesson would see action through one quarter and a half, as he was replaced for another redshirt sophomore in Maddox Kopp. Hesson then ended up coming in for the final play of the second quarter and played the remainder of the game after that.

Making his first collegiate start in a bowl game was a tough task for the redshirt sophomore, but he managed to make the right decisions as he only threw eight passes and completed five of them for 16 yards. He had a 63% completion rate. Most of the Miami offense ran through Amos.

Appalachian State quarterback Joey Aguilar did not have much trouble with the rain tonight. The junior quarterback threw for 197 yards as he completed 18 of 32 passes. Aguilar was named the game's MVP. 

Aguilar's top target of the night was wide receiver Kaedin Robinson who had eight receptions for 98 yards. Aside from Robinson's success, The Mountaineers offense mainly relied on the ground game as they had 135 rushing yards and 332 yards of total offense.

On the defensive side of things, if you wanted to recover a fumble, or force a fumble, then this game was the perfect opportunity to do so. There were a total of 13 fumbles between both teams and each team recovered two opposing fumbles on the night.

Mountaineers' redshirt sophomore linebacker Cade Sullivan made his name known with seven total tackles, which led the team. Cornerback Nick Ross and nose tackle Santana Hopper both recovered one of Amos' fumbles.

For the RedHawks, in the first play of the game, the defense picked off Joey Aguilar thanks to cornerback Yashyn McKee. Linebacker Ty Wise led Miami with 10 total tackles.

Throughout the entirety of the game, the Mountaineers had five trips to the red zone, with three of them ending with a score, but only one of the three scores was a touchdown.

After the third quarter, neither team would go onto score, which would give the Mountaineers the win, marking their seventh bowl game victory as an FBS team.