By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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Camrun Peoples sets a new NCAA bowl game record with 317 yards rushing.

Appalachian State’s Camerun Peoples just had one of the best individual performances in college football history: 22 carries for 317 yards and five touchdowns in the Mountaineers’ 56-28 victory over North Texas in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. His rushing yardage total now stands as the highest ever in an NCAA bowl game, with his five scores matching the all-time record. Peoples paced Appalachian State to 502 rushing yards as a team, the fifth-most in bowl game history, and a sixth-straight postseason victory.

It was truly an effort for the ages.

Peoples is now the 11th running back this millennium with a 300-yard, five-touchdown game. He, quite notably, reached those milestones with the fewest attempts of any player in the group, a list that includes former NFL Pro Bowlers Matt Forte and Maurice Jones-Drew and Super Bowl champion Kenjon Barner.

For Peoples to have his showcase on a bowl game stage, breaking a postseason mark previously held by Georgia Tech’s P.J. Daniels, puts him in a class all his own.

It goes without saying that Peoples was absolutely unstoppable on Monday, doing it all for Appalachian State. He scored on long runs of 64 and 62 yards, reached the endzone on short-yardage conversions from three yards and one yard out and added an in-between 11-yard touchdown just for good measure. North Texas scored 28 points in the game and Peoples still outscored the Mean Green all by himself. Peoples ran for three touchdowns in less than nine minutes of game time from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth.

Remarkably, Peoples was not the only Mountaineer to top the 100-yard rushing mark in the contest as Marcus Williams, Jr. ran six times for 101 yards and a score. He actually had the longest run of the day at 70 yards.

The historic performance puts Peoples at 1,126 rushing yards for the season, giving Appalachian State a 1,000-yard rusher for the ninth consecutive year. Peoples finishes the season on quite the run; including his record-setting bowl showing, Peoples rushed for 758 yards and eight touchdowns over the Mountaineers’ final five games alone. He also scored at least once in seven of his last eight games. Clearly, Peoples will enter 2021 as one of the hottest players in the country.

For Peoples, there is something special about Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina. His 317 yards and five touchdowns in the Myrtle Beach Bowl came, fascinatingly, one month to the day after he ran for 178 yards and a touchdown in a road game against undefeated Coastal Carolina. In two outings on the teal turf, Peoples has an astonishing 49 carries for 495 yards and six scores.

Peoples has turned the Grand Strand into his grand stage.

With Appalachian State’s winning the first game of the postseason, bowl season is now officially underway. It is Peoples who has it off and running.