Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics
Ready & Eligible!
12/15/2015 10:30:00 AM | Football
Georgia Southern seniors have been through a lot leading to this first bowl game
If any team can do it, this team can.
The senior players of 2015 have faced some tough challenges since signing with Georgia Southern. This class of Eagles withstood a change in conferences, coaches and championship eligibility, some even facing changes in playing position, over the past four years. Facing the challenges together made them stronger and more adaptable. These Eagles have formed a solid bond of brotherhood. They're ready to rise from the Sun Belt Conference Championship of 2014 to finally play in the bowl game they were denied last year because of first year ineligibility rules.
Recruited in 2012 by head coach Jeff Monken, these seniors began play for the Eagles in the Southern Conference as members of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). That year, the Eagles were Southern Conference co-champions with a 10-4 record and a conference mark of 6-2, tied with Wofford and Appalachian State. Georgia Southern defeated Central Arkansas in the second round of the FCS playoffs and Old Dominion in the quarterfinals before losing to North Dakota in the semifinals for the third time, this time 23-20. This was the final season in the FCS for Georgia Southern to be eligible for a national championship. On Nov. 12 of that year, Athletics Director Tom Kleinlein and University President Dr. Brooks Keel made the announcement that the Eagles would be moving up a division to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in the Sun Belt Conference.
In 2013, Coach Monken's fourth year as head coach, the Eagles played their last season in the FCS. The announcement of the move to the FBS meant that Georgia Southern was ineligible for a conference championship and was also not eligible to play in the FCS playoffs. Georgia Southern shared this status with long-time Southern Conference rival Appalachian State, also planning a move to the Sun Belt Conference. Georgia Southern finished fourth in the conference standings with a record of 4-4. But, in a remarkable season-ending game against the SEC's University of Florida Gators in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium before 82,500 screaming fans, the Eagles pulled off a win that no one in football was expecting with a 26-20 upset over the Gators. This win brought the program plenty of national recognition with press mentions through all the major sports news outlets. The defeat of Florida also made Georgia Southern the team to watch in their move up to FBS.
But, the end of the 2013 season was also the end of Monken's tenure at Georgia Southern. On Dec. 24, 2013, Monken announced that he had accepted the head coach position at the U.S. Military Academy (Army). Monken left Southern after four years with a 38-16 record that included three trips to the FCS semifinals. He exited right after the 26-20 win over Florida, leaving on a high note.
Enter head coach Willie Fritz who began as Georgia Southern's ninth head coach with an announcement by Tom Kleinlein at Bishop Fieldhouse on Jan. 10, 2014. During Fritz's first year, Georgia Southern was introduced to Division I-A football with an opening game against NC State in Raleigh, North Carolina. The nail-biter ended with a 24-23 NC State win and served as Georgia Southern's initiation into the big league. Fritz led the Eagles to a pair of firsts in school history. The Eagles won their first game in the FBS era with a score of 83-9 over Savannah State in the home opener. Georgia Southern also posted their first win over an FBS team in the FBS era and the first Sun Belt Conference win on Sept. 20 at South Alabama.
Georgia Southern faced a tough first year schedule that included NC State, Georgia Tech and Navy. The Eagles lost only those three games in the 2014 season, dominating both sides of the ball and leading the Sun Belt in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense and rushing offense. Against all Sun Belt rivals, Georgia Southern remained undefeated and finished their first year in the FBS with a perfect 8-0 record and a Sun Belt Championship. Coach Fritz was chosen as Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year 2014.
Even with a perfect season record, because it was the Eagles' first year in the FBS, NCAA transition regulations made the team ineligible for any post season bowl games. Standing on a first-year Sun Belt Championship, Georgia Southern lobbied for a waiver on the ruling, and an appeal, but the decision from the NCAA was final. The Eagles were denied a bowl bid.
This year, the seniors are ready for the opportunity. While this brotherhood of Eagles has experienced a Southern Conference Championship, the "Draining of the Swamp" in a win against the Florida Gators, a move up to the FBS, playing for two full-time head coaches, a first-year Sun Belt Conference Championship, a very close game against the University of Georgia, and a perfect first season, they have not experienced a bowl game.
Ask any senior playing today what he wants most from this season and he'll tell you – a bowl win. This class of Eagles has the opportunity to do what no other team that has gone before them has done. They'll get their chance in a little over a week as they take on the high-flying Bowling Green Falcons on Dec. 23 in Mobile, Alabama, in the GoDaddy Bowl. They'll play the game under interim coach Dell McGee as Fritz took a job at Tulane just last week. But adversity is nothing new for this group and it won't stop them from living out the goal of playing in the school's first bowl game.
Georgia Southern Football Media Availability (12/29/25)
Tuesday, December 30
Georgia Southern vs. Appalachian State Highlights: JLab Birmingham Bowl (12/29/25)
Monday, December 29
Georgia Southern Football Media Availability (12/28/25)
Sunday, December 28
Georgia Southern Football Media Availability: JLab Birmingham Bowl (12/28/25)
Sunday, December 28
