INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) today denied Georgia Southern University's appeal for a bowl eligibility waiver after the institution submitted an appeal this week. The Eagles, winners of the 2014 Sun Belt Conference championship outright on Saturday finish their inaugural season with a 9-3 overall record and perfect 8-0 league mark.

Georgia Southern will not submit another appeal as the process has run its course and was taken to the highest levels that exist.
"It was imperative for our student-athletes' benefit that President Keel and I took this appeal to the highest level and explored the possibility of being able to go to a bowl game, and unfortunately with today's decision, they have been denied for the second year to compete in postseason," said Georgia Southern Director of Athletics Tom Kleinlein. "Even though Georgia Southern may not be considered a 'deserving team' by the committee's definition, what this team accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary, and we felt our efforts warranted a chance to continue to play."

The Eagles became just the third team to win a conference title in their first year of FBS participation and only the third team in 2014 to go undefeated in conference play this year, joining Florida State and Ohio State.

The 2015 season opens at West Virginia on September 5th with Georgia Southern's home opener on September 12th.

Upcoming events for Eagle Nation include a gala to honor the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Champions and the annual National Signing Day party. Details on these events as well as season ticket renewals, will be available soon.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can follow Coach Willie Fritz on his official twitter account, @CoachWEFritz.