PURCHASE TICKETS

The Georgia Southern football squad is once again going bowling and will face the Liberty Flames Saturday afternoon in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. Kickoff is set for 2:37 p.m. at Exploria Stadium in Orlando and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Be sure to check your local listing for the channel in your area before game time! The game will also be available via radio on the Georgia Southern Sports Network and BowlDayRadio on Sirius XM. Here's all you need to know about the game:

FBC Cure Bowl: Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 • 2:37 PM  
Location: Orlando, Fla. (Exploria Stadium; 25,500)

Records:
Liberty: 7-5
Georgia Southern: 7-5, 5-3 SBC

Broadcast Information
Broadcast: CBS Sports Network 
PBP: Carter Blackburn; Analyst: Aaron Taylor; Sidelines: John Schriffen

Radio: Georgia Southern Sports Network
PBP: Danny Reed; Analyst: Terry Harvin; Sidelines: Russ Brown

BowlDayRadio (Sirius XM/TuneIn App)
PBP: Jamie Seh; Analyst: Dani Welniak; Sidelines: Melanie Newman

GS: GAME NOTES
LU: GAME NOTES
GAME DAY PAGE

Inside The Series
Overall: Fourth Meeting (Georgia Southern leads, 3-0 • 2-0 Home; 1-0 Away)
Current Streak: GS, Won 3
Last Meeting: Nov. 16, 1996 (W, 45-14) - Allen E. Paulson Stadium | Statesboro, Ga.
Facts Maybe Only We Find Interesting: This will be Georgia Southern's third bowl game as they won the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl over Bowling Green and the 2018 Raycom Media Camellia Bowl over Eastern Michigan … It will be the Eagles' first bowl game not played in Alabama … GS has won all three previous contests against Liberty, 48-11 in 1984 in the first game at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, 7-6 in 1995 in Lynchburg, and 45-14 in 1996 in Statesboro … The two schools have a future home-and-home on the books, 2025 in Statesboro and 2026 in Lynchburg … GS is 18-6 all-time at neutral sites … Georgia Southern is 34-13 all-time in the month of December …The Eagles are 23-2 all-time against teams from Virginia, having won nine in a row, and are 15-7 in games played in the state of Florida, winning three straight … This will be Georgia Southern's first game in the Sunshine State since beating the Florida Gators in The Swamp to end the 2013 season … This will be the first time playing in Orlando since 1990 … GS is 4-0 all-time in Orlando … This will be the first Virginia opponent for the Eagles since downing Old Dominion in the 2012 FCS Playoffs … GS and Liberty have three common opponents this year: Louisiana, Maine and New Mexico State … The Eagles went 2-1 against those teams, while Liberty went 3-1, playing NMSU twice … This is just the second game played on grass for the Eagles in 2019 (LSU).

Countdown to Kickoff
10: Ten different Georgia Southern players were honored by the Sun Belt on its postseason awards teams.
9: Nine times in the history of Georgia Southern football have the Eagles scored touchdowns in all three phases of the game (offense, defense and special teams). Three of those nine times have come this year (Minnesota, New Mexico State and ULM).
8: Eight different offensive lineman have started at least one game this year as the Eagles have used seven different combinations in 12 games along the starting offensive line due to injuries.
7: Georgia Southern has six non-offensive scores in 2019, one off the record of seven set in 1999 and 2001. The Eagles have scored on two interception returns, a blocked field goal return, a punt return, a kickoff return and fumble return.
6: Georgia Southern leads the FBS with six different 100-yard rushers, one ahead of second-place Houston and South Carolina.
5: This will be Georgia Southern's fifth game played in Orlando with the Eagles holding a 4-0 record.
4: Georgia Southern has forced at least one turnover in all but four of its past 28 games.
3: Punter Anthony Beck II has had just three touchbacks in 59 punts this season. As it stands, Beck's 41.6 yards per punt average is the fourth best single-season average in program history.
2: The Eagles have lost just two of 25 contests played against teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
1: Monquavion Brinson is one pass break up away from setting a new school record for career PBUs. He is currently tied with Laron Scott with 36 for first place.

Fighting For A Cure
• Junior linebacker Rashad Byrd's mother, Carolyn, is a breast cancer survivor who found her own cancer in 2009. It was stage 3B breast cancer that had spread to eight lymph nodes, five months after a normal mammogram. She is in attendance at every game wearing her No. 45 jersey to support her son. Byrd, a second-team All-Sun Belt selection, enters the Cure Bowl leading the team in tackles with 79, including 9.0 for loss and 2.0 sacks, to go along with two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He has scored two defensive touchdowns this season.

• Sixth-year senior offensive lineman Jake Edwards will be playing his final collegiate game for his mother, Krysti, who is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with breast cancer three days before Christmas in 2016. It was tough on the Edwards family since Krysti's late mother battled cancer during her life and the family found out right before Christmas, as well. Edwards said "ending my football career playing in the Cure Bowl being able to represent not only my mother but all the other people that breast cancer has affected means the world to me and my family. My mother is a wonderful, strong, and sweet woman. She means so much to me and I'm so glad she will be there cheering me on. This game will definitely be for her!"

• Senior kicker Tyler Bass has a big fan in his grandmother, Becky "Mamaw" Lusk, who hasn't missed a single game in Bass' college career, including games in New Mexico and Texas. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in September of 2014 during Bass' senior at Dutch Fork High. She had a mastectomy shortly thereafter and underwent chemotherapy, completing treatment in the spring of 2015. She is currently five years cancer free and continues to be a huge inspiration to the All-American and three-time All-Sun Belt selection.

• Offensive line coach Ron Hudson was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFib) in 2014 and was rushed to Palo Alto for open heart surgery in 2015 after doctors found a blood clot in his heart. Doctors later found kidney cancer during a follow-up scan and Hudson had to have his whole kidney removed because the tumor was so big and close to the blood supply. He was back coaching at Nevada a month later.

• In the spring of 2015, his junior year at Valdosta High, Todd Bradley was diagnosed with Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans (DFSP) in his right shoulder. He was going in to have some scar tissue removed when the doctors diagnosed him. DFSP is a rare type of cancer, a soft tissue sarcoma that develops in the deep layers of skin cancer. The cancer caused him to miss most of his final season, but he was cleared on a Thursday and played the next night, returning for the final five games of his season. He signed with the Eagles in February of 2016.

Common Opponents
• Georgia Southern and Liberty have three common opponents this year in Louisiana, Maine and New Mexico State. GS is 2-1 against that group while Liberty is 3-1 having played NMSU twice. Here's the breakdown of the contests:

Louisiana: GS - L, 24-37; LU - L, 14-35
Maine: GS - W, 26-18; LU - W, 59-44
New Mexico State: GS - W, 41-7; LU - W, 20-13; W, 49-28