GAME PREVIEW: Eagles and App Set to Battle in Birmingham

Monday, December 29

Birmingham, AL

2 PM (ET)/1 PM (CT)

Georgia Southern University

App State

12/21/2025 2:30:00 PM | Football

2025 Football Season, Presented by Morris Bank

Deeper Than Hate to be played on Dec. 29 at Protective Stadium

STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern football team wraps its season on Monday, Dec. 29 at Protective Stadium as it takes on App State in the JLab Birmingham Bowl. Kickoff is set for 1:02 p.m. (CT) and it will be carried on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Bowl Radio on SiriusXM. The game will also be available via radio on the Georgia Southern Sports Network. Here's all you need to know about the game:

JLab Birmingham Bowl: Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 • 1:02 PM (CT)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. (Protective Stadium; 41,831)

Records:
App State: 5-7
Georgia Southern: 6-6

Broadcast Information
Broadcast: ESPN
PBP: Taylor Zarzour; Analyst: Matt Stinchcomb; Sidelines: Alyssa Lang

Radio: Georgia Southern Sports Network
PBP: Danny Reed (@GSEaglesVoice); Analyst: Terry Harvin (@TerryHarvin); Sidelines: Frank Sulkowski

Radio Affiliates (PDF)

GS: GAME NOTES (PDF)

Overall Record: App State leads, 21-18-1
In Statesboro: GS leads, 13-6
In Boone: App State leads, 15-5-1
At Neutral: First Meeting

Loggains vs. GS: 0-1
Helton vs. App: 3-1
Helton vs. Loggains: 1-0

Current Streak: GS, won two (2024-)
Last Meeting: GS 25, App 23 (2025)
Longest GS Streak: Four (2000-02)
Longest App Streak: Three (four times)

Largest GS Win: 47 points (2004 in Statesboro)
Largest App Win: 59 points (1939 in Boone)

GS all-time in bowl games: 3-4
GS all-time in bowl games in Alabama: 2-1
GS all-time in Alabama: 12-12

GS at Protective Stadium: 0-1
Helton at Protective Stadium: 0-0

Of Note:

Georgia Southern and App State have met 40 previous times with the Mountaineers holding a 21-18-1 lead in a series that dates back to 1932. Southern defeated App 25-23 in Boone earlier this season.
The two schools battled as members of the Southern Conference from 1993-2013. The teams have played every year since 1993, including twice in 2001. The 40 games played makes App Georgia Southern's most-played opponent in program history.
This will be the third postseason meeting all-time between App State and Georgia Southern with both team winning one NCAA Division I-AA Playoff game at home (App 19-0 in 1987; GS 38-24 in 2001). This will be the first neutral site meeting in the long-standing rivalry.
Eagle starting linebacker and captain Brendan Harrington spent six seasons in Boone playing for the Mountaineers before transferring to Georgia Southern this season. He was a two-time captain, totaling 167 tackles in 50 games (with 28 starts) from 2019-24.
Junior quarterback JC French IV needs 47 passing yards to become the all-time leader in career passing yards at Georgia Southern, passing College Football Hall of Famer Tracy Ham (5,757 yards; 1983-86). French enters the bowl game with 5,711 career yards in just two full seasons.

Countdown to Kickoff
10: Ten Sun Belt teams are playing in the postseason, including two in the JLab Birmingham Bowl.
9: This will be head coach Clay Helton's ninth bowl game as a head coach, five at USC and now four at Georgia Southern.
8: The Eagles will be playing in their eighth bowl game in 11 years of FBS eligibility.
7: Seven players for the Eagles have started at least 15 games in a row heading into the bowl game.
6: Eagle starting linebacker and captain Brendan Harrington spent six seasons in Boone playing for the Mountaineers before transferring to Georgia Southern this season.
5: Freshman quarterback Weston Bryan has accounted for five touchdowns this season, three through the air and two on the ground.
4: Georgia Southern will be playing in a bowl game for the fourth straight year for the first time in program history.
3: Only three previous times in the history of college football have two teams from the same conference who played in the regular season met again in a non-playoff/championship bowl game, the last time coming in the 1978 Orange Bowl.
2: Marcus Sanders Jr. has two 100-yard receiving yard games in his career, both coming this season, including a career-high 137 yards at Marshall in the final game of the regular season.
1: Camden Brown became the first player in program history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season when he went for 157 at Marshall last game. He enters the bowl season leading the FBS with 14 touchdown catches.

Postseason History
• Georgia Southern and App State will make history when they face off on Dec. 29th in the JLab Birmingham Bowl as this will mark the first time in nearly 50 years that two teams from the same conference who played in the regular season will meet again in a non-playoff/championship bowl game.

• Only three times in the history of college football have two teams from the same conference who met in the regular season met again in a true bowl game (non-playoff or championship game). The team that won the regular season matchup has never won the rematch.

1978
Regular Season - Nebraska 17, Oklahoma 14
Orange Bowl - Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 24

1959
Regular Season - LSU 7, Ole Miss 3
Sugar Bowl - Ole Miss 21, LSU 0

1946
Regular Season - South Carolina 13, Wake Forest 13
Gator Bowl - Wake Forest 26, South Carolina 14

• The first intra conference bowl game happened in 1944 due to travel restrictions associated with WWII with USC beating Washington (both of the Pacific Coast Conference) in the Rose Bowl.

• In the era of the BCS/CFP, several rematches have taken place in bowl games that doubled as national championship or playoff games. The last intra conference bowl match up between two teams that played in the regular season was last week when Alabama beat Oklahoma (SEC) in the CFP Opening Round after losing in the regular season. In last year's Rose Bowl, which served as the CFP Quarterfinals, Ohio State lost to Oregon 32-31 in the regular season but beat the Ducks 42-21 in the postseason rematch (Big Ten).

• In the 2012 Sugar Bowl between LSU and Alabama of the SEC, which doubled as the BCS National Championship Game, LSU won the regular-season game 9-6 in overtime, but Alabama took the national title with a 21-0 win in the second match up.

• Of note, Alabama played Georgia (SEC) in the CFP National Championship Games to end the 2017 and 2021 seasons, but those are not considered bowl games. In 2021, Georgia lost the regular-season game 41-24, but beat Alabama 33-18 in the national championship game.

• The last intra conference bowl game between two teams that played in the regular season and then played in a non-championship/playoff bowl game was the 1979 Orange Bowl between Oklahoma and Nebraska of the Big 8 at the time. Nebraska won the regular season game 17-14 in the 1978 regular season, but Oklahoma won the Orange Bowl 31-24 on Jan. 1, 1979.

• Other times two teams from the same conference played in a bowl game were the 1946 Gator Bowl (Wake Forest vs. South Carolina; SoCon; REMATCH); the 1953 Sugar Bowl (Georgia Tech vs. Ole Miss; SEC), the 1955 Gator Bowl (Vanderbilt vs. Auburn; SEC), the 1958 Gator Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Florida; SEC), the 1960 Sugar Bowl (Ole Miss vs. LSU; SEC; REMATCH), the 1964 Sugar Bowl (Alabama vs. Ole Miss; SEC), the 1965 Liberty Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Auburn; SEC), the 1969 Gator Bowl (Florida vs. Tennessee; SEC) and the 1971 Gator Bowl (Auburn vs. Ole Miss; SEC).

• In six of those games, the team that won in the regular season lost the rematch (in 1945, Wake Forest and South Carolina tied in the regular season before Wake won the bowl game). No team that won the first game has won the rematch.

All-Time College Football History
Two Teams From the Same Conference Who Played in the Regular Season And Then Played in the Bowl/CFP/National Championship

2025
Regular Season - Georgia Southern 25, App State 23
JLab Birmingham Bowl - ???

2025 (CFP)
Regular Season - Oklahoma 23, Alabama 21
CFP First Round - Alabama 34, Oklahoma 24

2024 (CFP)
Regular Season - Oregon 32, Ohio State 31
CFP Quarterfinals - Ohio State 41, Oregon 21

2021 (CFP)
Regular Season - Alabama 41, Georgia 24
National Championship - Georgia 33, Alabama 18

2011 (BCS National Championship)
Regular Season - LSU 9, Alabama 6 (OT)
Sugar Bowl/National Championship - Alabama 21, LSU 0

1978 (Regular Bowl)
Regular Season - Nebraska 17, Oklahoma 14
Orange Bowl - Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 24

1959 (Regular Bowl)
Regular Season - LSU 7, Ole Miss 3
Sugar Bowl - Ole Miss 21, LSU 0

1946 (Regular Bowl)
Regular Season - South Carolina 13, Wake Forest 13
Gator Bowl - Wake Forest 26, South Carolina 14

No team in the history of FBS/Division I football that has ever won the regular season game has won the rematch in a bowl game/CFP/National Championship when the two teams are from the same conference.