7 p.m. | ESPN2
Caesars Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
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SERIES HISTORY
Overall Series Record ………………………………….First Meeting
Cornelsen vs. GS ………………………………………………Never Met
Helton vs. SHSU ……………………………………………….Never Met
Helton vs. Cornelsen ……………………………………….Never Met
GS vs. current C-USA Members ……………………………….26-10
GS vs. teams from Texas ……………………………………………7-2
GS in state of Louisiana …………………………………………….5-7
GS at Caesars Superdome ………………………………………….1-0
Georgia Southern Eagles Notes
TIES THAT BIND
• Eagle senior Sam Kenerson and Bearkat junior Da’Veawn Armstead both went to Central High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. • Former Georgia Southern (and now Houston) head coach Willie Fritz left Sam Houston to come to Statesboro in 2014. He went 40-15 in four seasons at SHSU and 17-7 in two seasons at Georgia Southern. • Reid Dedman and Jalen White both played in the 2020 New Orleans Bowl and will suit up again for the 2024 version.
OF NOTE
• This will be the first football meeting between Georgia Southern and the Sam Houston Bearkats. It’s the second GS/ Conference USA matchup in a bowl game (GS is 1-0). • Southern will be making its seventh bowl appearance when it participates in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. The Eagles are 3-3 in five previous bowl games, knocking o Bowling Green (2015 GoDaddy Bowl), Eastern Michigan (2018 Camellia Bowl) and Louisiana Tech (2020 New Orleans Bowl). The Eagles lost to Liberty in the 2019 Cure Bowl, to Buffalo in the 2022 Camellia Bowl and to Ohio last year in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. • Georgia Southern is 11-7 all-time when the roof is over its head as it will be in the Caesars Superdome. Georgia Dome (2-0): def. MTSU (‘95); def. Georgia St. (‘14) Tacoma Dome (2-0): def. Furman (‘85); def. Ark St. (‘86) Superdome (1-0): def. Louisiana Tech (‘20) Kibbie Dome (1-0): def. Idaho (‘15) UNI-Dome (1-0): def. Northern Iowa (‘85) Mini-Dome (4-4): went 4-4 against ETSU Holt Arena (0-1): lost to Furman (‘88) Fargo Dome (0-2): went 0-2 against NDSU
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF
10 – Jalen White already has a career-high 12 rushing touchdowns this season, but two more in the bowl game will give him 37 for his career and move him into a tie for 10th place all-time at Southern with Matt Breida (2013-16).
9 – The Eagles have won the coin toss nine times this year, winning six of those games.
8 – Georgia Southern has eight players on this year’s roster who were on the roster in 2020 when the Eagles played in the COVID-affected New Orleans Bowl. Only two of those eight—Reid Dedman and Jalen White—played in the game.
7 – This will be Georgia Southern’s seventh bowl game and third in a row.
6 – Linebacker Marques Watson-Trent has six games with 10 or more tackles this season and 16 for his career. He is second all-time at Southern with 355 career tackles.
5 – Led by Josh Dallas’s five scores, five different players have two or more receiving touchdowns this season.
4 – The Eagles recorded four interceptions of Louisiana Tech quarterbacks when they played in the 2020 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl en route to a 38-3 victory.
3 – After going 1-7 in the month of November under Clay Helton in 2022 and 2023, the Eagles won three of four games this year in the final month to finish with eight wins.
2 – With four catches against App State, Derwin Burgess Jr. became just the second player in program history to pass 200 career receptions. He enters the bowl game with 202 catches. Khaleb Hood holds the school record with 245 catches.
1 – Reid Dedman is ranked first in program history with 67 career games played in six seasons at Georgia Southern.
NOTABLE STREAKS AND TRENDS ENTERING THE GAME
• Georgia Southern is 15-3 under head coach Clay Helton when scoring eight or more points in the second quarter and 5-15 when scoring seven points or less. • Southern is 10-3 when under Helton when scoring eight or more points in the fourth quarter. • The Eagles are 5-1 under Helton when completing 35 passes or more in a game. • Southern is 14-4 when having a combined 60 or more rushes and completions under Helton (4-0 with 65+). • GS is 15-7 when rushing for 100 or more yards in a game under Helton, 4-1 when rushing for 200 or more yards. The Eagles are 14-5 when tallying 30 or more rushes in a game and 10-1 when winning the rushing battle (10-17 when losing it). • Since 2000, the Eagles are 117-16 when they’ve rushed for 300 yards or more. • Dating back to the start of the 2018 season, GS is 31-10 in games when having at least one 100-yard rusher. • Since joining the FBS in 2014, Georgia Southern is just 11-32 when rushing for less than 150 yards in a game. • Dating back to 2019, the Eagles have won 16 of their past 20 games when not committing a turnover. • Dating back to 2020, the Eagles are 23-5 when winning the turnover battle, 4-22 when losing it, and 4-5 when the margin is tied. Under Clay Helton, the Eagles are 13-2 when winning the battle, 4-13 when losing it and 3-3 when it’s tied. • As a member of the FBS (since 2014), the Eagles are 50-9 when scoring 30 or more points, 23-56 when scoring less than 30 points. The Eagles are 14-5 under Clay Helton when scoring 30 or more points, 6-13 when scoring less than 30 points. • Georgia Southern is 225-1 all-time when having a lead of 18 or more points at any point in the game. That lone loss came in 2005 when the Eagles led at Texas State 35-16 in the third quarter and lost 50-35. • The Eagles have won 82 straight games when holding a lead of 17 or more points at any point in a game dating back to that 2005 Texas State game. • Since 1983, Georgia Southern is 204-17 when allowing 17 points or less. The last time the Eagles lost a game when allowing 17 points or less was in 2013, a 16-14 loss to Furman at home. The current streak of victories when allowing 17 or less points is at 35. • Georgia Southern had won 90 games in a row when scoring 40 or more points before scoring 45 points and losing to Boise State in this year’s opener. Overall, the Eagles are now 151-3 all time, including 100-1 at home when scoring 40 or more points in a game. Georgia Southern is 8-1 under Helton when scoring 40 or more points in a game.
Sam Houston Bearkats Notes
BEARKATS TO MAKE FBS BOWL DEBUT IN R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
• The Sam Houston Bearkats will make their first bowl appearance as a member of the FBS when they take on Georgia Southern from the Sun Belt Conference in the 24th R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl • The Kats became the first CUSA team in 2024 to secure bowl eligibility with its win at FIU. Sam Houston is the fourth consecutive program in NCAA to make the transition up and become bowl eligible within the first 2 seasons of being at the FBS (Jax State 2023, James Madison 2023, Liberty 2018) • The Bearkats have won 12 of their last 16 games after starting their venture into FBS with an 0-8 start in 2023 • Sam Houston is seeking to get to 10 wins just a season after starting 0-8. The last time an FBS team started a year with at least straight 8 losses and then post double-digit wins a year later was when Georgia Southern did just that, starting the 2017 season 0-9 before going 10-3 a year later and winning the Camelia Bowl • Sam Houston will be playing in the New Orleans Bowl under the direction of acting head coach and offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen following former head coach KC Keeler’s departure at season’s end to accept the head coaching position at Temple • The Kats have 5 players on the roster who have played in bowl games previously: Jaylon Jimmerson (Liberty), Jay Ducker (NIU/Memphis) and Austin Smith (Memphis), CJ Johnson (Memphis) and Quincy Wright (Oregon State) • Although it is Sam Houston’s first bowl appearance as a member of the FBS, it is not the program’s first postseason bowl appearance. The Kats played in 4 postseason bowls as a member of the Lone Star Conference (NAIA) in the early years of the program, taking part in the Shrimp Bowl (1952), Refrigerator Bowl (1953 & 1956) and the Christmas Bowl (1958). Each of those appearances came under head coach Paul Pierce who also led the Kats to an NAIA co-national championship in 1964.
TEAM NOTES
• With Sam Houston’s participation in the New Orleans Bowl, the Kats have reached postseason play in 10 of the last 12 seasons in which it was eligible at the FBS and FCS levels • Sam Houston’s 9 wins secured its first winning season at the FBS level and 14th in the last 15 seasons overall. The Kats only season with a losing record since 2009 came in 2023, its first full year at the FBS level. The Kats finished their run at the FCS level with 13 consecutive winning seasons • Sam Houston’s 18-day layoff prior to its game at Kennesaw State was the longest layoff in the regular season of any team in the nation in 2024 n The Kats won games vs FIU and LA Tech despite scoring just 19 total points. The 10 points vs FIU and the 9 points vs LA Tech are the lowest winning scores in single games in the nation this season • Those scores held up in large part thanks to the Bearkat defense which held those opponents to 10 total points in those games. The wins marked the first time the Kats have held consecutive opponents to single digits since 2021 and is the least amount of total points allowed in consecutive games since allowing just 7 points in wins over Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana in 2012 • Sam Houston has done a great job of mining homegrown talent from the Lone Star State with 96 of the 116 players listed on its roster being from the State of Texas. Per research from Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, the 83-percent homegrown roster is the highest percentage of players from the Lone Star State on the roster for any of the 13 FBS programs in Texas • Sam Houston averaged 282.0 yards per game on the ground in its 4-game win streak earlier this year before falling to WKU, becoming the first team in CUSA to rush for 250+ yards in 4 straight games since FAU did so during the 2018 season • After finishing 2023 last in Conference USA in rushing, the ground game has been the strength of the offense for the Bearkats in 2024. Despite attempting a season-high 33 passes in the regular season finale vs Liberty, the Kats have yet to throw for 250 yards in a game this year. They are currently 1 of 4 teams in the FBS with at least 9 wins to their credit for not having a single game with 250 passing yards. The other teams to do so include Army, Navy and UNLV
OFFENSIVE QUICK HITTERS
– Hunter Watson has gone over 100 yards rushing from the QB spot 3 times this season, most recently when he went for 105 yards at Jax State. He is the first Bearkat QB in program history to have three 100-yard rushing games in the same season – Watson’s 623 yards rushing yards this year are the most rushing yards for a Bearkat QB since Jared Johnson set the program’s QB rushing record with 999 yards in 2014 – The 2014 team was also the last time the Bearkats had at least 3 players surpass 500 yards rushing in a single season with 4 players – Keshawn Hill, Jared Johnson, Jalen Overstreet and Donavan Williams – doing so. The Kats already have 2 players over the mark in Jay Ducker and Hunter Watson, while DJ McKinney needs just 21 more yards to reach the mark – Noah Smith went over 3,000 all-purpose yards for his career in the game at Jax State to become the 15th Bearkat in program history to surpass 3K in all-purpose yards – Smith needs just 11 more rushing yards to surpass 1,000 career rushing yards and join Richard Sincere and Tony January as the only 3 Kats in program history with 1,000 career receiving yards and 1,000 career rushing yards; however, with 67 receiving yards and 11 rushing yards he would become the only player in program history with 2,000 receiving yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career – Sam Houston averaged 25.4 passing attempts per game through the first 9 games of the year, but has taken more to the air in the final 3 games of the year with an average of 31.0 pass attempts in games vs Kennesaw State, Jax State and Liberty
DEFENSIVE QUICK HITTERS
– Bearkat opponents are just 4-for-18 on 4th-down conversions over the past 7 games. In all, the Kats have stopped 19 of 29 4th-down tries this season and rank seventh nationally in 4th-down defense – The Kats had 2 interceptions in the regular-season finale vs Liberty, snapping a 30-game streak by the Flames that dated back to October 2022 in which they had not thrown multiple interceptions – Those turnovers extended SHSU’s streak to 18 total games with a takeaway – Sam Houston ranks 16th nationally and is tied for tops in CUSA with 22 total takeaways in 2024 – It has been difficult to pass against the Bearkats this season, and the numbers show just that. SHSU ranks 10th nationally with only 174.1 yards passing allowed per game this season. Only Texas State (326) has surpassed 300 yards in the air vs the Bearkat secondary in 2024 with 4 opponents being held under 100 yards (NM State, FIU, Jax State and Liberty) – Sam Houston has held 4 opponents (NM State, FIU, Jax State and Liberty) under 100 yards in the air this season. The Kats are 1 of 4 teams nationally with 4 such games, joined by Tulane (5), Notre Dame (4) and WKU (4)
RED ZONE, OUR ZONE
The Bearkats sporting one of the top red zone defensive units in the nation in 2024 ranking eighth nationally in that category, holding opponents without points in 10 of 37 trips this year. Sam Houston has stopped opponents on 5 of 13 red-zone tries over its past 5 games.