The Liberty Flames are bowl bound and will be taking on the Georgia Southern Eagles out of the Sun Belt Conference in the Cure Bowl. The Eagles have opened as a 6 point favorite.
2019 SEASON
The Eagles are 7-5 overall and 5-3 in Sun Belt play.
Their losses came at LSU (55-3), at Minnesota (35-32), vs Louisiana (37-24), at Troy (49-28), and at Arkansas State (38-33).
Their wins were against Maine (26-18), at South Alabama in double overtime (20-17), vs Coastal Carolina in triple overtime (30-27), vs New Mexico State (41-7), at Appalachian State (24-21), vs Louisiana-Monroe (51-29), and vs Georgia State (38-10). They were the only team this season to beat the Sun Belt champion Appalachian State.
SIMILAR OPPONENTS
The Flames and the Eagles played three similar opponents this season, with Liberty going 3-1 against those opponents and GSU going 2-1.
GSU’s results are above, but Liberty also lost to Louisiana (35-14) on the road, beat Maine (59-44), and defeated New Mexico State twice (20-13, 49-28).
KEY STATS
Georgia Southern is averaging 29.17 points per game while allowing 28.58 points per game.
Their strong suit is the ground game, where the Eagles have rushed for 260.9 yards per game compared to just 72.75 passing yards per game. GSU has yet to throw an interception this season, the only team in the country to not have thrown at least one interception. Georgia Southern ranks 8th in the country in rushing yards per game while their passing offense is last in all of FBS. Georgia Southern has ran the triple option for a long time.
The Eagles’ defense is surrending 240.58 passing yards per game, which ranks 91st out of 130 FBS teams.
HEAD COACH
GSU is led by head coach Chad Lunsford. He has a 19-12 record in his three seasons at Georgia Southern, including a 10-3 mark and win in the Camellia Bowl last season. He was named interim head coach for the second half of the 2017 season following the firing of Tyson Summers. He was an assistant coach with the Eagles from 2003-2005 and then again in 2013 until he was named interim head coach. He’s also served stints at Appalachian State, Griffin High School, Georgia Military College, and Auburn.
SERIES RESULTS
Georgia Southern leads 3-0.
9/29/84 in Statesboro, GA – GSU 48-11
11/11/95 in Lynchburg, VA – GSU 7-6
11/16/96 in Statesboro, GA – GSU 45-14
BOWL HISTORY
GSU is 2-0 all-time in bowl games.
2015 – Eagles defeated Bowling Green, 58-27, in the GoDaddy Bowl
2018 – GSU defeated Eastern Michigan, 23-21, in the Camellia Bowl
NOTEWORTHY
Georgia Southern is one of the more recent FBS teams as they joined in 2014, when the Sun Belt invited them. The Eagles proceeded to win the Sun Belt in its first season, with an unblemished 8-0 conference mark in 2014. Prior to joining the FBS, GSU was one of the more accomplished FCS programs with six National Championships, most recently coming in 2000.
