List of Georgia Southern Eagles football seasons

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The Georgia Southern Eagles college football team competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I FBS, representing Georgia Southern University in the Sun Belt Conference. Georgia Southern has played their home games at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia since 1984. [1]

Georgia Southern hosts rival, Appalachian State, in Paulson Stadium before a crowd of 24.535 Expanded Paulson Stadium.jpg
Georgia Southern hosts rival, Appalachian State, in Paulson Stadium before a crowd of 24.535

The inaugural season of Georgia Southern, then known as Georgia Normal School and subsequently South Georgia Teachers College and Georgia Teachers College, football was in 1924. However, the program was shut down in 1942 because of World War II and was not revived until 1981. The Eagles are 368-177-9 all time and have claimed a record six Div. I FCS national championships. The program has also produced two Walter Payton Award winners. [2]

Georgia Southern was a member of the FCS conference SoCon between 1992 and 2013. In 2014 the program, after years of speculation, became an official member of college football's FBS level. The Eagles now compete as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. [2]

Seasons

National ChampionsConference Champions *FCS Playoff BerthBowl Game Berth ^
SeasonHead coachSeason resultsPlayoff or Bowl result<Final ranking
Conference finishDivision finishWinsLossesTies [3] NCAA/TSN Poll [4] Coaches Poll [5]
Georgia Normal/South Georgia Teachers/Georgia Teachers Blue Tide
1924 E. G. Cromartie Independent130
1925 130
1926 531
1927 Hugh A. Woodle 611
1928 550
1929 Crook Smith 332
1930 341
1931 360
1932 720
1933 540
1934 460
1935 332
1936 290
1937 290
1938 351
1939 550
1940 350
1941 280
Georgia Teachers College/Georgia Southern College did not field a football team for the 1942–81 seasons
Georgia Southern Eagles
1982 Erk Russell Independent 731
1983 650
1984 830
1985  *1320Won FCS National Championship Game against Furman Paladins, 44–42 ^
1986  *1320Won FCS National Championship Game against Arkansas State Indians, 48–21 ^
1987 940Lost in FCS Quarterfinals against Appalachian State Mountaineers, 19–0 ^
1988 1230Lost FCS National Championship Game against Furman Paladins, 17–12 ^
1989  *1500Won FCS National Championship Game against Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, 37–34 ^
1990  * Tim Stowers 1230Won FCS National Championship Game against Nevada Wolfpack, 36–13 
1991 740
1992 Southern Conference 740
1993 1st *1030Lost in FCS Quarterfinals against Youngstown State Penguins, 34–14 
1994 3rd650
1995 3rd940Lost in FCS Quarterfinals against Montana Grizzlies, 45–0 
1996 Frank Ellwood 6th47
1997 Paul Johnson 1st *103Lost in FCS Quarterfinals against Delaware Blue Hens, 16–7 
1998 1st *141Lost FCS National Championship Game against UMass Minutemen, 55–43 
1999  *1st *132Won FCS National Championship Game against Youngstown State Penguins, 59–24 
2000  *1st *132Won FCS National Championship Game against Montana Grizzlies, 27–25 
2001 1st *122Lost in FCS Semifinals against Furman Paladins, 24–17 
2002 Mike Sewak 1st *113Lost in FCS Semifinals against Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, 31–28 
2003 3rd74
2004 1st *93Lost in FCS 1st Round against New Hampshire Wildcats, 27–23 
2005 2nd84Lost in FCS 1st Round against Texas State Bobcats, 50–35 
2006 Brian VanGorder 5th38
2007 Chris Hatcher 3rd74
2008 4th65
2009 4th56
2010 Jeff Monken 3rd105Lost in FCS Semifinals against Delaware Blue Hens, 27–10 
2011 1st *113Lost in FCS Semifinals against North Dakota State Bison, 35–7 ^
2012 1st *104Lost in FCS Semifinals against North Dakota State Bison, 23–20 ^
2013 4th74Ineligible
2014 Willie Fritz Sun Belt Conference 1st *93Ineligible
2015 3rd ^94Won GoDaddy Bowl against Bowling Green Falcons, 58–27
2016 Tyson Summers

(fired Oct. 22, 2017) Chad Lunsford (Interim, 2–4)

6th57
2017 10th210
2018 Chad Lunsford

(fired Sep. 26, 2021) Kevin Whitley (Interim, 2–6)

3rd, East103Won Camellia Bowl against Eastern Michigan Eagles, 23–21
2019 2nd, East76Lost Cure Bowl against Liberty Flames, 16–23
2020 4th, East85Won New Orleans Bowl against Louisiana Tech, 38-3
2021 5th, East39
2022 Clay Helton 4th, East67Lost Camellia Bowl against Buffalo, 21–23
2023 Clay Helton T5th, East67Lost Myrtle Beach Bowl against Ohio, 41-21
Total3692389(regular season games)
000(conference championship games; 0 appearances)
4513(playoff games; 58 appearances)
33(bowl games; 6 appearances)
4222609(all games)

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References

  1. "Allen E. Paulson Stadium". gseagles.com.
  2. 1 2 "Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Idaho and New Mexico State Officially Join Sun Belt Conference". Sun Belt Sports. June 30, 2014.
  3. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today . Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
  4. Since the 1978 split in divisions, the NCAA, or more recently, The Sports Network Archived 2011-05-03 at the Wayback Machine Poll has been the major poll at the FCS level. No polls for Georgia Southern are available prior to 1984 when the Eagles began I-AA play. Polls are released prior to the playoffs.
  5. The FCS Coaches Poll Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine was introduced in 2007. Therefore, polls for prior seasons do not exist. Polls are released prior to the playoffs