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THE FACTS

University: Georgia Southern University

Team Name:Eagles

Mascot: Gus the Eagle (character), Freedom (real eagle)

Colors: Blue and White

Location: Statesboro, Georgia

Enrollment: 21k

Sports sponsored: 15

Official Athletics Site

Overall Football record: 275-101-1 (started 1909)

Distance from Boone: 319 miles



THE RUNDOWN

Georgia Southern University is no stranger to Appalachian State.  They will be moving to the Sun Belt on the same timeline as Appalachian, beginning play in 2014.  They were founded as an agricultural school and their athletic programs are run by Tom Kleinlein.

The football team is currently coached by Jeff Monken who is 31-12 in three seasons at Georgia Southern.  They have won 6 national titles in what can be considered a relatively short history.  While they started play in 1909, they only field teams consistently between 1924 and the start of World War 2.  The program lay dormant until 1981 when Erk Russel helped revive the program.  The team won 3 titles in 9 years under Erk and have continued to be a perennial power in I-AA and FCS football.  They have already scheduled 3 non-conference FBS games for 2014 at Georgia Tech, at Navy, and at NC State.

Yosef wrote:  They have already scheduled 3 non-conference FBS games for 2014 at Georgia Tech, at Navy, and at NC State.

I just want to add that this is not impressive scheduling and should not be considerded a product of their move up to FBS status. Western Carolina's OOC schedule is just as impressive - scheduling money games at other FBS teams' venues. Hopefully we can land some OOC home games vs FBS opponents in the short term.