There's a rare December date for the Sun Belt's fiercest football rivalry.
Playing for the 28
th straight season, App State (7-3, 5-2) and Georgia Southern (7-4, 4-3) will meet again Saturday at 6 p.m. in Statesboro, Ga. Second place in the Sun Belt's East Division will be at stake with ESPN3 televising the game and 6,250 fans being permitted in Paulson Stadium, where the Eagles have posted 10 consecutive victories.
App State, which leads the overall series 19-15-1 but has dropped the last two matchups, is tied for fourth place nationally with 27 road wins since both programs made the FCS-to-FBS transition in 2014. The Mountaineers are 22-5 in Sun Belt road games.
"Our fan base is passionate about it, and their fan base is passionate about it," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "It's the game you want to play in when you're a college student here. It means something."
App State has played Georgia Southern annually since 1993, and the first six FBS matchups were Thursday night games on ESPNU. A COVID-related postponement moved this year's game from Wednesday, Oct. 14, to a Saturday — more in line with how the rivalry looked in their Southern Conference days.
This is also the latest date on the calendar for an App State-Georgia Southern game, as the only other December showdowns were FCS playoff games on Dec. 5, 1987 and Dec. 8, 2001.
Georgia Southern, with its option-based running attack and a defense that allows just 106.5 rushing yards per game, is hosting an App State team that's attempting to go at least 6-2 in league play for the seventh time in seven Sun Belt seasons.
App State is allowing just 310.7 yards per game, including 138.4 on the ground. Facing another option-oriented offense from Coastal Carolina, the Mountaineers gave up a respectable 169 rushing yards on 34 rushing attempts. Thirty-two of those carries netted a combined 59 yards, but the Chanticleers had big-play gains of 62 yards (touchdown) and 48 yards. Of the Chanticleers' 21 passing attempts, 75 of the 200 yards through the air came from one play.
"It comes down to our guys executing — staying in your gaps and having clean eyes, because there are reads you have to do at the linebacker level and safety level." Clark said. "If you don't have the right read, that gives other guys big plays."
App State, Georgia Southern and Army are the only teams in the nation with 100-yard rushing games from five different players this year, although the Mountaineers (250.6 rushing yards per game) and Eagles (267.8) have both been short-handed in the backfield of late.
Athletic, veteran Georgia Southern quarterback Shai Werts, who sat out last week's win against FAU, leads the team with 649 rushing yards. Running backs
Logan Wright (536 yards) and Gerald Green (299 yards) have assumed bigger roles in recent weeks because of other absences.
Camerun Peoples, a sophomore, and true freshman
Nate Noel have been the primary runners for App State in the last three games, with Peoples posting 58 carries for 372 yards in that stretch and Noel adding 35 carries for 198 yards. Peoples has rushed for a touchdown in six straight games.
Georgia Southern's run defense has been stingy, helped by Raymond Johnson III's 14.0 tackles for loss, so App State will also need to be effective through the air against an opponent that allows 222.6 passing yards per game.
The Eagles have forced 20 turnovers and recorded 13 interceptions, including five from redshirt freshman cornerback Derrick Canteen, who also has nine PBUs on the season.
"They have a very similar defense to what we run here, so we're pretty familiar with it," Clark said. "We just have to execute at a high level and play our brand of football."
