STATESBORO, Ga. — App State Football's home win against previously unbeaten James Madison left every Sun Belt East Division team with at least one league loss.
Now, to stay in the race for first place, the Mountaineers face a difficult challenge on the road against a longstanding rival.
Avenging 2025 losses to Coastal Carolina and JMU with consecutive league victories in the last two weeks, App State (5-2, 2-1) travels to Paulson Stadium on Saturday for a Halloween Night matchup against Georgia Southern, which beat the Mountaineers twice last year counting an unlikely bowl meeting to end the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
The Eagles (3-4, 2-1) have played the same three league foes as App State, with wins against Coastal Carolina (31-24) and Old Dominion (23-15) sandwiched around a 27-24 home loss to JMU. The midweek victory against ODU on Oct. 15 was Georgia Southern's last game, meaning it will be back in action for the first time in 16 days when it plays the Mountaineers.
The team's overall record is misleading, as Southern's 1-3 run through nonconference play included a 22-7 loss at Clemson, a 31-27 road loss to a Jacksonville State team that is 6-2 and a 42-28 home loss to No. 18 Houston.
The Eagles, like App State, have dealt with injury-related uncertainty at quarterback. Seventh-year collegiate QB Max Johnson, an Athens, Ga., native who is the left-handed son of former NFL quarterback Brad Johnson, spent two seasons apiece at LSU, Texas A&M and North Carolina before relocating to Statesboro. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and two interceptions this season, with an average of 262.0 yards through the air during his first six starts.
Johnson left the ODU game with a first-half injury and is listed as probable on the initial availability report. Turner Helton, head coach Clay Helton's son, helped lead Southern to victory against the Monarchs, while 6-foot-3, 245-pound Weston Bryan also pitched in as a running threat from the QB position.
Bryan is the second-leading rusher behind David Mbadinga for an offense that has been shorthanded at running back, and App State has moved forward from a win in which it limited JMU to 92 rushing yards on 30 attempts. Team captain
Colton Phares led the way defensively with 13 tackles and ranked first among FBS linebackers last week with a PFN grade of 99.0.
For App State's offense, after missing the entire second half at Coastal Carolina, quarterback
Malachi Singleton started against JMU and completed 26 of 40 passes for 271 yards with two touchdowns. The Mountaineers had to finish the game shorthanded due to injuries at several important spots, including left tackle, as
Devon Manuel is listed as out for the season on this week's availability report. He has ranked among the best FBS tackles in the nation as an App State newcomer who has drawn attention from NFL scouts.
Aside from a 10-3 loss played in heavy rains from Hurricane Isaias, the Mountaineers are averaging 34.7 points per game. Creating running lanes for backs such as
Jaquari Lewis and providing solid pass protection for Singleton or
Henry Hasselbeck will be important against a defense led by a pair of talented outside linebackers in Anthony Bynum and Eli Anders, plus 305-pound defensive lineman Elijah Fears. They have combined for 8.5 of the Eagles' 19 sacks.
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