2018 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

The 2018 Georgia Southern Eagles football team represented Georgia Southern University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Eagles played their home games at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia, and competed in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Chad Lunsford. They finished the season 10–3, 6–2 in Sun Belt play to finish in third place in the East Division. They were invited to the Camellia Bowl where they defeated Eastern Michigan.

2018 Georgia Southern Eagles football
Camellia Bowl champion
Camellia Bowl, W 23–21 vs. Eastern Michigan
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
Division	East Division
2018 record	10–3 (6–2 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Chad Lunsford (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Bob DeBesse (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Scot Sloan (1st season)
Home stadium	Paulson Stadium (Capacity: 25,000)

2018 Sun Belt Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Appalachian State xy$		7	–	1					11	–	2
Troy x		7	–	1					10	–	3
Georgia Southern		6	–	2					10	–	3
Coastal Carolina		2	–	6					5	–	7
Georgia State		1	–	7					2	–	10
West Division
Louisiana xy		5	–	3					7	–	7
Arkansas State x		5	–	3					8	–	5
Louisiana–Monroe		4	–	4					6	–	6
South Alabama		2	–	6					3	–	9
Texas State		1	–	7					3	–	9
Championship: Appalachian State 30, Louisiana 19
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant

The Eagles had the biggest turnaround in FBS in 2018, going from a 2–10 record in 2017 to 10–3. They also set a new FBS record by losing only five turnovers during the season. The previous record of eight had been achieved by six teams, most recently by LSU in 2017.[1]

Previous season

The Eagles fired head coach Tyson Summers six games into the season. He was replaced by interim head coach Chad Lunsford. They finished the season 2–10, 2–6 in Sun Belt play to finish in a tie for tenth place.

Following the season, interim head coach Chad Lunsford was promoted to head coach.[2][3]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	South Carolina State*	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	ESPN+	W 37–6	15,260
September 8	6:00 p.m.	UMass*	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	ESPN+	W 34–13	15,071
September 15	12:00 p.m.	at No. 2 Clemson*	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ESPNU	L 7–38	79,844
September 29	6:00 p.m.	Arkansas State	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	ESPN+	W 28–21	17,320
October 6	3:30 p.m.	South Alabama	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	ESPN3	W 48–13	17,622
October 11	7:30 p.m.	at Texas State	Bobcat Stadium San Marcos, TX	ESPNU	W 15–13	9,545
October 20	6:00 p.m.	at New Mexico State*	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM		W 48–31	7,300
October 25	7:30 p.m.	No. 25 Appalachian State	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA (rivalry)	ESPNU	W 34–14	19,252
November 3	3:00 p.m.	at Louisiana–Monroe	Malone Stadium Monroe, LA	ESPN3	L 25–44	13,787
November 10	1:00 p.m.	Troy	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	ESPN+	L 21–35	16,289
November 17	5:00 p.m.	at Coastal Carolina	Brooks Stadium Conway, SC	ESPN+	W 41–17	9,886
November 24	2:00 p.m.	at Georgia State	Georgia State Stadium Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 35–14	20,011
December 15	5:30 p.m.	vs. Eastern Michigan*	Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL (Camellia Bowl)	ESPN	W 23–21	17,710
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:[4]

Game summaries

South Carolina State

See also: 2018 South Carolina State Bulldogs football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	6	0	6
Eagles	13	3	7	14	37

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–0	2010	GASO, 41–16

UMass

See also: 2018 UMass Minutemen football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Minutemen	3	7	3	0	13
Eagles	0	17	10	7	34

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2017	UMASS, 55–20

at Clemson

See also: 2018 Clemson Tigers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	0	0	7	7
No. 2 Tigers	0	21	3	14	38

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First Meeting

Arkansas State

See also: 2018 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Red Wolves	0	3	11	7	21
Eagles	0	7	7	14	28

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2017	ARST, 43–25

South Alabama

See also: 2018 South Alabama Jaguars football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jaguars	0	6	0	7	13
Eagles	7	10	10	21	48

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2017	GASO, 52–0

at Texas State

See also: 2018 Texas State Bobcats football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	10	5	0	15
Bobcats	0	0	7	6	13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	2015	GASO, 37–13

at New Mexico State

See also: 2018 New Mexico State Aggies football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	10	14	21	3	48
Aggies	14	3	7	7	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2017	NMSU, 35–27

Appalachian State

See also: 2018 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Mountaineers	0	7	0	7	14
Eagles	0	17	10	7	34

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–18–1	2017	APST, 27–6

at Louisiana–Monroe

See also: 2018 Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	10	8	7	25
Warhawks	13	14	14	3	44

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2016	GASO, 23–21

Troy

See also: 2018 Troy Trojans football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Trojans	3	14	11	7	35
Eagles	14	0	0	7	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–11	2017	TROY, 38–16

at Coastal Carolina

See also: 2018 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	10	21	7	41
Chanticleers	7	3	0	7	17

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	2017	CCU, 28–17

at Georgia State

See also: 2018 Georgia State Panthers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	13	15	7	35
Panthers	0	0	0	14	14

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–3	2017	GSU, 21–17

vs. Eastern Michigan (Camellia Bowl)

See also: 2018 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team and 2018 Camellia Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
EMU Eagles	0	7	7	7	21
GASO Eagles	7	10	0	6	23

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First Meeting

Georgia Southern taking the field before the 2018 Camellia Bowl

Awards and Honors

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
Rimington Trophy[5]	Curtis Rainey	C	SR
Doak Walker Award[6]	Wesley Fields	RB	SR
John Mackey Award[7]	Ellis Richardson	TE	SR
Lou Groza Award[8]	Tyler Bass	K	JR
Wuerffel Trophy[9]	Wesley Fields	RB	SR

Sun Belt coaches poll

On July 19, 2018, the Sun Belt released their preseason coaches poll with the Eagles predicted to finish in fourth place in the East Division.[10]

East Division
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Appalachian State	46 (6)
2	Troy	44 (4)
3	Georgia State	26
4	Georgia Southern	22
5	Coastal Carolina	12

Preseason All-Sun Belt Teams

The Eagles had six players selected to the preseason all-Sun Belt teams.[11]

Offense 2nd team Wesley Fields – RB Ellis Richardson– TE Curtis Rainey – OL

Defense 1st team Logan Hunt – DL Monquavion Brinson – DB Tae Hayes – DB

Special teams 2nd team Tyler Bass – K

Post-season finalists and winners

All-Sun Belt Selections

Twelve Georgia Southern football players were honored by the league coaches and members of the media as the Sun Belt Conference announced the selections for its all-conference teams.

• Offensive Selection

Curtis Rainey - OL (First team)

Wesley Fields - RB (Second team)

Jeremiah Culbreth - OL (Second team)

Wesley Kennedy III - RB (Honorable mention)

Shai Werts - QB (Honorable mention)

• Defensive Selection

Kindle Vildor - DB (First team)

Raymond Johnson III - DL (Second team)

Monquavion Brinson - DB (Second team)

Logan Hunt - DL (Third team)

Rashad Byrd - LB (Honorable mention)

Ty Phillips - DL (Honorable mention)

• Special Teams Selection

Tyler Bass - PK (First team)

per Sun Belt Conference[12]

References

1. "Georgia Southern tops Eastern Michigan 23-21 on Bass' FG". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
2. "Georgia Southern taking interim tag off Lunsford". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
3. "Chad Lunsford promoted to full-time head coach at Georgia Southern". Underdog Dynasty. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
4. "2018 Georgia Southern Eagles Football Schedule". Georgia Southern Athletics. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
5. "Rimington Trophy Press Release". May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
6. "2018 Doak Walker Award Candidates". July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
7. "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
8. "Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Announces 2018 Preseason Watch List". July 25, 2018. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
9. "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
10. http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2018/7/18/mountaineers-red-wolves-selected-as-division-favorites-in-2018-sun-belt-football-coaches-preseason-poll.aspx
11. http://www.sunbeltsports.org/news/2018/7/20/sun-belt-announces-2018-preseason-all-conference-football-teams.aspx
12. "Sun Belt Announces 2018 Football Postseason All-Conference, Individual Awards". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved November 29, 2018.