There is a lot of shared history between the Appalachian State and Georgia Southern football teams.
On Monday, a new chapter in the rivalry that both sides call “Deeper Than Hate” will be written as the Mountaineers and Eagles meet on neutral ground for the first time at the Birmingham Bowl in Alabama.
App State (5-7) and Georgia Southern (6-6) have played at least once per season since 1993, when the Eagles were new members of the Southern Conference at the FCS level. After both winning multiple FCS national championships, they made the jump to FBS together in 2014 by joining the Sun Belt.
All of their previous 40 meetings have been on their respective campuses in Statesboro, Georgia or Boone, North Carolina, including their two previous playoff meetings, both in FCS playoff games.
Typically, teams that finish with a regular season record below .500 do not have the opportunity to participate in bowl games. However, when teams such as Notre Dame, Iowa State and Kansas State withdrew from the playoffs, there was fallout that left bowl organizers scrambling to find worthy opponents. In years where not enough teams finish 6-6 to become bowl eligible, 5-7 teams may become eligible if they have a high academic progress rate. It turned out that App State’s score was pretty good.
First-year App State coach Dowell Loggains thought the season was over after the Mountaineers lost by just one point to Arkansas State in the regular season finale. Then his phone rang several hours after the College Football Playoff bracket was revealed and the bowl opt-outs started going public.
“My athletic director called me Sunday night and asked if I could bowl,” Loggains said. “I said yes, we’ll play in a Walmart parking lot.”
After focusing on offseason recruiting and roster management before finding out the Mountaineers would be playing in a bowl game, Loggains then faced the challenge of getting players back on campus and determining who would and wouldn’t play. Loggains told players who intend to enter the transfer portal that they are always welcome to compete for App State in the Birmingham Bowl.
“This is the 2025 team and they’re a part of it. I think you’ll be surprised at some of the guys that will be playing,” Loggains said. “The kids are close, the buy-in is there. They care about each other, they care about their school and they care about Block A, so we’re excited.”
The Mountaineers have lost four games this season by eight points or fewer. One of them was at home against Georgia Southern – a 25-23 home loss on November 6.
The Eagles took a 19-0 lead before App State mounted a comeback, but Georgia Southern held on for the victory. Eagles quarterback JC French IV threw for 352 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 18 yards and a score.
The win helped the Eagles reach bowl eligibility for the fourth straight season under fourth-year head coach Clay Helton. Georgia Southern is 0-3 in bowl games during his tenure so far. Getting his first playoff win — and doing it over App State — would be meaningful for him and the Eagles fan base.
“We know how special this game is and we have an opportunity to do something that’s never been done,” Helton said. “This is another chance for these seniors to leave a legacy. They became the first Georgia Southern players in history to make four consecutive bowl games, and now they have a chance to win a ring.”
–Field level media
