Latest college football bowl predictions for Georgia Southern, including a 2022 rematch

Nathan Dominitz, Savannah Morning News
·5 min read
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Add to the Georgia Southern's list of rivals ... Ball State?

If some college football bowl game predictions are correct, the Eagles of Statesboro and the Cardinals of Muncie, Indiana, will play for the second time this season this December. Host Georgia Southern won a competitive nonconference matchup 34-23 on Sept. 24 at Paulson Stadium.

The prognosticators are not in agreement where the rematch will take place among the long list of bowl game options.

And this battle of the birds is contingent on the teams earning their sixth victories during the regular season to become bowl eligible. Georgia Southern (5-5, 2-4 Sun Belt Conference) has two games remaining at home against Marshall (6-4, 3-3 SBC) on Saturday and Appalachian State (5-5, 2-4) on Nov. 26.

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Ball State played Tuesday night, after the weekend's haul of bowl game forecasts went online. The Cardinals fell to Mid-American Conference rival Ohio 32-18 to remain stuck on five wins (5-6) with their last shot next Tuesday at Miami of Ohio (5-6).

The Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller has the Eagles-Cardinals rematch in the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl on Dec. 16 in Orlando, Florida. College Football News sees the teams playing on Dec.17 in the LendingTree Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated/si.com predicts the same teams in the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Dec. 19 in Conway, South Carolina.

These are three of the five guaranteed bowl invitations for Sun Belt Conference teams.

If nothing else, Georgia Southern and Ball State will be playing — in men's basketball — on Dec. 21 in Muncie. It's the second part of a home-and-home arrangement, with Georgia Southern winning 82-71 on Nov. 9, 2021 at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The 2022-23 college bowl picks — from a survey of forecasts since last weekend — have no consensus, which makes sense at this stage of the process for the Eagles' fate.

But there are projections both curious and compelling. Creating interesting contests, preferably between programs whose fans travel, is one of the goals for bowl committees and the TV networks making matches within the framework of conference tie-ins with bowls.

Middle Tennessee is another choice to face Georgia Southern in multiple projections. Steven Lasson of Athlon Sports pairs the squads for the Myrtle Beach Bowl, while Kyle Bonagura of ESPN makes the same matchup, but for the Cure Bowl.

Erick Smith of USA Today also predicts a trip to Orlando for the Eagles, but the opponent, San Jose State, will be traveling a much greater distance.

Just to keep the football/basketball coincidence going, the GS men's hoops squad played at San Jose State to open this season on Nov. 8 and lost 63-48.

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Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease (6) leaps over Nebraska's Ernest Hausmann (15) to score a touchdown during the second half on Sept. 10, 2022, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Georgia Southern won 45-42.
Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease (6) leaps over Nebraska's Ernest Hausmann (15) to score a touchdown during the second half on Sept. 10, 2022, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Georgia Southern won 45-42.

It would be a reunion of sorts if Georgia Southern faces Buffalo in the LendingTree Bowl — as Bill Bender of The Sporting News forecasts. Eagles quarterback Kyle Vantrease transferred to Statesboro in January from Buffalo, where he was a three-year starter.

A trip to Mobile would be a familiar location for GS, as the Sun Belt's South Alabama plays its home games at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The Eagles have also played a bowl game in Mobile, a 58-27 win over Bowling Green in the 2015 GoDaddyBowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

The first bowl game in program history came in Georgia Southern's second season at FBS and its first season of eligibility.

Two prognosticators see GS going to the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 20 in Florida. ESPN's Mark Schlabach pegs the opponent as Ohio, while CBS Sports' Jerry Palm predicts Houston. GS redshirt-senior wide receiver Jeremy Singleton transferred from Houston.

Georgia Southern's Jeremy Singleton (1) makes a catch early in a wild matchup with James Madison at Paulson Stadium on Oct. 15, 2022. He had seven receptions for 108 yards and a long of 33 yards.
Georgia Southern's Jeremy Singleton (1) makes a catch early in a wild matchup with James Madison at Paulson Stadium on Oct. 15, 2022. He had seven receptions for 108 yards and a long of 33 yards.

The Eagles faltered in their last two games, and they slipped out of some projections. Nick Bromberg of Yahoo! Sports had GS playing Wyoming in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on his list last week, but no more.

The Athletic's Scott Dochterman and Stewart Mandel last week pegged a Camellia Bowl rematch from 2018 for Georgia Southern and Eastern Michigan this Dec. 27 in Montgomery, Alabama. Alas, no GS on their new list.

Could Helton vs. Helton happen?

Perhaps the most compelling since-deleted matchup was Action Network's Brett McMurphy's projection from last week.

McMurphy had brother vs. brother, Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton against Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

Georgia Southern's new head football coach Clay Helton leads the first practice of the fall on Aug. 3, 2022 at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.
Georgia Southern's new head football coach Clay Helton leads the first practice of the fall on Aug. 3, 2022 at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.

Clay Helton, 50, is almost exactly five years older than Tyson, now in his fourth season guiding the Hilltoppers.

The sons of longtime NFL and college football coach Kim Helton, the brothers worked together in 2016-17, when Clay was Southern Cal's head coach and Tyson was its passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

They also were assistant coaches together at Memphis, where Tyson coached tight ends and special teams in 2004-06, and Clay was receivers coach during that period while at Memphis from 2000 to 2009.

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Tyson has a son, Clay — one of the many family facts that certainly would come up during the game's broadcast. As well as asking whom the Heltons root for.

There was never a guarantee of Helton vs. Helton and, of course, it's their players that actually play the game. And it cannot be ruled out, as Western Kentucky is 7-4 and Georgia Southern has two more games to join the party.

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern Eagles college football bowl game predictions