New Orleans Bowl: Eagles Look to Soar Over Bearkats

Dec 17, 20242 min read

Jalen White | Eagles RB — Photo by Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Head coach Clay Helton and running back Jalen White look to lead the Georgia Southern Eagles (8-4, 6-2 Sun Belt Conference) to a big victory over the Sam Houston Bearkats (9-3, 6-2 Conference USA) in the New Orleans Bowl. Both teams ended their regular seasons with a victory in their final game. The Eagles defeated the Appalachian State Mountaineers (5-6, 3-5) 29-20, while the Bearkats defeated the Liberty Flames (8-3, 5-3) 20-18. The Eagles and Bearkats will face off at 7 p.m. EST on Dec. 19 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

What's at Stake?

The Eagles will look to improve to 2-0 all-time in bowl games against CUSA. The Bearkats will look to achieve a 10th victory on the season, after starting 0-8 in the previous season.

Key Players: Eagles

RB Jalen White, LB Marques Watson-Trent

White has been quite the workhorse for the Eagles offense this season. He has been a staple in their offense for years and he seriously made it known this season. White finished the regular season with 147 carries for 654 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Watson-Trent was the backbone for the Eagles defense this season. He finished with six games with 10 or more tackles and has 16 of those for his career. He is also second all-time at GSU with 355 career tackles.

Key Players: Bearkats

QB Hunter Watson, DB Caleb Weaver

Watson has been about as dual threat of a quarterback this season as you are going to find, and it really helped the Bearkats get to where they got this season. Watson finished the regular season with 1,598 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes, 623 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns.

Weaver was the backbone for the Bearkats defense and showed it all year long. Weaver finished with 86 tackles, 6 passes defended, 4 interceptions, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

Trends to Watch

The Eagles and Bearkats have never faced off and this will be their first-ever meeting. It will be a real interesting game to watch and should be a close game.