Georgia Southern met Eastern Michigan in a duel of Eagles on the opening day of the postseason. Here is what we learned from the Camellia Bowl on Saturday.
Sometimes the most fun bowl games come in those obscure showdowns by teams you might not have watched much over the course of the season. For most fans, that means getting to see teams like Eastern Michigan and Georgia Southern on a football field. Unless you are a fan of one of these two sets of Eagles, or a fan of a MAC or Sun Belt rival, you might have missed out on seeing these two teams on the gridiron during the regular season.
Meeting up in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, Georgia Southern and Eastern Michigan met on the football field for the first time ever. Hoping to cap seasons that ended without a shot at their respective conference championships, each side was motivated to prove that they were the superior Eagles in this showdown. It resulted in a down-to-the wire battle that came down to the final play of the game.
Ultimately, Georgia Southern took a big lead, coughed it up, then managed to come back for a last-second field goal from Tyler Bass and a 23-21 victory. The Sun Belt East contenders gave up a 17-7 halftime lead but managed to work the clock and survive the threat from their MAC counterpart. After a 2-10 season in 2017, the Eagles completed one of the greatest year-to-year turnarounds in FBS history and earned Georgia Southern their first 10-win season at the FBS level.
What should we take away from the two-point win by Georgia Southern on the opening Saturday of the bowl season? Here are three things we learned at the conclusion of the season for Georgia Southern and Eastern Michigan at the Camellia Bowl.