Georgia Southern and Ohio will begin the college football bowl season when the two meet in the fourth edition of the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 16. It is the first-ever meeting between the Bobcats and Eagles. While it’s the first game of bowl season, it is the end of an up-and-down campaign for Georgia Southern (6-6, 3-5 Sun Belt Conference).

The Eagles have lost four consecutive games since reaching the 6-2 mark on Oct. 26. In the program’s sixth-ever bowl game this weekend, they’ll be trying to salvage a so-so season with a victory on familiar turf against an unfamiliar opponent.

Set for an 11:02 a.m. kickoff on ESPN, the game will be played at Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. Like Georgia Southern, CCU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and the Eagles last played there in 2022. Conway is near Myrtle Beach, hence the name of the bowl presented by ESPN Events. It’s the first time GS and Ohio have met on the gridiron.

The Eagles (349-172) could pick up a milestone 350th win since the program began in 1983.

In year two under head coach Clay Helton, Georgia Southern entered the month of November with a legitimate shot at playing for a Sun Belt Conference title for the first time in program history. But, after limping to the finish line with four consecutive losses in the season’s final month, Helton’s team is now aiming to put a positive finishing touch on the 2023 campaign.

“Fighting for that seventh win shows progress from year one to year two,” said Helton, who led GS to a 6-7 record last season, from the podium in Conway earlier this week. “To be a bowl champion too, which we weren’t last year.”

A GS win would mean some relief for an increasingly frustrated fan base. A winning season, and a bit of momentum entering the NCAA Early Signing Period for high school recruits starting on Dec. 20 also come by way of winning on Saturday.

It would go a long way in helping the so-called “vibes” for Helton and his coaching staff, both on the recruiting trail and in Statesboro.

Ohio (9-3, 6-2 MAC) is no pushover, but Georgia Southern is a 3-point betting favorite at sportsbooks and plenty capable of winning. With so many players expected to be leaving the team — by way of transfer portal, graduation or otherwise — after the game, it is natural to wonder what kind of motivation remains for those GS players preparing for what’s next instead of what’s right in front of them.

“I’ve seen this team progress from year one to year two,” said Helton of his club. “And I look forward to seeing them go back out and fight to try and win a bowl championship.”

It is a gift and an opportunity that comes in the form of the Bobcats for Southern. It matters for the beloved big-picture.

“A big opportunity,” says Helton.

To begin a season winning six of the first eight games only to end it with five losses in a row? Well, that’s just not going to sit right with lots of Eagle faithful. It certainly won’t sit right with any GS recruits tuning in. And if that isn’t enough to see it as an important and potentially pivotal game.

Well, seven wins is just plainly more than six wins. So go get seven.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I December 2023.