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When first glancing through the order of Georgia Southern's 2015 opponents I mostly liked what I saw. App State isn't during blizzard season, two straight home games after the WVU trip, Georgia game is a little later than I'd like but expected and then — wait, is that who I think it is in the final slot??
I might be overreacting but I was pretty surprised to see Georgia State as the last game. Everyone knows that's rivalry weekend (okay technically the week after rivalry weekend but close enough).
Last year's white out/beatdown of State was a blast, but putting them on rivalry weekend signals we acknowledge them as our top rival and, to me, says we're on a level playing field. Consider this: State's final home game of 2014 drew less than 3,500 to the Georgia Dome. And if you're reading this I don't need to tell you the team is 1-23 during the last two seasons.
Honestly, I'd rather have us play App State to end the year in spite of potential snowmageddon, that's a team with a long history against Georgia Southern and a winning tradition.
I could be on an island here though. Answer the poll, disagree in the comments section if you'd like.
Oh, here's the schedule if you haven't seen it yet:
Our Team & Staff are excited about the opportunity to #DefendTheBelt . Can't wait to see #EagleNation n Full Force pic.twitter.com/aIuVBUqtDL
— Coach Willie Fritz (@CoachWEFritz) February 27, 2015
Elsewhere: The first game is relatively late at Sept. 5, not that it was a surprise. Since the Sun Belt has no conference championship game we also get two bye weeks, Oct. 10 and Nov. 7, meaning the aforementioned Georgia State game will play opposite the SEC, ACC and other championship games. That's good spacing for weeks off and with football season being so terribly short I'm on board for an extra bye.
We also have back-to-back Thursday night games, at App State Oct. 22 and the following Thursday, Oct. 29, at home to Texas State. That's two days before Halloween so the students should put on a show for the cameras with whatever costumes they come up with. A few people have pointed out that's Georgia-Florida weekend so anybody heading to Jacksonville has no excuse to miss it.
Two of the toughest games are at the beginning of the year, which means we'll have to make sure nobody panics if we start 0-2. Conversely, if we can pull off the upset at West Virginia there's no reason to think we can't roll into Athens undefeated in late November with the whole nation watching the Fritzkreig and the Greatest Team in America. GO EAGLES!!
Now, try to figure out how you're ever going to make it until Sept. 5 for Christmas to come.