SoCon race heats up

  • Photo by: Lindsay HartmannJunior quarterback Jerick McKinnon (1) draws back to throw the ball down the field to an open Eagle. GSU lost to App. State 28 – 31.

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Trevor McNaboe

After a bitter loss for the second straight year to Appalachian State University, Georgia Southern University dropped to number seven in the FCS Coaches Poll released on Monday.

The Eagles hold a 7-2 record on the season and a 6-2 record in the Southern Conference. Currently GSU is tied for first place in the SoCon with App. State. However, the Eagles have already finished up conference play while most teams will play their final conference game in the next two weekend.

With the GSU loss the race to see who will be crowned conference champion has heated up as the top four teams now all have two losses apiece.

GSU, for the moment, stands at the top of the standings at a 6-2 record and will play out of conference opponent Howard University (6-3) this Saturday.

Wofford College comes in tied with App. State for second place in the conference with a record of 5-2 each.

WC will close out conference play Saturday when they take on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (5-4, 4-2 SoCon).

App. State will finish up the regular season against conference opponent Furman University (3-6, 2-4 SoCon).

This weekend must play out accordingly for the Eagles to remain on top.

App. State has the tiebreaker on GSU, so a Mountaineer win and a WC loss would give App. State its 12th SoCon championship.

WC has the tiebreaker on App. State, so a win by the Terriers and a GSU loss would allow Wofford to capture its fourth conference title in school history.

For the Eagles to capture their tenth conference championship they will need to win against HU and have App. State lose against Furman.