Out of the 377 games that Georgia Southern University has played in its football history, the game tonight will be the biggest one to date.

Yes, we as a school have won six national championships, which is the most in FCS history, but we aren’t in the FCS anymore. Heck, we aren’t what we used to be even a year ago.

The identity and look of this program have changed as much as its classification and conference.

Where once ESPN or ESPN2 would only come in to cover Georgia Southern when they were deep in the FCS playoffs, now a regular season game is covered by ESPNU on a Thursday.

Seeing the excitement and buzz of not only students and faculty on campus, but also Statesboro locals is something special.

While I’m sure players think of this as just a game, in my opinion, it’s not. This is a chance for Georgia Southern to make a statement on the national stage, and better yet, against a rival.

It’s a chance for the school to show what Statesboro, Georgia and our campus is like to prospective recruits for sports, students that are applying and the nation.

This season we’ve had the pleasure of playing big time schools such as Georgia Tech and NC State. We’ve had the success of winning our first Sun Belt game against South Alabama.

Through all this, we’ve never had the opportunity to play a Thursday night game in Paulson Stadium. That, folks, is something that you, along with the 25,000 other fans that will pack Paulson, will remember forever.