Ohio is riding a three-game winning streak, while Georgia Southern has dropped four straight. However, the Bobcats have been hit hard in the transfer portal.
It starts with 2022 MAC Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke, who is reportedly headed for Indiana University. He completed 63.5 percent of his passes this year, good for 2,207 yards with 11 TDs and five interceptions. He also ran 67 times, contributing 219 yards and four scores.
Two of Rourke's top three targets . . .
There was also damage in the ground game as Sieh Bangura, Ohio's leading rusher (178 carries, 811 yards, 7 TDs) joined the emigrees. Likewise with O'Shaan Allison.
Redshirt senior linebacker Keye Thompson is reportely headed to Pitt after finishing second among Bobcat defenders with 94 tackles.
Georgia Southern, by contrast, has not been hit as hard, and out-going transfers were mostly "down-roster" players.
This is the first meeting between Ohio and Georgia Southern. Here is more information on the two schools.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (6-6, 3-5 Sun Belt)
-- GSU is located in Statesboro, Ga., and its athletic teams presently compete in the Sunbelt Conference. It has an undergraduate enrollment of around 26,000.
-- The Eagles won six FCS (I-AA) championships and produced two Walter Payton Award Winners (Adrian Peterson - 1999, Jayson Foster - 2007). The award honors the top offensive player among FCS teams.
-- The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 to 1992 and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 to 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships. In 2014, Georgia Southern moved to the FBS level and joined the Sun Belt Conference, winning the conference championship outright in its first year. Georgia Southern's main Sun Belt rivals are Appalachian State and Georgia State.
-- Georgia Southern will be making its sixth bowl appearance when it participates in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. The Eagles are 3-2 in previous bowl games, knocking off Bowling Green (2015 GoDaddy Bowl), Eastern Michigan (2018 Camellia Bowl) and Louisiana Tech (2020 New Orleans Bowl). The Eagles lost to Liberty in the 2019 Cure Bowl and to Buffalo in the 2022 Camellia Bowl.
-- The Eagles earned bowl eligibility with a 44-27 win over rival Georgia State Oct. 26 but then went winless for the month of November. They are coming off a 55-27 loss to Appalachian State.
-- App State outgained the Eagles 532-360 and forced four GSU turnovers.
-- Georgia Southern opened up a 14-3 first quarter lead, but App State scored 45 of the game's next 52 points, eventually posting a 55-27 win.
-- GS is one of four current FBS schools to never have a 1,000- yard receiver in a season. Khaleb Hood (917) needs 83 yards for 1,000 yards and six catches for 100 for the year. He needs nine yards to break the school’s single-season receiving record that he setlast year (925).
-- Isaac Walker is tied for the FBS lead with ve forced fumbles and is tied for the national lead with four fumble recoveries.
-- Tight end Jjay Mcafee’s 32 catches this season rank first in Georgia Southern’s history for a tight end.
-- Like last year, it appears the Eagles will rely on a transfer at quarterback as Brin and French enter this week atop the depth chart. Davis Brin is in his last year of eligibility after having played five years at Tulsa, throwing for 5,675 yards and 37 touchdowns while JC French redshirted while at Memphis last season.
Brin got the bulk of work against App State, completing 24 of 34 for a total of 238 yards but three interceptions.
-- Georgia Southern recorded 83 yards rushing on 24 attempts (3.5 ypc) in its regular season finale.
-- On the season, Georgia Southern averages 30.9 points per game while picking up 298.5 yards per game through the air and 124.3 on the ground.
OHIO BOBCATS (9-3, 6-2 MAC)
-- Ohio won five of its first six games this year and finished with three wins. The most recent was a 25-24 victory at Akron. After trailing 14-3 at intermission. the Bobcats tallied all of the game's 22 second-half points.
-- Ohio outgained UA 394-183 and had a 27-13 edge in first downs. The Bobcats offense possessed the ball for 38:35.
-- The Bobcats hold a record of 34- 28-6 against Sun Belt competition. xcluding games played against Marshall, Ohio is 1-7 in games against Sun Belt foes.
-- With Rourke gone, Grad Parker Navarro will run the offense. The 6-3, 203 senior appeared in three games this year, completing 7 of 10 pass attempts totaling 65 yards with two TDs and one interception. He also ran 10 times for a total of 107 yards.
-- Navarro also has the longest rush for the Bobcats this season with a 52-yard scamper against Kent State.
-- Running backs Nolan McCormick, Rickey Hunt, and Quintell Quinn will carry the load for the Bobcats. McCormick has recorded 83 carries for 289 yards and a touchdown. Hunt has six carries for 19 yards while Quinn has five for 22. McCormick also has 20 receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown in his career.
-- Wide receiver Sam Wiglusz has recorded three touchdowns on 51 receptions and 596 yards. The graduate student was selected to the All-MAC First Team for the second consecutive season. Tight ends Will Kacmarek and Tyler Foster have proven to be a strong tandem. Kacmarek has 22 receptions for 243 and a pair of touchdowns. Foster has made 19 catches for 202 yards on the year. Freshman Chase Hendricks also played a role for Ohio, making eight catches for 83 yards.
-- Defensively, linebacker Bryce Houston leads the team with 119 total tackles and 54 solo stops, putting him fourth in the MAC and 16th in FBS football. He’s also recorded 2.5 sacks, three interceptions and four quarterback hurries. Defensive end Vonnie Watkins has a team-best 10 quarterback hurries while defensive tackle Rayyan Buell, Houston, and defensive end Bradley Weaver are all in the top 10 of the MAC in tackles for loss.
-- Kicker Gianni Spetic is 16-for-24 on field goals and 28-for-29 on PATs while kicker Alex Kasee is 1-for-2 on field goals, 2-for2 on PATs and has accumulated 3,341 yards in 60 kickoffs