“It is certainly unusual to have two conference opponents square off in a bowl game, even moreso when those two opponents are division rivals with a long-standing history of competing against each other. When the Sun Belt sets out to construct our bowl lineup, it is always with the intent to avoid conference matchups. While every effort was made, we were unable to avoid such a matchup this year. Georgia Southern and App State will meet for the second time this season on Monday, Dec. 29, in the JLab Birmingham Bowl. 

With teams opting out of the Bowl Season, the bowl system was required to identify replacement teams through the 5-7 APR pool. The NCAA utilizes APR to rank the FBS institutions that have records of 5-7, creating the order that replacement teams will be contacted. Following three opt outs, a few teams were engaged from the 5-7 APR list on Selection Day before App State was contacted. 

Having App State and Georgia Southern play again was not our first choice, but enabled us to ensure the football players from both teams were able to receive a 2025 bowl experience—and to do so in one of the most prestigious bowls in our postseason lineup. While it is not our goal to make this a regular habit, the changing nature of the college football postseason and the associated disruption will necessitate more flexibility going forward.”