The Citadel Bulldogs and the Georgia Southern Eagles meet in week 1 college football action from Allen E. Paulson Stadium on Saturday.

The Citadel Team Preview

The Citadel Bulldogs will hope that a change at the top can get the Citadel back to the glory days, as Maurice Drayton takes over his alma mater, taking over the head coaching duties after winning the SoCon in 2015 as the Citadel’s defensive coordinator. The Citadel ended up going 4-7 in 2022 with a 3-5 mark in conference play, leading the SoCon in rushing yards per game in 2022, including leading rusher Cooper Wallace, who returns after logging 409 rushing yards last season. Graeson Underwood returns under center to take over QB duties in 2023 for the Citadel, while Ricky Conway is also back in the backfield and Ahmad Green and Tyler Cherry headline the names of returning receivers in the Citadel’s offense. On defense, there’s a lot of returning names as well, including linebacker Hasan Black and Je’Mazin Roberts, Carson Hatchett on the line and Dominick Poole in the secondary.

Georgia Southern Team Preview

The Georgia Southern Eagles will be hoping to turn things around after a somewhat anti-climactic season in 2022, finishing 6-6 on the year and ending up with a 23-21 loss to Buffalo in the Camellia Bowl. Clay Helton’s done a solid job transforming the philosophy of the Eagles’ offense, from an option offense to a team that’s not afraid to air it out, and that’s going to keep going here with the addition of Davis Brin at QB coming over from Tulsa. Beau Allen also transfers in from Tarleton State as a high-upside option for the Eagles and Allen was once a four-star recruit for Kentucky. Jalen White is back after leading Georgia Southern with 914 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns while Khaleb Hood returns after leading the Eagles with 87 receptions for 925 yards and 3 touchdowns. Derwin Burgess also returns after recording a team-high 7 receiving touchdowns in 2022. On defense, the linebackers will be the top talent for this unit, with Marques Watson-Trent leading the way and Khadry Jackson alongside at another linebacker spot. The secondary took a hit that it didn’t need after it was definitely a weakness for Georgia Southern last year, but the Eagles need more of a pass rush to help that after logging just 20 sacks last season.

Trends

The under is 9-3 in the Citadel’s last 12 games overall. Georgia Southern is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games.

Chris’ Pick

I’m looking at Georgia Southern here. The Citadel wasn’t very good last year, and even though they return a fair bit of talent, I’m not buying into it just yet. Davis Brin was a solid QB at Tulsa, and I think he will be a great fit in this Eagles’ lineup. Normally I like to wait a game for some cohesion to be build, but I think Georgia Southern is ready from the word go. Give me the Eagles ATS here.