The\n2018 Georgia Southern football season seemed like a fairytale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A team that won only\ntwo games the year before turned\naround and won 10 games in 2018, including a nail-biter bowl game decided by a walk-off field goal that will\nforever live in University lore. It was one of the most astounding\nturnarounds in Eagle sports history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, however, Eagles Head Coach Chad Lunsford \u2014 who\nbegins only his second full season as head coach \u2014 says the bar for success will\nbe even higher, and the 2018 Cinderella season won\u2019t furnish a glass slipper\nthis time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not sneaking up on anybody this year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very easy to do when we were 2-10, but now when we\u2019re coming off of a 10-3 [season] \u2014 you know, everybody\u2019s going to have that marked on their calendar. We\u2019re going to get everybody\u2019s best game and so we\u2019ve got to improve and we\u2019ve got to be able to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team\u2019s mantra this year is \u201cGood to Great,\u201d a theme based on the tenets of Jim Collins\u2019 book of the same name, which sits prominently on Lunsford\u2019s desk. In the book, Collins found that organizations made the transition from good to great by establishing tough benchmarks, creating a culture of discipline, and finding leaders who display a mixture of personal humility with unwavering ambition for a cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the\nEagles to become great, Lunsford is focused on what it means to be a \u201cGeorgia Southern Man,\u201d an idea quickly\nbecoming part of the team\u2019s DNA. The\ncoach says the Georgia Southern Man\nis \u201cblue collar,\u201d tough and disciplined \u2014 attributes he and the coaching staff have actively sought out in their recruits\nand leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very honest in recruiting,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t shy away from telling them exactly what we are here\u2026. So when you get a guy that wants to be here and wants to be a part of that and wants to do that, there\u2019s obviously a lot of excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More importantly, Lunsford wants to create a standard of excellence that takes last year\u2019s achievements and makes them the benchmarks for what the Eagles do this year. In 2018, the Eagles set a new football bowl Subdivision (FBS) and school record for fewest turnovers with only five for the season and tied for eighth in takeaways. They were seventh in the FBS for rushing offense and sixth in team passing efficiency. It\u2019s a high bar to reach again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut I\nthink our guys, they need to look\nat that like that\u2019s our identity,\u201d\nsaid Lunsford. \u201cWe take care\nof the football and we go get\nthe football and we have to continue\nto grow in that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Eagles will have their hands full this season, facing\nstiff competition on the road. They open at LSU in Tiger Stadium,\naffectionately known as \u201cDeath Valley,\u201d then host FCS semifinalist Maine at\nAllen E. Paulson Stadium. The Eagles then travel to frosty Minnesota to face\nthe Golden Gophers, a team that beat Georgia Tech in the Quick Lane Bowl last\nyear. On top of that, the Eagles will play Sun Belt powerhouses Troy, Arkansas\nState and Appalachian State on the road. It\u2019s a season that promises to put the\nteam, and its greatness, to the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know what? With our guys, I don\u2019t think we\u2019d want it\nany other way,\u201d said Lunsford. \u201cI mean, shoot, let\u2019s put some things out there\nthat are harder than last year and let\u2019s see if we can rise to the occasion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I think being a Georgia Southern Man \u2014 that\u2019s the whole point! \u201cAnyone, any time, any place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Doy\u00a0 Cave<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2018 Georgia Southern football season seemed like a fairytale. A team that won only two games the year before turned around and won 10 games in 2018, including a nail-biter bowl game decided by a walk-off field goal that will forever live in University lore. It was one of the most astounding turnarounds in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":9937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-7273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-spring-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}