Ole Miss Schedule Preview: Georgia Southern Eagles

The Ole Miss Rebels will welcome the Georgia Southern Eagles to Oxford on Sept. 21.

Oct 1, 2022; Conway, South Carolina, USA; Georgia Southern Eagles running back Jalen White (25) runs the ball in the second quarter against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Brooks Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports / David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 college football season is still about a month away, but with SEC Media Days in the rearview mirror, now is the time to begin previewing the Ole Miss Rebels' schedule.

Ole Miss is coming off an 11-2 season that saw it capture a Peach Bowl victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions in December. The Rebels return a plethora of talent from last year's team (including quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receiver Tre Harris, tight end Caden Prieskron and others), but they also made a huge haul in the transfer portal to shore up some holes on its roster.

It's this combination of talent and a seemingly-managble SEC schedule that have many believing the Rebels can qualify for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Over the next few days, Ole Miss OnSI will preview each of the Rebels' 2024 regular season opponents. We last looked at the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and today, we analyze the Georgia Southern Eagles.

Georgia Southern Eagles

Georgia Southern reached a bowl game for the second straight season in 2023, falling to the Ohio Bobcats 41-21 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. That gave the Eagles a final record of 6-7 after starting the season 6-2, losing every game in November and the bowl game.

That's not to say that Georgia Southern has been unsuccessful since moving up to the FBS in 2014, as it has logged six bowl game appearances in that span as part of the Sun Belt Conference. Since Clay Helton took over the program in 2022, the Eagles have posted a 12-14 overall record, but they'll look to improve on that mark in 2024, even if a trip to Oxford is a daunting task.

Speaking of Helton, there's a connection between him and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. While Kiffin was the head coach at USC in 2010, he hired Helton as the team's quarterbacks coach, and that eventually led him to being the Trojans' head coach beginning in 2015, a post he held until 2021.

That storyline will make this game in late September an interesting one, but Georgia Southern's roster will also have its fair share of talking points. The Eagles return leading rusher Jalen White (889 yards, 9 TDs) this season as well as second-leading receiver Derwin Burgess Jr. (813 yards, 6 TDs).

Starting quarterback Davis Brin has exhausted his eligibility, but the Eagles return JC French under center after he appeared in 10 games a season ago. They have also added Indiana transfer Dexter Williams II at the position after he only appeared in four games during his career with the Hoosiers.

On defense, one of the biggest returners for Georgia Southern is linebacker Marques Watson-Trent. He led the team in tackles (122) and registered 13 TFLs and two interceptions last season with the Eagles. Although he did not face an SEC opponent in 2023, Watson-Trent's talent cannot be ignored on that side of the ball.

Georgia Southern is given a projected win total of 5.5 this season, according to FanDuel, so this should be a winnable game for the Rebels in Oxford, if all goes according to plan. Still, there are some intriguing pieces that the Eagles will bring to town in Week 4.

Kickoff for this game is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CT on Sept. 21, and it will be televised on SEC Network.