Two of the Sun Belt's better stories from last fall run it back in November — a division champ against a bowl winner, both looking to prove 2025 wasn't a fluke.
Bush’s Picks
GASOTROY
GASOTROY
OverUnder
Best BetTroy
Troy's the more proven team right now — a division title, a five-game winning streak, and a head coach entering year 3 with real continuity. Georgia Southern is respectable but finished under .500 in conference play a year ago, and a road trip to Alabama is a tougher ask than a neutral-site line might suggest. Back the Trojans to handle business at home.
Georgia Southern
+Won Birmingham Bowl 29-10 over App State
+Clay Helton entering 4th year, continuity in place
+Tested early by Clemson and Houston non-conference
−Finished just 4-4 in Sun Belt play in 2025
−Opened 2025 with 42-14 loss to Fresno State
−Road trip to a division champion late in season
Troy
+Reigning Sun Belt West champions, 8-6 in 2025
+Won 5 straight games during a late-season surge
+Gerad Parker entering 3rd year with roster continuity
−QB Goose Crowder missed 6 games to injury in 2025
−Lost Sun Belt Championship Game to James Madison
−Tougher non-conference slate (Missouri, Utah State) before this
This is an early preview, months out from kickoff, but the stakes are already easy to see. Troy enters as the reigning Sun Belt West champion after an 8-6 season that ended in a run to the conference title game, while Georgia Southern closed 2025 with a 29-10 Birmingham Bowl beatdown of Appalachian State to finish 7-6. Neither program is a stranger to winning football right now, and this cross-division tilt in Troy figures to carry real seeding weight by the time Friday, November 20 rolls around.
Troy's case starts with continuity. Gerad Parker heads into year 3 after leading the Trojans to a five-game win streak and a Battle for the Belt win over South Alabama en route to the division crown. The one lingering question is health at quarterback — Goose Crowder flashed real upside when healthy in 2025, including a four-touchdown outburst against Florida A&M, but a Week 3 injury cost him six games. How that shakes out over a non-conference slate against Missouri and Utah State before Sun Belt play resumes is worth watching as the calendar moves toward November.
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GASO Georgia Southern
TROY Troy
Georgia Southern's pitch is a little different. Clay Helton is also in a fourth year of building continuity in Statesboro, and the Eagles proved they can finish a season strong even after an ugly 42-14 opening loss to Fresno State — they were 4-4 in Sun Belt play but ended on a high note with that bowl win. A non-conference gauntlet of Clemson and Houston before this game means Georgia Southern will already have been tested against high-level competition, for better or worse, by the time it makes the trip to Alabama.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Nov 13?@ Georgia State—
Nov 6?vs Marshall—
Oct 30?vs App State—
Oct 15?@ Old Dominion—
Oct 9?vs James Madison—
Oct 2?@ Coastal Carolina—
Sep 25?vs Houston—
Sep 19?@ Jacksonville State—
Sep 12?@ Clemson—
Sep 5?vs Charleston Southern—
Troy Trojans
Nov 13?@ South Alabama—
Nov 6?vs Louisiana Tech—
Oct 29?@ James Madison—
Oct 23?vs UL Monroe—
Oct 16?@ Louisiana—
Oct 6?vs Southern Miss—
Sep 26?@ Utah State—
Sep 19?@ Missouri—
Sep 12?vs Alabama State—
Sep 5?vs Sam Houston—
Recent form.
Both teams also share James Madison on the schedule this year — Troy gets the rematch of last season's Sun Belt Championship Game on the road in late October, while Georgia Southern hosts the defending conference champs at home. That gives this game some added context: whichever team is still standing strong after its JMU test could be the healthier, more confident version by the time it reaches this one.
Georgia Southern Eagles
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Troy Trojans
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
For a game this far out, the honest read is that Troy's résumé — division title, five-game streak, a full offseason to sort out the quarterback situation — gives it the edge on paper. But Georgia Southern's bowl win wasn't a fluke either, and Helton's group showed it can grind through a brutal non-conference stretch and still find its footing. This one has the look of a game that means more in November than it does on paper in July.
