Statement from Commissioner Gill on JLab Birmingham Bowl

“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…