Sam Houston tied a New Orleans Bowl record with five takeaways, and Hunter Watson accounted for three touchdowns as the school got its first bowl victory since moving to FBS in 2022, beating Georgia Southern 31-26 on Thursday.

Watson completed 23 of 28 passes, including 14 straight completions in the first half. He tallied 213 passing yards, threw for one touchdown and scored on runs of 2 and 1 yards — the last one to put the game out of reach.

Sam Houston (10-3) lived up to its defensive reputation by coming up with four interceptions and a fumble.

Jaylon Jimmerson intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown. Jimmerson also had 10 tackles. The Bearkats also produced three sacks, six tackles for loss and four pass breakups.

“They do that week in and week out, so I’m always confident of our defense,” Watson said.

Georgia Southern quarterback J.C. French completed 20 of 33 passes for 212 yards and one touchdown, with the four interceptions. He ran for a 1-yard touchdown with nine seconds left for the Eagles (8-5).

Sam Houston’s defense set the pace early. On Georgia Southern’s first offensive play, French’s throw was intercepted by Jimmerson and returned 29 yards for a touchdown.

Following a fumble recovery by Ayden Jackson, French directed an 11-play, 80-yard drive — capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Josh Dallas. But Sam Houston responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that culminated when Watson flipped a pass to Simeon Evans for a 33-yard touchdown.

Jimmerson victimized French again on the next possession, reaching up for a one-handed interception and runback to the 13. Four plays later, Watson scored on a 2-yard keeper.

Georgia Southern was able to rush downfield on its final possession of the half and cut the margin to 21-10 on Gavin Stewart’s 49-yard field goal.

Georgia Southern scored twice in the third quarter. Jalen White ran in from 1 yard, two plays after French had hooked up with Marcus Sanders Jr. for a 43-yard pass. A two-point conversion run failed. The Eagles added another 49-yard field goal by Stewart and trailed 21-19 entering the fourth quarter.

Watson drove the Bearkats 88 yards in eight plays, scoring from the 1 to put Sam Houston up 28-19 with 11:37 to play.

–Field Level Media

Sam Houston will make its first-ever bowl appearance against Georgia Southern in the New Orleans Bowl on Thursday, but the Bearkats will do it with a new head coach.

Sam Houston will be led by interim coach Brad Cornelsen, the team’s offensive coordinator. He takes over for K.C. Keeler, who resigned after 11 seasons to become head coach at Temple. Keeler went 97-39 during his time at Sam Houston and led the team to the 2021 FCS championship and navigated the transition to FBS and Conference USA.

Cornelsen was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech for six seasons before joining the Sam Houston staff as offensive coordinator in 2023.

“This group of players, particularly our seniors, has been through so much to move our program forward,” Cornelsen said. “We have had a great season up to now, but this is an opportunity for us to close our season with 10 wins in one of the most historic venues (Superdome) in the country.”

Georgia Southern will be going to a bowl game for the third straight season under coach Clay Helton. It will be the Eagles’ seventh bowl in 11 seasons since transitioning to the FBS level.

Sam Houston went 9-3 and just missed earning a spot in the Conference USA championship game. Georgia Southern was 8-4 and finished second in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference behind Marshall.

Georgia Southern had 10 players named to all-Sun Belt Conference teams, including senior linebacker Marques Watson-Trent, the league’s defensive player of the year. He finished first in the conference and is eighth in the nation in tackles per game — 10 — with 110 tackles in 11 games.

The Eagles have a veteran offensive line led by all-conference honorees Bryson Broadway, Caleb Cook and Pichon Wimbley. They have helped enable quarterback JC French to throw for 2,619 yards and 16 touchdowns and Jalen White to rush for 654 yards and 12 scores. Derwin Burgess Jr. (53 receptions, three TDs), Dalen Cobb (50 catches, four TDs) and Josh Dallas (41 catches, five TDs) are the top receivers.

“We have great seniors, great leadership on the team where everyone understands the mission,” Watson-Trent said. “It’s the type of people we recruit here. It’s a blue-collar mentality and that’s what we stand on.”

Sam Houston led Conference USA in defense (20 points per game) and ranked second with 315.6 yards allowed per game. The unit is led by defensive back Caleb Weaver (7.3 tackles per game), linebacker Kavian Gaither (7.1 tackles per game) and defensive end Chris Murray, who has 5 1/2 sacks and 10 1/2 tackles for loss. All three were named first-team All-Conference USA team.

The Bearkats’ top offensive players are quarterback Hunter Watson, who has thrown for 1,598 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 623 yards and seven touchdowns. Jay Ducker is the leading rusher with 719 yards and seven touchdowns. Simeon Evans leads the team with 44 receptions and five touchdowns. The offensive line is powered by second-team all-conference selections Ethan Hagler and James Dawn II.

Although both teams were former FCS or Division I-AA powers with a combined seven national championships, it will be the first meeting between the two teams.

Georgia Southern beat Louisiana Tech 38-3 in the 2020 New Orleans Bowl.

–Field Level Media