By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It’s a rare occasion when you can say a college football team that has never won more than seven games in a season, and in fact has only two winning seasons throughout their program’s history, is considered a successful football program.

Those accolades are normally reserved for an eight-year-old in the form of a participation trophy. However, when it comes to Georgia State football, they are that exception.

Moving from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is an adjustment for any team; some programs do acclimate themselves a little quicker than others. Regardless of whether you are an established program, or one just starting out, the transition can be unpredictable.

In Georgia State’s case, there was little reason to believe they would see any modicum of success after making the transition from FCS to FBS.

The football program didn’t even exist until 2010 and during the three years they spent on the FCS level, Georgia State has a combined record of 10-23. (The final two years their record was only 4-18).

Expecting them to be able to compete at all would be like giving me a guitar and waiting for me to tear into “All Along the Watchtower”, Jimi Hendrix style.

Yet, while Georgia State may not be at Jimi Hendrix level, so to speak, they have performed much better than anticipated.

After their initial first two years in the Sun Belt, which resulted in zero conference wins and only a single victory overall, they have become a legitimate competitive force within the conference.

I realize we live in an age where there are almost as many bowl games as there are football teams, but still it’s pretty remarkable that Georgia State has played in a bowl game in two of the past three years; they won their first ever bowl game last year against Western Kentucky in the Cure Bowl.

I’m not saying Georgia State is running unencumbered through their schedule, but considering they only won eleven games total during their first five years, making two bowls games in three years is something to be proud of.

Just for comparison, Georgia Southern has only been to one bowl game since arriving to the Sun Belt. (Yes, it’s a little misleading since the Eagles weren’t eligible for a bowl game during their first year in the conference due to a ridiculous NCAA rule. But even if they had been allowed to play in a bowl game, the bowl appearances between both schools would be equal.)

Regardless of what division level of athletics you play at in college, moving up in competition is never a guaranteed thing. A small college close to me just announced the other day that after transitioning from Division III to Division II a few years ago, they are transitioning back following this season. They just couldn’t compete at that level.

That easily could’ve been the Georgia State football program. Would anyone have been surprised to see them struggle and ultimately move back down to the FCS level?

Instead, they have shown the decision to join the Sun Belt was the correct one, and not just for financial reasons; they can compete.

Ten years ago, who would have predicted that?