SETTING THE SCENE
The two conference champions of the Gulf South Conference square-off in the second round of the NCAA postseason Saturday at 2 p.m. ET in Cleveland, Miss.  Both Delta State and Valdosta State cruised in their opening round wins as VSU won 62-41 over Limestone, while DSU downed GSC rival and No. 23 West Florida, 49-14 victory.  The Blazers are looking for revenge as DSU handed VSU its only loss of the season in a 49-25 setback on Oct. 7 in Valdosta.  
 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long with Mike McDowd and Herb Reinhard having the call.  The game also will be streamed live on Hudl.  Fans can access links to the radio broadcast and video broadcast at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
NEW STREAMING FOR NCAA POSTSEASON ON HUDL
Hudl has announced an exclusive partnership with the NCAA and NCAA Digital, managed by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, to stream more than 200 NCAA Division II championship contests in 2023-24. This partnership includes live and on-demand coverage of the Division II Football and Women's Volleyball Championships this fall and the Division II Men's and Women's Basketball Championships this winter.  A new NCAA Championships Pass application will be available on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Google TV devices. Fans will have three viewing options: $9.95 per contest, $19.95 for all Division II football games through the quarterfinal round. The Division II football games on the Hudl platform will include all games not distributed by ESPN. The football semifinals and championship game will continue to be broadcast on ESPN platforms.
 
WATCH PARTY SATURDAY AT GEORGIA BEER
Tired of the Thanksgiving leftovers?  Come to Georgia Beer on Saturday at 2 p.m. to cheer on the Blazers as they battle Delta State in the second round of the NCAA Division II Football Playoff.  Georgia Beer will have the live stream of the game.  Georgia Beer is located at 109 S. Briggs Street in Valdosta.
 
RECAPPING THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS VERSUS LIMESTONE

 
LOOKING AT NCAA SUPER REGION TWO FOR THE SECOND ROUND
With 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Division II postseason, top-seeded Benedict begins his postseason play versus No. 4-seed Lenoir-Rhyne, while No. 2-seed Delta State hosts No. 3-seed Valdosta State.  Benedict is 0-1 in the postseason as it made its first trip in 2022 in the second round also, losing to Wingate at home 23-6.  This is the second-straight year Benedict has been the top seed in the regional.  Lenoir-Rhyne is 9-6 all-time in the postseason after a 63-17 victory over Shepherd last Saturday, while Delta State is 17-9 in the postseason after a 49-14 win over West Florida last week.
 
FIRST ROAD PLAYOFF GAME
Saturday marks the first road playoff game for the Blazers (not including the neutral site national championship games) since Nov. 28, 2015, in a 27-20 loss at West Georgia in Carrollton, Texas.  VSU has played nine-straight home playoff games prior to the national championship games since, going 7-2.  VSU is 5-5 all-time in true road games in the playoffs. 
 
EDWARDS NOMINATED FOR PRESTIGIOUS HARLON HILL
Blazer signal-caller Sammy Edwards is one of 38 student-athletes from across Division II nominated by the Sports Information Directors' at their respective schools for the 2023 Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II Football Player of the Year.  Edwards, a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., is one of eight athletes nominated from Super Region Two, joining Marquise Fleming (DL, Wingate), Isaiah Freeman (QB, Lincoln, Pa), Andre Jefferson (DL, Lenoir-Rhyne), John Jiles (WR, West Florida), Dustin Noller (QB, Limestone), Patrick Shegog (QB, Delta State) and Jordan Terrell (RB, Barton).  The 38 candidates will be placed on regional ballots and the top two players from each of the four super regions will advance to the national ballot when regional voting concludes on Monday, Nov. 27.  The winner of the 2024 award will be announced on Friday, Dec. 15, and the winner will be honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club awards banquet on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.  Former Blazer quarterback Rogan Wells was runner-up for the national award in 2018, while former Blazers Chris Hatcher won the award once (1994) and Dusty Bonner won it twice in 2000 and 2001.  Former Blazer great Lance Funderburk wa a runner-up in 1996. 
 
GSC TITLES
VSU won a share of its tenth GSC Title this season for the second-most conference titles all-time in GSC history and the most league-crowns among active GSC members.  North Alabama leads the league record book with 13 titles, while VSU has ten and Delta State (who VSU shared the title) has nine for third.
 
TURNAROUND
The Blazers have won five more games this season thus far than a year ago in Jackson's first year as head coach VSU went 5-6 last season and is 11-1 this year, while the team was 2-5 in league play and 7-1 this season.  The 5.5-game turnaround marks the biggest turnaround since the 2017-18 season when the team went 5-4 in 2017 to 14-0 in 2018 for a 6.5 increase.  VSU was picked fifth in the GSC preseason coaches poll for 2023.
 
SEVEN BLAZERS EARN ALL-GSC HONORS
A total of seven Valdosta State football players were named to the All-Gulf South Conference football teams, announced Thursday.  Graduate student wide receiver B.K. Smith and graduate student defensive back Jacob Harris were first team selections.  VSU had five selections to the second team including; junior quarterback Sammy Edwards, along with junior wide receiver Council Allen, junior tight end Noah Gillan, graduate student offensive tackle Devin Hannan and graduate student defensive back Kyle Cass.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH DELTA STATE
The Statesmen are the only current GSC team to have a winning record against VSU all-time.  DSU leads the all-time series 22-19-1 and has won the last two meetings in the series, including the 49-25 victory in Valdosta earlier this season.  A year ago, DSU snapped a three-game winning streak by the Blazers in Cleveland.  This also marks the second time the teams have played in the postseason as DSU won 45-12 in the first round on Nov. 18, 2000, in Cleveland, Miss.
 
IN DAY GAMES
The Blazers began a stretch of six-straight games at Chowan (9/30) of games beginning before 6 p.m. local time and running through Nov. 4.  VSU is 7-1 this season in day games (63-10 vs. Point, 51-36 win at Chowan), lost 49-25 at home to Delta State on Oct. 7, won at Mississippi College (21-10) on Oct. 14, won Oct. 21 42-14, won 31-28 at West Florida (Oct. 28), 20-14 at West Alabama (Nov. 4) and won 62-41 last week over Limestone.  Since 2018, VSU is 24-5 in day games.  This will be the ninth day game of the season for the Blazers Saturday.
 
BULLET BULLARD
Blazer redshirt freshman wide receiver/kick returner Rodney Bullard registered a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 58-28 victory over West Georgia on Nov. 11.  It marked a tie for the second-longest kick return in school history as Billy Poole had a 99-yarder against West Alabama on Oct. 1, 1994.  Ironically, the school-record (100) came also against West Georgia on Nov. 11, 2000.  Bullard has ten returns for 272 yards for the season, while he has 32 catches for 473 yards and six touchdowns.
 
THIELE MOVES UP TO SIXTH IN SCORING
VSU junior kicker Estin Thiele moved into sixth all-time in scoring with 16 points on Nov. 11 with 280 career points surpassing former Blazer Seth McGill (2018-22).  He then added 14 more points for 294 career points, going 2 for 2 in field goals and Thiele is 39 of 52 all-time in field goals and 177 of 180 in extra-points for his Blazer career.  He is just two points from tying Reggie Mosley (1999-02) for fifth all-time in scoring with 296 points.
 
EXCELLENT EDWARDS
Blazer junior quarterback Sammy Edwards is having an outstanding season as he is 11-1 as a starter this season in 12 games played helping lead VSU to a share of the program's tenth Gulf South Conference title.  He is fourth nationally in passing yards at 3,733 to lead the GSC, while he leads the GSC in passing yards per game (311.1) for fifth nationally.  Edwards also is fifth nationally in total offense at 331.8 yards per game for tops in the league.  He is second in passing touchdowns (31) for eighth nationally.  Edwards is tenth nationally in passing efficiency at a 164.8 clip, while he is eighth nationally in completions percentage (.678) and sixth nationally in completions per game (23.17).  He earned second team all-conference honors this season and is 278 of 410 passing for 3,733 yards, 31 touchdowns and nine interceptions.  He has 79 rushes for 249 yards and five rushing touchdowns.  He has earned GSC Player of the Week honors twice this season.
 
A FOR ALLEN
Junior wide receiver Council Allen has 53 catches for second on the team, 704 yards receiving and a team-high seven touchdowns this season.  Allen surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards on Saturday as he now has 1,045 yards on 80 receptions. 
 
NO SHUTOUTS
The Blazers lead the nation in the longest streak of not being shutout with 376 games without a shutout dating back to a 12-0 loss at Central Florida to open the 1991 season on Sept. 14.  VSU's last shutout of the opposition came on Oct. 9, 2021, in Valdosta with a 55-0 victory over Delta State for the 26th shutout in program history.
 
BK HAVE IT YOUR WAY
Graduate student B.K. Smith leads the Blazers with 63 receptions for 921 yards and five touchdowns this season.  He surpassed 100-career receptions on Saturday as he has 105 receptions for the Blazers for 1,647 yards and 11 touchdowns.  This season, Smith's 921 yards are good for second in the GSC and 22nd nationally, while he is third in the league in receiving yards per game at a 76.8 clip for 36th nationally and he is second in the league in receptions per game at a 5.2 clip for 35th nationally.
 
ON THIS DATE
This marks the first game in program history on Nov. 25. 
 
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The winner of this game will meet the winner of the No. 1-seed Benedict vs. No. 4-seed Lenoir-Rhyne on Dec. 2, 2023, in either Columbia, S.C., if Benedict wins, or in Valdosta (if VSU wins) or Cleveland, Miss., (if DSU wins) if Lenoir-Rhyne wins.
 
A VICTORY OVER DELTA STATE WOULD . . .