SETTING THE SCENE
The No. 17/19 Valdosta State Blazers close out the 2023 regular season in the final Peach Basket Game versus West Georgia on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long with Mike McDowd having the call.  The game also will be streamed live on FloSports with Dave Garner and Taylor Biddle calling the action.  Fans can access links to the radio broadcast and video broadcast at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
WATCH ON FLOSPORTS
The Gulf South Conference enters its second year of a four-year agreement with FloSports to broadcast all GSC football games this fall.  ALL VSU football home regular season and road conference livestream broadcasts will be available exclusively through FloSports.  Check back with vstateblazers.com on how to sign up and watch on FloSports.
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE
VSU enters the final week of the regular season in a tie with Delta State for the top of the Gulf South Conference as both teams are 6-1. A win by the Blazers Saturday would ensure at least a share of the program's tenth GSC title.  The ten titles would be second-most all-time in league history and the most among active GSC members. VSU is tied for second with former league member Jacksonville State (9), while former member North Alabama has 13 league titles.  If the Blazers were to win Sunday, it would be VSU's fourth league title in the last five playing seasons.  Delta State sits fourth in GSC history with eight league titles.  The Statesmen host Mississippi College on Saturday afternoon.  
 
THE RED CLAY RIVALRY SERIES
In addition to this being for the Peach Basket, it also is part of the Red Clay Rivalry Series.  The series is in its third year between the two institutions as VSU won 7-4 in 2021-22, while UWG won last season.  This year, UWG won in both men's and women's cross country, while the teams split in volleyball and the teams tied in women's soccer.  UWG leads 3-1 so far this season.  The teams compete the rest of the 2023-24 season in football, men's and women's basketball, softball, women's tennis, men's golf and baseball.  
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH WEST GEORGIA
VSU leads the all-time series with West Georgia 28-14.  The Blazers are 14-4 in Valdosta against the Wolves and have won the last four meetings in Titletown in the series.  UWG's last win in Valdosta came on 12/6/14 in a 31-17 loss in the playoffs.  In the regular season, VSU has won the last seven meetings dating back to a 29-15 loss on Nov. 5, 2005.  VSU leads the series 11-10 in Carrollton, Ga., as the Wolves won 54-17 last season there. 
 
CARDIAC BLAZERS
The Valdosta State football team won arguably the biggest game of head coach Tremaine Jackson's tenure with a thrilling 31-28 victory at No. 8/18 West Florida Oct. 28.  VSU trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter and had just six plays for zero yards in the first quarter of the game.  Despite being on the short end of just about every statistical category, the Blazers were on the right end of the scoreboard with the victory.  The Blazers kept chipping away and went 11 plays for 77 yards over 3:25 of clock time as junior Sammy Edwards hit sophomore Ted Hurst for a 28-yard touchdown with 36 seconds remaining for a 31-28 lead, marking the first lead of the game for VSU.  UWF moved down field and Griffin Cerra missed a 51-yard potential tying field goal as time expired.  
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Blazers then won 20-14 at West Alabama last week, turning the Tigers over on downs with 39 seconds to go in the game.  UWA had two big pass plays for touchdowns in the game, while VSU outgained the Tigers 403-342 and passed for 360 yards with 43 yards on the ground.  The Blazers had two players with over 100 yards receiving with redshirt freshman Rodney Bullard having six catches for 108 yards and a touchdown as he earned GSC Freshman of the Week honors and junior Council Allen had five receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns.  Sophomore punter Noah Botsford had a career-high eight punts for 42.9 yards and pinned the Tigers inside the one-yard line twice.  He had a career-long punt of 60 yards.  Defensively, VSU held UWA to 270 passing yards and 72 rushing yards, forcing the Tigers to punt 11 times in the game.  Both teams struggled on third down as VSU was 3 of 15, while UWA was 3 of 17.  VSU finished with nine tackles for loss for 45 yards and four sacks for 34 yards.  
 
BLAZERS HOLD STEADY AT THIRD IN REGION RANKINGS 
The second seeded region rankings were announced by the NCAA on Monday and the Blazers checked in at third in Super Region Two for the second-straight week.  Benedict headlined the region rankings, followed by Delta State, VSU, Lenoir-Rhyne, West Florida, Fayetteville State and Virginia Union was seventh this week.  Checking in at eighth was Limestone, followed by Miles College and Mars Hill was tenth.  The NCAA Division II Football Championship Selection Show which will announce this year's field will be streamed live on NCAA.com on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. ET.  This year's bracket will feature the top seven teams announced on Nov. 12.  The top team in the region will get a "bye" for the first round, while Nos. 2-4 seeds will host Nos. 5-7, on Nov. 18 for the first round.  The second round is scheduled for Nov. 25, while the third round is set for Dec. 2 and the national semifinals are Dec. 9. 
 
THIS WEEK IN THE GSC
The final week of the regular season sees West Alabama play at Shorter, at 1 p.m., while Chowan visits No. 25 West Florida at 2 p.m. ET and Mississippi College visits No. 11 Delta State at 3 p.m. ET, followed by West Georgia at No. 17 Valdosta State at 7 p.m.  Also interesting this week, the VSU vs. West Georgia game is one of two Division II games across the country played at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.  Western Oregon visits Angelo State (Texas) and also kicks at 7 p.m. ET.  All other games nation-wide begin at 5 p.m. ET or earlier.  
 
IN THE POLLS
Valdosta State moved up to 19th in the latest AFCA Top 25, while the Blazers are 17th in the latest D2Football.com Top 25.  Colorado School of Mines leads this week's national rankings with 26 of 29 first-place votes, followed by a tie for second between Grand Valley State (Mich.) and Harding (Ark.), while Slippery Rock (Pa.) is fourth and Benedict is fifth.  Delta State sits 11th this week after its win over West Georgia, followed by the Blazers at 19th and Virginia Union is 20th with the last remaining first-place nod.  West Florida moved back into the rankings at 25th for teams from Super Region Two.  Virginia State and Mars Hill are among others receiving votes.  As for the D2Football.com Top 25, VSU checks in at 17th, moving up two spots from 19th.  Colorado School of Mines leads that poll, followed by Grand Valley State, Ferris State, Harding and Slippery Rock.  Delta State is 11th, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne at 13th and VSU.  Virginia Union is 19th, while West Florida is 21st. 
 
BULLARD NAMED GSC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
VSU redshirt freshman Rodney Bullard was named GSC Freshman of the Week this week after he put together a notable performance to help Valdosta State to a 20-14 win at West Alabama on Saturday. The rookie wideout pulled in six catches as he recorded 108 receiving yards and a touchdown. Bullard's score proved to be the game-winner as he broke a 14-14 tie in the third quarter allowing the Blazers to improve to 6-1 in conference play. He also finished the two kickoff returns for a total 53 yards.  For the season, Bullard has 20 catches for 335 yards and three touchdowns, while he has five kick returns for 116 yards this season and a 23.2 average per return.  Bullard joins junior quarterback Sammy Edwards (2), junior running back G'Mone Wilson, graduate student defensive back Nick Jackson and graduate student defensive back Jacob Harris earning player of the week honors this season.  Bullard is the first Blazer to be named Freshman of the Week since current sophomore linebacker Akil Lampley last season on Sept. 5.  Prior to that, no Blazer has earned FOW accolades since 2018.
 
BULLARD NAMED STEEL'S JEWELRY BLAZER ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Bullard also was named Steel's Jewelry Blazer Athlete of the Week, joining the honor with women's cross country standout junior Caitlyn Koske.  This is Bullard's first Steel's Jewelry Blazer Athlete of the Week as he became the tenth different Blazer to earn the honor.  He joins Sammy Edwards (2), Jacob Harris, G'Mone Wilson, Kennedy Parker, Nick Jackson, B.K. Smith, Noah Botsford and Eric Watts as Steel's Jewelry honorees. 
 
ON THIS DATE
The Blazers VSU is 3-1 all-time on Nov. 11 and this marks the first time the Blazers have been at home on this date and the third time playing UWG.  UWG won on this date in Carrollton, Ga., in 1995 with a 44-6 victory, while VSU won there in 2000 with a 45-15 victory.  VSU last played on this date in 2017 with a 52-0 victory at Shorter.  VSU first played on Nov. 11 in 1989 with a 24-10 win at North Alabama.
 
A VICTORY OVER WEST GEORGIA WOULD . . .