Dell McGee was in on the rivalry at the outset. He has felt both the joy of winning and pain of losing.

The Georgia State coach was the running backs coach at Georgia Southern the first year the Panthers and Eagles played in 2014 in the old Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Panthers brass and fans had been wanting to playing Georgia Southern literally from the day they started playing football. No one in Statesboro could see the merit in such a game.

It all changed though when Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference of which State was already a member. There was no longer ducking the issue so when the highly anticipated game came about before a predominant Georgia Southern crowd it became a house of horrors for the Panthers.

When the smoke had cleared the Eagles owned an incredibly dominating 69-31 win. Led by Matt Brieda’s 201 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries Georgia Southern ran for 613 yards before 28,427 fans.

Georgia Southern went on to win  the SBC championship but the following year at Paulson Stadium the Panthers had an equally dominant win as they rolled 34-7 while limiting Brieda to 45 yards and the Eagles to 135 rushing before 23,401.

From that point on it has been game on. Georgia State owns a 6-4 lead in the series. Georgia Southern’s 41-33 win last year snapped a three-game losing streak to the Panthers.

Following the 2015 season Fritz departed for Tulane and McGee, now the associate head coach, was the interim coach for the GoDaddy Bowl where he led the Eagles to a 58-27 win over Bowling Green.

"At Georgia Southern I was lucky enough to work with Willie Fritz," McGee said. "He was a great friend and a great mentor. Running the football was something we did at a high success rate while I was there. I don't miss the gnats in Statesboro but it was a great time when I was there. It was our first year being in FBS and we won a Sun Belt title and that is what I am telling our guys now is the goal for our program."

McGee was a popular choice among the players and many fans to get the head coaching job. Instead, the powers that be went with the now forgettable Tyson Summer. McGee was hired at Georgia where among other things he helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back national championships before being hired at Georgia State.

This will be the first Georgia Grown Bowl which is being sponsored by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Georgia Grown has partnered to support each institution to highlight the rivalry and showcase Georgia’s No. 1 industry which is agriculture.

After the game Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper will present the winner of the game with the Commissioner’s Cup, a symbol of Georgia’s excellence in agriculture, education and athletics.

It did not take McGee long to get a signature win. In their last game the Panthers scored a dramatic last-minute win, 36-32, over Vanderbilt.

Quarterback Christian Veilleux put together a seven-play, 75-yard drive, completing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ted Hurst with 15 seconds to play.

The Commodores aren't usually a strong squad, but last week Vandy took Missouri to two overtimes, falling just short of an upset.

McGee, who was Georgia’s recruiting coordinator, picked up Veilleux from Pitt while Hurst, who played at Savannah’s Jenkins High School, transferred from Valdosta State.

Veilleux, a junior, has completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 717 yards and six touchdowns with only one interception. He ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in passing yards and fifth in completed percentage.

Running back Freddie Brock transferred two years ago from Maine and burst on the season last year when ran for a school record 276 yards in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Brock’s 230 yards rushing, a 5.9 average, ranks third in the conference in rushing yards. He scored the go-ahead touchdown in a 21-17 win over Chattanooga, one of the top-ranked teams in FBS.

Hurst has 15 catches for 237 yards (15.8 per catch) with three touchdowns. He ranks sixth in the conference in receptions and yardage and is tied for the lead Iin touchdown catches. Last year at Valdosta he had 38 catches for 596 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games.

“We saw it on the tape,” McGee said. “it’s like ‘we’ve got something here.’ We were very lucky to get him. Just really pleased with how he’s grown in the offense.”

Not to be overlooked is linebacker Keith Swint, a transfer from Clemson, who was the SBC Defensive Player of the Week following the win over Vandy: he had eight tackles, two for loss, two sacks and broke up two passes.