To say Georgia Southern’s defense has been kicked around and abused, both on the field and in the stands, this season would be somewhat of an understatement.

But senior defensive end Davion Rhodes thinks the worm is starting to turn as the Eagles start a Sun Belt Conference stretch drive in which they need to win two of their three remaining games in order to gain bowl eligibility.

Playing for a conference championship is now out of the question for Georgia Southern (4-5, 2-3) but if it can scratch out at least two wins against Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion and Marshall it’ll be going bowling for a fourth straight year.

That quest starts Saturday when the Chants (6-3, 5-1) bring a four-game win streak to Paulson Stadium. Game time is 6 p.m. Georgia Southern leads the series 7-4 and has won the last two meetings.

The Eagles are coming off a 25-23 win at Appalachian State, only their second win at App since 2007, in a performance which Rhodes said gave the defense a much-needed shot of confidence.

It was Georgia Southern’s first road win of the season in a game in which it limited the Mountaineers’ Rashod Dubinion, who entered the game as the SBC’s leading rusher, to only 40 yards on 12 carries, 12 of which came on one play. As a team App had only 77 yards rushing.

“The confidence of the defense is rising,” Rhodes said. “Last week we changed some things around (three-man front) and put it together as far as how we operate as a defense.

“I feel like for the most part we made some improvement and our confidence is up tremendously,” Rhodes said. “Simply running to the ball, something we work on week in and week out, and making the play when we get there.”

The Eagles did not completely shut down the Mountaineers as App had 425 yards total offense thanks to 348 through the air, but the defense made plays when it had to. Appalachian was only 4 of 14 on third down attempts.

It was a heartening performance for Coach Clay Helton and defensive coordinator Brandon Bailey as the Eagles head down a difficult finishing stretch against teams with strong offenses.

“It was really neat to see the (defense’s) confidence raise from one of the opening drives of the second half,” Helton said. “It was 3rd-and-8 and every kid held up that 4th-down signal. To see that swagger about them. That’s what I hope to see this Saturday.

“They got something in that game that they didn’t have earlier. Confidence is a special thing and I hope they can do that again. I know they can.”

Until its current streak Coastal had struggled offensively this season. It is averaging only 333.5 yards per game, 192.9 on the ground, but that is somewhat misleading. It has been on a tear since making Samari Collier the starting quarterback.

The Chanticleers ran for 324 yards at Georgia State last week and is averaging 267.5 yards rushing and 410.5 per game in its last four outings.

“That’s a challenge for us but we’ll approach it he same way we did last week,” Rhodes said of the revamped Coastal offense. “We’ll attack and get to the ball and make sure we make the play.”

Rhodes said he and his teammates understand the importance of the win at App and noted by winning it helped avoid the pressure of having to win out in order to gain bowl eligibility.

With two of the three remaining games at Paulson he likes the Eagles’ chances of avoiding going into the season finale at Marshall needing a win to go bowling.

“That was big,” Rhodes said of the win over the Mountaineers. “Our confidence is rising because that was something (winning on the road) we couldn’t get done. To see that we finally got it done helps us in many ways as far as our confidence and preparing for the next game.

“It took a little bit of the pressure off knowing we don’t have to win every game from this point,” Rhodes said. “To see that we have a chance is very important to us.

“We know the power of Paulson. We have the advantage of knowing we don’t have to travel to somebody else’s place and play for our post-season.”