College football has television outnumbered, which can be annoying to us fans who have to hunt for our favorite games.
        Being someone who’s pulled for South Carolina and Auburn my entire life, I’ve never had trouble finding a channel to watch my games on. When I was a kid I was fortunate enough to have a father who cared enough about college football to buy the extra “Goal Line” TV package so we could watch Auburn play Mississippi State on Jefferson Pilot.
        But now college football is more accessible than ever. With the advent of ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN app there are dozens of games at your fingertips whether you watch them on your phone, tablet or other streaming medium. But even still, some of those channels can be tough to procure depending on what TV packages you have. 
        I, along with other Georgia Southern fans ran into this issue Saturday when it turned out the Eagles would be playing Indiana on the Big Ten Network. BTN isn’t some tiny, unknown channel like BeIn Sports or CBS Sports Network — it’s been around for almost ten years now. But that doesn’t mean everyone has the channel in their package, and why would they?
        Who cares about the Big Ten in Georgia outside transplants who move here? I think I’ve watched BTN a total of three times my entire life: once was when my family got it for free when the channel debuted in 2007 (Appalachian State would upset a No. 5 Michigan that day), second was when I was interning in Nebraska and the channel was constantly on in the staff lunchroom at Midland University.
        The third was Saturday, when I was scrambling to try and find a way to watch the game in the first place. We don’t get BTN at the office and I didn’t think it would be on any of my streaming packages, so my boss and editor Mike Anthony was gracious enough to invite me to 40 East Grill to watch the game there with his friends.
        For those who haven’t been to 40 East Grill, there’s a fine dining area up front but when you make your way down the hall there’s an open bar area coupled with a outside porch. It’s the perfect setup to watch a game with some friends if you’re into that sort of thing.
        I can imagine in the heyday of Georgia Southern football bars like 40 East, Gnat’s Landing, Wild Wing Cafe and others would be packed to the brim with rowdy Georgia Southern fans cheering on the football team. The atmosphere must have been electric as fans fed off each other’s energy.
        This was not the atmosphere I experienced at 40 East. Even before kickoff there was a thick stench of pessimism wafting up from the seven or eight fans sitting at the bar. From what I understand there used to be a real enthusiasm when Georgia Southern played up against power five teams.I think there used to be a time where Eagles fans genuinely believed they could beat anyone, no matter how ridiculous the opponent.
        That stench of pessimism quickly turned into an overpowering odor of disgust as Indiana stuck their crimson boot straight up Georgia Southern’s keester. Georgia Southern’s offense operated as if they were playing in quicksand, Shai Werts looked horrified every time he touched the ball and Indiana was met with little to no resistance by the Eagle defense. 
    I sat there slumped over my ice water awkwardly sipping away as Mike, normally a jovial and outgoing guy, became more bitter and quiet with every passing moment of Georgia Southern incompetence. His friends would follow suit, making the bar a eerily quiet place to watch football. It made me uncomfortable as a neutral party to watch these loyal fans have the life sucked out of them by a football team they’ve come to know as great.
    I looked down at the Twitter feed on my phone to see the George-Anne — the GS student newspaper — had reported fans all across Statesboro had evacuated bars in frustration before the first half was over. I too left after the game went in Indiana’s favor 31-0, partially because I needed to grab dinner for my wife but also I had seen enough to know GS wasn’t going to mount a comeback in Bloomington.
    Since I’ve been working here at the Herald I’ve refrained from calling for Tyson Summers’ job. I don’t like firing people and displacing families. He’s a young coach on his first job and growing pains were to be expected. But this is a touch too far.
    See, Summers’ regime hasn’t just sapped the life out of the football program — it’s sapped the life out of this community. Let’s face it — Georgia Southern University and the city of Statesboro go hand-in-hand. If the college wasn’t here in town there would be a couple factories, some farms and nothing much else.
    To be honest, if GS wasn’t in Statesboro there’s very good chance the town would look a lot like Millen, Sylvania, Metter or Claxton — just another small rural town. The school brings so much in the way of jobs, industry and notoriety to this town — it’s hard to think Statesboro would be as populous or vibrant as it is without GS.
    If the university is the center of the community, then its pride is derived in the success of the football program. We can have another conversation about misplaced priorities another time, but there’s no doubt this town turns out for their Eagles.
    So when the people start to be turned away by the football program, that community pride starts to dwindle. That’s not good for anyone who lives in Bulloch County or beyond for that matter.
    Summers and his staff have not just let the program down, they’ve let the entire community down. The economy here gets a big boost from Georgia Southern gamedays, and if a smaller-than-usual crowd shows up next Wednesday to see Arkansas State come to town — it’s going to affect more than stadium ticket sales.
    So it’s with all that being said I think Summers’ time in Statesboro needs to come to a close. Someone needs to answer for what’s happened to the team and this community and that call rests squarely on Summers’ shoulders.