The Georgia Southern Eagles football program represents Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference under head coach Chad Lunsford. The Eagles have won six FCS national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners. The Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924; however, play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981. The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 until 1992 as the Eagles' main conference at the time, the Trans America Athletic Conference, did not sponsor football, and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 until 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships. Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014. The Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member. Georgia Southern's main Sun Belt rival is Appalachian State.