VSU football set for high stakes rivalry showdown at West Florida

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) - After a rough start out the gate for the 2025 season and the Graham Craig era of Valdosta State Blazers, the first year head coach and his Blazers have (pardon the pun) caught fire.

Now VSU will look to keep the fires hot for the final game of the regular season with a whole lot on the line. A trip to Pensacola to face rival West Florida comes with very simple stakes this Saturday.

A win gives V State the Gulf South title outright which comes with an automatic bid into the NCAA DII Playoffs. A loss more than likely ends the season for the red and black unless they’re given an at-large bid to the postseason.

“I think you see the growth throughout the year,” Said Craig of how his team has matured from a 2-4 start to a chance at the GSC Championship. “Some of the situations we didn’t handle well early in the year, we’ve handled well the last few weeks. We have seen that growth and obviously we’ve got another challenge this week and we’re going to face some adversity in this game and we’ve got to see how we respond to it.”

Kickoff against the Argonauts is set for Saturday at 3 PM Eastern.

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