Eagles and Bulldogs Have Options on Saturday

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Football team makes its second straight road trip this weekend as the Eagles (3-3, 1-2 SoCon) head to Charleston, S.C., to face The Citadel (2-5, 0-4 SoCon) in a key Southern Conference matchup. The Eagles have won three straight games in the series, but the average margin of victory in the last five meetings is a mere 4.27 points.

Both Georgia Southern and The Citadel installed the option during the past offseason with the Bulldogs running this offensive scheme for the first time since 1996. Georgia Southern has already played two other option teams in Navy and Wofford while Saturday's game will be the first time the Bulldogs will face an option team since returning to the offense themselves since these two teams met in 1996.

KICKOFF
1 p.m., Saturday, October 23rd at Johnson Hagood Stadium (grass / capacity 21,000)

WHERE TO LISTEN
In his fifth year as the "Voice of the Eagles," Chris Blair will call all the action for Saturday's 1 p.m. matchup on the 17-station Georgia Southern Radio Network. Eagle standout Terry Harvin provides the color commentary and Ryan Chambers brings the sideline experience to the broadcast. The game can be heard locally in Statesboro on 102.9 WPMX-FM or globally online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision. A complete list of affiliates can be found at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/radionetwork. The broadcast will be available at 97.5 FM inside Johnson Hagood Stadium.

WHERE TO WATCH
Georgia Southern fans will be able to view the Eagles-Bulldogs football game webcast as part of their Eagle Vision subscription. The Citadel and Georgia Southern are both partners on the NeuLion/JumpTV network and the game is available for both live and on-demand viewing for the $9.95 monthly subscription. Visit GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision for additional information, to sign in or register.

THE SERIES
Georgia Southern holds a 15-4 series advantage coming into the 20th meeting between the two schools. Of those 15 wins, five have come in eight meetings at Johnson Hagood Stadium. The Eagles have won three straight in the series and eight of the last 10 contests. The last five games in the series have been won by an average of 4.25 points, including the last meeting in Charleston, a 2008 triple overtime 44-41 Georgia Southern win.

The last two meetings have been proven to be opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of scoring. Last year's contest was the lowest scoring game in the series in terms of total points scored (13 to 6=19) while the 2008 game produced 85 points (44-41 3OT), tying the previous high for combined total in a 54-31 Georgia Southern win in 1998 at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

THE COACHES
Jeff Monken, with 21 years of coaching experience, is in his first year as head coach of the Eagles. Monken served for five years as an assistant coach on Paul Johnson's staff at Georgia Southern from 1997-2001. During that time, 62 victories were recorded against only 10 losses. The Eagles won five straight SoCon championships and won two national championships during that stretch.

Returning to the collegiate ranks in 2005 after spending four years with the Detroit Lions, Kevin Higgins is now in his sixth season as head coach of The Citadel. Two challenging seasons followed the Bulldogs' 2007 season, one of the most successful with seven wins and a second straight season with a winning conference record. Higgins, the head coach at Lehigh before moving to the NFL in 2001, led the Mountain Hawks to three straight playoff appearances and a 34-4 record in the final three years of his seven-year tenure.

EVEN MORE FOR MORA
With two PATs against Wofford, junior kicker Adrian Mora (Dalton, Ga.) tied and then set the Georgia Southern career record for consecutive PATs made, currently standing at 71. Mora has been perfect in PATs in his career, 71-71 (31 in 2008, 19 in 2009, and 21 straight so far in 2010). Mora has accounted for at least one point in every game in which he has played.

RED ZONE FOR BLUE
The Eagles' 91 percent (21 of 23) success rate in the red zone is 11th nationally. Georgia Southern has 15 touchdowns and six field goals on 23 trips.

STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS
Junior quarterback Jaybo Shaw (Flowery Branch, Ga.) would rank fifth in the national rankings for passing efficiency at 160.48, however, his name probably won't appear in that category anytime soon. Shaw does not qualify for the standings because he does not pass for the minimum 15 attempts average per game.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 16TH IN GRIDIRON POWER INDEX
The first Gridiron Power Index (GPI) of the 2010 season was released earlier this week with Delaware in the top spot and five Southern Conference teams ranked in the top 25. The Eagles are currently 16th in the index ranking with Appalachian State at number two and Wofford tied with Western Illinois at 11th. Chattanooga is tied for 21st with Southeast Missouri State and Furman is tied for 23rd with South Carolina State.

DONATE TICKETS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL
This is the final week for fans to donate tickets for the October 30th "Military Appreciation Day" football vs. Samford. The University will honor members of the Armed Forces by providing free tickets to the game to military personnel. Fans may donate tickets that might otherwise go unused or purchase tickets to donate to this campaign. Please contact the Georgia Southern Athletics Ticket Office at 800-GSU-WINS or 912-478-9467 or Athletics Marketing at 912-478-1500 for more information.

ANNIVERSARIES
The Eagles celebrate three anniversaries during the 2010 season: the 25th anniversary of the first championship in 1985 (more than 50 members of the 1985 team returned for the Wofford game October 9th), the 20th anniversary of the 1990 championship and the 10th anniversary of the 2000 championship (both teams honored on November 6th).

SUPPORTING THE GULF COAST
Southern Conference football teams will show their support for those being negatively impacted along the Gulf Coast by wearing helmet decals with the initials "GC" during the 2010 football season. More than 170 SoCon football players come from states that share a coastline being affected by the oil spill. The nine institutions that play SoCon football agreed to display the decals to express their support and encouragement for the people living in the region.

GAME UPDATES
Live stats can be followed on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com website by scrolling to the schedule at the bottom of the home page and clicking on the "Live Stats" link. Score and quarter updates will also be available on twitter.com/GSScores.

Category: Football

Published on Friday, 22 October 2010 16:01