First SoCon Road Game Brings Eagles to Chattanooga
10/16/2010 7:19:00 AM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern heads to Chattanooga for its first Southern Conference road game of 2010 and will face a Mocs team that has won three straight contests. Chattanooga opened the season with losses on the road at then-third ranked Appalachian State and at then-fifth-ranked Jacksonville State before picking up wins against Eastern Kentucky and at Western Carolina. The Eagles prevented the Mocs from winning four consecutive games during Coach Huesman's inaugural season in 2009 with a 30-20 win at Paulson Stadium.
KICKOFF
6 p.m., Saturday, October 16th, at Finley Stadium (capacity 20,688)
WHERE TO LISTEN
In his fifth year as the "Voice of the Eagles," Chris Blair will call all the action for Saturday's 6 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 107.3 FM inside Paulson Stadium.
WHERE TO WATCH
Georgia Southern fans will be able to view the Eagles-Mocs football game webcast as part of their Eagle Vision subscription. Chattanooga 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.
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).
THE SERIES
Georgia Southern holds a 20-3 record in the all-time series with a 9-2 mark against the Mocs at Finley Stadium. The Eagles are 11-3 in Finley Stadium which includes National Championship wins in 1999 and 2000 and a loss in the title game in 1998.
THE RANKINGS
After the loss to Wofford, the Eagles moved back a few spots in the national polls with a number 18 ranking in the Coaches' poll and the 21st spot in the Sports Network/Fathead.com poll. Chattanooga has received votes in both polls.
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.
Chattanooga alum and head coach Russ Huesman, the SoCon Coach of the Year for 2009, is in his second season leading the Mocs. Huesman led Chattanooga to a 6-5 record last year, the Mocs first winning season since 2005. Part of the success at Richmond and its 2008 national title team, Huesman was the defensive coordinator for the Spiders for five years. His coaching lineage includes tenure at William and Mary and at the University of Memphis.
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 68. Mora has been perfect in PATs in his career, 68-68 (31 in 2008, 19 in 2009, and 18 straight so far in 2010).
RED ZONE FOR BLUE
The Eagles' 90 percent (18 of 20) success rate in the red zone is 14th nationally. Georgia Southern has 14 touchdowns and four field goals on 20 trips.
STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS
Junior quarterback Jaybo Shaw (Flowery Branch, Ga.) would rank fourth in the national rankings for passing efficiency at 168.27, 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.
PACKING PAULSON STADIUM
Two of Georgia Southern's home games have attracted more than 20,000 fans with 21,403 in the stands for the Wofford game and 20,340 for the season-opening win against Savannah State. Those two figures rank 23rd and 24th, respectively, among the nation's marks for single-game attendance so far in 2010. The 21,403 attendance for the Wofford game was the 10th-largest crowd to see at game at Paulson Stadium.
The Eagles are currently fourth in the national rankings for average attendance with a 20,045 fans per game average. Last season, the Eagles averaged 16,728 fans for home games, placing Georgia Southern eighth nationally among FCS schools. In eight of the last nine seasons, Georgia Southern has been ranked in the top 10 in average attendance among FCS schools.
DONATE TICKETS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL
The October 30th game vs. Samford has been designated "Military Appreciation Day" and 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.
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.
