Eagles Welcome Top-Ranked Appalachian State
11/6/2010 1:52:00 PM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - Top-ranked Appalachian State (8-0, 6-0 SoCon) travels to Paulson Stadium today to face Georgia Southern (4-4, 2-3 SoCon) on Homecoming. The Eagles last faced the number-one team at home in 2005 when they defeated Furman, scoring in the final 62 seconds of that contest for a 27-24 win.
Today's game is the last regular season home game for 2010 with 12 seniors stepping onto the field for the last time at Paulson Stadium.
KICKOFF
2 p.m., Saturday, November 6th at Paulson Stadium (grass / capacity 18,000)
ANNIVERSARIES
Georgia Southern is playing its 29th year of collegiate football in the modern era. The Eagles celebrate three anniversaries during the 2010 season: the 25th anniversary of the first championship in 1985, the 20th anniversary of the 1990 championship and the 10th anniversary of the 2000 championship. The 1990 and 2000 championship teams will be honored at today's game.
HOMECOMING & BLUE OUT
Today's game against Appalachian State is both Homecoming and has been designated as the "BLUE OUT" game. In a halftime ceremony, the University will announce the Homecoming king and queen for 2010. For the "BLUE OUT" game, Georgia Southern fans have been encouraged to wear as much blue as possible for today's game.
RANKINGS
Appalachian State has been ranked number one for eight straight weeks in the FCS Coaches poll and for five weeks in the Sports Network/Fathead.com poll after preseason number-three rankings. The Eagles entered the FCS Coaches poll on September 20th and moved as high as 13th earlier this season. In the Sports Network/Fathead.com poll, Georgia Southern was ranked for three weeks with a high ranking of 16th.
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.
Appalachian State's coach Jerry Moore has guided the Mountaineers for 22 years and is one of the deans of the Southern Conference along with Wofford's Mike Ayers. Moore's 197 wins at Appalachian are the most in league history and his tenure includes three-straight national championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The Mountaineers currently own a 26-game conference win streak, last falling to Georgia Southern at Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2007.
THE SERIES
The Moutaineers lead the series 13-11-1 and have won the last two meetings. The Eagles own a 7-4 record in Paulson Stadium. In three of the last four contests between the two teams, the game has been decided by a seven points or less. In 2006, ASU won a 27-20 double overtime game at Paulson. The next year, the Eagles snapped the Mountaineers' 30-game home win streak, the longest in Division I at the time. Appalachian State took a 37-36 win back to Boone in 2008.
EAGLE SENIORS
Twelve seniors will play their last regular season home game in Paulson Stadium today.
Tobi Akinniranye (Atlanta, Ga.)
Lee Banks (Augusta, Ga.)
Jared Flowers (Swainsboro, Ga.)
Paul Gourdeau (Lawrenceville, Ga.)
Carson Hill (Milledgeville, Ga.)
Brett Layson (Macon, Ga.)
Jawaun Luckey (Augusta, Ga.)
Evan Mattingly (Marietta, Ga.)
Chris Rogers (Dublin, Ga.)
Michael Veal (Marietta, Ga.)
E.J. Webb (Roanoke, Va.)
Calvin West (Mableton, Ga.)
RUSSELL ON BUCHANAN WATCH LIST
Brent Russell's disruptive play as a nose tackle earned him a spot on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List. The Buchanan Award, presented by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com, features a stellar 20-player Watch List to identify the top candidates for the Football Championship Subdivision's (FCS) outstanding defensive player award. The award winner will be announced at the national awards banquet on Thursday, Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas - the night before the national championship game.
RUN WITH IT
So far in 2010, five different Eagles have run for 100 yards or more in a single game. Freshman quarterback Jerick McKinnon was the latest to add his name to the list with 182 yards on a Georgia Southern single-game record 35 carries against The Citadel and classmate Robert Brown had a season-opening 122 yards versus Savannah State. In the win over Elon, senior Lee Banks posted a career-best 121 yards and Darreion Robinson had 116 yards versus Wofford. Senior Tobi Akinniranye had his career best with 102 yards at Chattanooga. The last time Georgia Southern had five different players record 100-yard rushing games was in 2004 with Jermaine Austin (7 games), Jayson Foster (1), Bryce Carter (1), Lance Turner (1) and Chaz Williams (3).
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.
