Second-Round of Playoffs Set for Eagles & Tribe
12/3/2010 10:04:00 PM | Football
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The 20th-ranked Georgia Southern Football team (8-4), winner of its last four games, travels to Zable Stadium to face No. 4 William & Mary (8-3) in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. The Tribe, Colonial Athletic Association champions, earned an automatic bid to the tournament and was seeded second among the participants. William & Mary enjoyed a bye last week and waited for its opponent to be determined as the Eagles defeated 11th-ranked South Carolina State last Saturday 41-16 in first-round action at Paulson Stadium.
KICKOFF: 1:37 p.m. Eastern Time at Zable Stadium at Cary Field.
WHERE TO WATCH
Georgia Southern fans will be able to view the Eagles-Tribe football game webcast, available for free, at NCAA.com/allaccess. John Sadak will handle play-by-play duties for the webcast and will be joined by analyst Derek Jones.
WHERE TO LISTEN
In his fifth year as the "Voice of the Eagles," Chris Blair will call all the action for Saturday's 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 by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/radionetwork. Eagle fans can listen to the Georgia Southern Radio Network broadcast inside Zable Stadium by tuning into 88.3 FM.
THE SERIES
William & Mary won the only meeting between the two schools, a 29-28 victory in Statesboro on September 6, 1997. The Tribe, coached by Jimmye Laycock, was the last team to win at Paulson Stadium before the Eagles rattled off an NCAA-record 39-straight home wins, a total that includes 11 playoff games (September 27, 1997-December 15, 2001).
THE COACHES
In his first year as head coach at Georgia Southern, Jeff Monken has guided the Eagles to their first playoff victory since 2002 with a 41-16 win over #11/12 South Carolina State. With 21 years of coaching experience, the Joliet, Ill., native has compiled an 8-4 overall record and recorded a 5-3 mark in Southern Conference play. In November, the Eagles defeated then-top-ranked and previously undefeated Appalachian State 21-14 in overtime at Paulson Stadium and picked up road wins at Western Carolina and Furman to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs.
Monken served for five years as an assistant coach on Paul Johnson's staff at Georgia Southern from 1997-2001. During that time, the Eagles went 62 and 10, winning five straight SoCon championships and won two national titles. He joined Johnson at Navy, helping the Midshipmen to five straight bowl appearances, and then at Georgia Tech, where the Yellow Jackets won an ACC title and earned an Orange Bowl berth in 2009.
The most successful coach in the history of William & Mary football, Jimmye Laycock has led his alma mater to 21 winning seasons and postseason appearances in eight of those years. The former Tribe quarterback under Marv Levy and Lou Holtz, Laycock took his squad to the NCAA FCS Semifinals last year, falling to eventual national champion Villanova.
Laycock is in his 31st season as head coach at William & Mary and ranks in the top 15 for victories among active Division I coaches and sixth among his current peers in the FCS alone. He began the season ranked fourth on the all-time CAA career wins list with 82 and among active coaches trails only Villanova's Andy Talley. Prior to returning to his alma mater, Laycock spent two years at Memphis State as quarterbacks coach (1975-76) and three years as offensive coordinator at Clemson (1977-79).
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
William & Mary is the fourth opponent the Eagles will face this season coached by an alum of the institution. Georgia Southern met Russ Huesman's Chattanooga in October and defeated Lamb (Furman) and Pough (South Carolina State) in back-to-back games.
STILL THE ONE
Georgia Southern ranks FIRST ALL-TIME with 39 playoff wins and six National Championships. Georgia Southern currently stands fourth all-time in most NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances.
Team (Appearances - Last)....................... Record
Georgia Southern (17 - 2010)....................... 39-10
Montana (20 - 2009)...................................... 30-18
Youngstown State (11 - 2006)......................... 25-7
Appalachian State (18 - 2010)....................... 23-14
Delaware (15 - 2010)..................................... 19-13
Northern Iowa (15 - 2010).............................. 18-15
Furman (15 - 2006)........................................ 17-14
Eastern Kentucky (19 - 2008)......................... 16-17
McNeese St. (14 - 2007)................................ 11-14
Eastern Illinois (13 - 2009)............................... 3-13
Jackson State (12 - 1997)............................... 0-12
AGAINST THE FIELD
Georgia Southern owns a 2-1 regular-season record against the NCAA FCS Playoff field with wins over top-seeded Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina with a loss to Wofford.
FROST ON THE PUMPKIN
One of Coach Erk Russell's well-known sayings reminded everyone that the Eagles needed to be playing well when the "frost was on the pumpkin." The remark about cold-weather might be less relevant with global warming and temperatures in the 70s in Statesboro, but Georgia Southern did go 4-0 in November for the first time since 2005. The Eagles will be playing in December for the first time since 2002.
HE PUNTS... HE TACKLES... HE PASSES
Junior punter Charlie Edwards (Tifton, Ga.) registered a couple of tackles earlier in the year, showing his prowess on special teams, not only as the punter and kicker, but also as the last line of defense. Edwards, a first-team all-conference selection by both the Southern Conference coaches and media association added another stat category to his line: passer. Edwards connected with Carter Jones on a 14-yard pass on 4th-and-8 to pick up a first down. Adrian Mora add three points to the Eagles' score with a 23-yard field goal to end the drive.
SCOTT SCAMPERS FOR RECORD
Junior kickoff return specialist Laron Scott (Warner Robins, Ga.) broke Andre Weathers' single-game record (167) for most kickoff return yards in a single game with his 173 yards against Wofford and tied the record for returns with 6 with former Eagles Darrell Pasco (vs. Furman, 2009) and Marvin Bell (Bethune-Cookman, 1984) in the same game. Scott is two returns away from tying Nay Young's single-season record of 33 returns.
Scott surpassed Young and his 1986 season-record 715 yards on kickoff returns in the Furman game. Scott currently has 846 yards on 31 returns in 2010.
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 88. Mora has been perfect in PATs in his career, 88-88 (31 in 2008, 19 in 2009, and 38 straight so far in 2010). Mora has accounted for at least one point in every game in which he has played.
SAFETY FIRST... AND SECOND
Georgia Southern recorded not one, but two safeties against South Carolina State Nov. 27th. The NCAA record for safeties in a game (and a half) is three, but no current record exists for multiple safeties recorded on kickoffs. NCAA.com play-by-play announcer Greg Rakestraw commented after the Eagles' first safety on a kickoff that "folks might see one of those every five years." At the start of the fourth quarter, a Bulldog fumble on the kickoff that went into the end zone provided the Eagles another safety.
LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT
Prior to Robert Brown's 80-yard, 11-second touchdown romp at Western Carolina, sophomore slotback Darreion Robinson (Bishop, Ga.) held the distinction of scoring the touchdowns on the Eagles' shortest and longest drives in 2010. Brown now has the longest touchdown play in the shortest amount of time.
Robinson had a 76-yard sprint on the first play of an Eagle series for a touchdown against Wofford, taking a mere 16 seconds off the clock. Against Appalachian State, Robinson ran for a two-yard score just before the half. The drive ate up 9:27 of clock and tied the previous high of 16 plays in a drive.
Georgia Southern had its longest scoring drive of the year in the fourth quarter against Furman with a 20-play, 93-yard touchdown drive that took 10:53 off the clock. The drive ended with a one-yard J.J. Wilcox run which was followed by a Wilcox rush for the two-point conversion.
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 a game at Paulson Stadium.
The Eagles ranked sixth in the national rankings for average home regular-season attendance with a 19,110 fans per game average, the highest average in the history of the program. 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.
PACKING PAULSON STADIUM, PART II
Paulson Stadium witnessed its first-round record crowd with 11,577 fans when Georgia Southern and South Carolina State played November 27th. The attendance figure, adjusted after final calculations, was the highest attendance figure from first-round sites.
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.
