Eagles and Mids Meet for First Time in History Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
9/11/2010 3:52:00 AM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern travels to the "Old Line State" for the first time for its first-ever meeting with the U.S. Naval Academy Saturday, September 11th in Annapolis, Md. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast by CBS College Sports. While the meeting may be the first between the Eagles and the Midshipmen, Georgia Southern Head Coach Jeff Monken is very familiar with this week's opponent, having spent six years on Paul Johnson's staff at Navy from 2002-2007 and recruiting at least a dozen current Navy team members.
The Eagles (1-0) opened the 2010 season with a 48-3 win over Savannah State at Paulson Stadium last weekend, posting 540 yards of total offense. Six different Georgia Southern players scored rushing touchdowns, with five of the six scoring their first career touchdowns. Freshman Robert Brown (Macon, Ga.) ran for 122 yards on 20 carries, becoming the first freshman to run for more than 100 yards since Adrian Peterson in 1998. Junior Adrian Mora (Dalton, Ga.), who earned the SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week Award for his 5-5 PATs and 2-2 FGs, scored the first points of 2010 with a field goal in the first quarter.
Georgia Southern's defense held the Tigers to 23 yards of total offense in the first half and did not allow the lone Savannah State field goal until the third quarter. The Tigers finished the game with only 80 yards rushing and 92 yards passing.
KICKOFF: 3:30 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Md. (capacity 34,000)
THE SERIES: This is the first meeting between Georgia Southern and Navy.
RADIO: The 17-affiliate Georgia Southern Radio Network will carry the game locally in Statesboro on 102.9 FM WPMX, globally on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision and 101.5 FM in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "Voice of the Eagles" Chris Blair, Eagle standout punter Terry Harvin and sideline reporter Ryan Chambers bring fans the Citizens Bank pre-game show beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.
TV: Craig Bolerjack will handle play-by-play duties and Randy Cross will provide color analysis for the CBS College Sports broadcast. CBS College Sports is available on channel 152 on Dish Network and 613 on DIRECTV. The game is available for free on navysports.com by registering with the Midshipmen's all-access package.
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.
OLD LINE STATE: The Eagles have never played a team located in the state of Maryland and have never played a game in the Old Line State. With Saturday's game, Georgia Southern adds a 23rd state to its list of travels and a third state capital to its list of game sites. Tallahassee, Fla., and Atlanta, Ga., are the other two capitals.
FREEDOM, GEORGIA SOUTHERN'S LIVE MASCOT: Freedom, Georgia Southern University's live American bald eagle, will be on the sidelines with the team. Six-and-a-half years old, Freedom was found knocked out of a nest in Maitland, Fla., when he was only a few weeks old. A permanent injury to his beak prevented his release into the wild and he was acquired by the Georgia Southern Wildlife Education Center in May 2004.
Freedom serves as an ambassador for wildlife and is one of only two eagles in the nation that fly before collegiate football games.
THIS DATE IN EAGLE FOOTBALL HISTORY: September 11, 1982, was the date of the first game of the modern era for Georgia Southern. The Eagles defeated Central Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., 16-9.
THE COACHES: Jeff Monken, with 21 years of coaching experience, is 1-0 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 two national championships during that stretch. In six years with Johnson at Navy, the program went to five consecutive bowl games and won five straight Commander-in-Chief's Trophies.
Ken Niumatalolo (18-11) begins his third season as the head coach of the Midshipmen. Prior to being named head coach in 2007, Niumatalolo had two coaching stints at the Naval Academy for a combined 10 seasons, including the last six where he served as assistant head coach and offensive line coach. Niumatalolo's 18 wins are the most wins in school history by a coach in his first two years, while Navy's 10 wins in 2009 are tied for the most wins in school history.
GAME UPDATES: Live stats can be followed on the navysports.com gameday site. Score and quarter updates will also be available on twitter.com/GSScores.
