Football Travels to Coastal Carolina for 6 p.m. Saturday Game
9/17/2010 6:34:00 PM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - Playing its second straight road game, the Georgia Southern Football team (1-1) makes a trip to Conway, S.C., for the first of a home-and-home agreement with Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers will return the trip to Paulson Stadium on September 10, 2011.
KICKOFF: 6 p.m. at Brooks Stadium (capacity 9,112).
THE SERIES: This is the third meeting in the series between the two institutions with the Eagles coming away with wins in both previous meetings. In 2006, Georgia Southern took a 38-21 win at Paulson Stadium. At Brooks Stadium in the Eagles' 2007 42-34 win, eventual Walter Payton Award winner Jayson Foster recorded all six of Georgia Southern's touchdowns, setting both a Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina record for most rushing touchdowns by one individual. Foster ran for 253 yards on 28 carries, the fourth-best single-game rushing total in Georgia Southern history. In the 2006 game, Foster scored two of the Eagles' five TDs.
RADIO: The 17-affiliate Georgia Southern Radio Network will carry the game locally in Statesboro on 102.9 FM WPMX with free audio available globally on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision. Fans in Brooks Stadium can listen to the Eagles broadcast on 95.5 FM. "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 4 p.m. ET.
WEBCAST: The Big South will stream the Eagles-Chants game Saturday on bigsouthsports.com beginning at 6 p.m. The away game stream will not be shared across the JumpTV/NeuLion network. Eagle Vision subscribers and fans will have to purchase this event separately through bigsouthsports.com.
IN THEIR DEFENSE: While the return of the option offense made big news, Georgia Southern's defense is drawing some attention as well. Georgia Southern's defense, currently ranked 10th nationally in total defense, is coming off an excellent performance against Navy's option offense. The Eagles held the Midshipmen to its lowest rushing total since 2002 and lowest offensive output since 2006, but they must switch gears completely for Coastal Carolina's spread offense.
EAGLES HOLD MIDS TO SECOND HALF ZEROES: Georgia Southern held Navy scoreless in the second half, the second FBS team the Eagles have managed to blank over a half. Against UNC last October, the Eagles did not allow any Tar Heel points in the second half. Since the re-start of the program Georgia Southern has tallied nine scoreless quarters against FBS opponents - two each against Navy and UNC. Prior to 2009, the Eagles last held an FBS opponent scoreless in a quarter in 1991 (Auburn, first quarter) and two quarters in 1988 (Florida State, second and third). The 13-point total by Navy was the lowest Georgia Southern has allowed against an FBS team in its history.
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.
The first-ever football coach at Coastal Carolina, Dave Bennett spent seven years as the head coach at Catawba before heading to Conway to build the Chanticleer program. Bennett amassed a 63-17 record including a mark of 33-5 and three South Atlantic championships in his last three seasons at Catawba. From 2004-2007, Bennett guided the Chants to two Big South championships and shared a league title.
FEATHERED FOES: The Eagles and Chanticleers are two of the 16 FCS teams with bird nicknames.
RED ZONE SUCCESS: Georgia Southern's trips to the red zone have been productive so far in 2010 - a perfect 7-7 over the first two games with five rushing TDs and a field goal in six trips vs. Savannah State and a passing TD at Navy.
FREE FOOTBALL: Last weekend's five overtime contest between Coastal Carolina and Towson was just one overtime period away from tying the NCAA FCS record with six overtimes. The Chants have played in four total overtime games, including one double OT tilt, with a 1-3 record. The Eagles have played in 10 overtime games (5-5) with an NCAA record four overtime games during the 2008 season.
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 the Coastal Carolina goccusports.com website by clicking on the football schedule and launching Gametracker for the Georgia Southern-Coastal Carolina game. Score and quarter updates will also be available on twitter.com/GSScores.
