Football Faces Second Place Appalachian State in Boone Saturday
10/28/2011 3:02:00 PM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Football team will put their perfect 7-0, 5-0 record on the line at Appalachian State Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will air live from Kidd Brewer Stadium on the SoCon TV Network and ESPN3.
The Eagles enter the all-important matchup with the second-place Mountaineers following a 48-14 win over Presbyterian College at home on Saturday. Georgia Southern reeled off 31 points, the second-most in a quarter in school history, in the second quarter to run away with the non-conference contest against the Blue Hose.
GSU continues to lead the conference in scoring, total and rushing offense while their defense is first in the league with just 19 points allowed. The offense tallied over 500 yards for the fourth time this season in Saturday's win and is averaging 487 a contest with 370 coming on the ground. Robert Brown (Macon, Ga.) leads the rushing attack with 96.9 yards per game.
Appalachian State enters the weekend tilt tied with Wofford for second place in the Southern Conference with a 3-1 record. The Mountaineers dropped the meeting between the two schools 28-14 earlier this month in Spartanburg, S.C. Since that loss ASU has switched quarterbacks going with Jamal Jackson now instead of DeAndre Presley, who moved to cornerback.
Jackson completed 19 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown in the latest win over Samford, 35-17. The sophomore from Atlanta has already passed Presley in touchdowns with six and nearing his yardage total in just two starts this year. Appalachian State rallied from a 14-3 deficit to the Bulldogs with 21 points in the second quarter and tacked on two touchdowns in the second half for the win.
Last year's contest with Appalachian State proved pivotal in the Eagles' run to the playoffs. Georgia Southern set at 4-4 entering the contest and had just three games remaining in the regular season. The Mountaineers opened with two first quarter touchdowns and had a red-zone drive end on a Laron Scott (Warner Robins, Ga.) interception in the second quarter.
The Eagles grabbed the momentum going into halftime, scoring with just five seconds remaining on a drive that ate over four minutes off the clock. GSU used up nearly 10 minutes of clock coming out of the break and tied the game, 14-14, before taking a 21-14 lead in overtime. A fumble forced by Darius Eubanks (Thomson, Ga.) on Appalachian State's ensuing overtime period secured the first of three wins to propel the Eagles to their first playoff appearance since 2005.
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