Eagles Seek Best SoCon Start Since 2004 at Elon
9/30/2011 11:41:00 PM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern (3-0) heads to North Carolina in search of its first 3-0 start in the Southern Conference since 2004 when they face Elon (3-1, 1-0) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 1st. The No. 1 ranked Eagles hit the road for the second time this season and have the opportunity to remain atop the Southern Conference standings.
"We are in the meat of our conference schedule now and have to travel up to Elon. What a great job Jason Swepson and his staff are doing," said Head Coach Jeff Monken in the weekly SoCon teleconference.
GSU continued their scoring output defeating Western Carolina 52-20 to improve to 2-0 in the conference. The Eagles lead the SoCon in scoring offense and total offense averaging 48.3 points per game and over 500 yards per contest. The offense tallied the third-best rushing performance in school history with 634 yards in the win over the Catamounts.
"It's great when you can rush the ball for that many yards. It is certainly an indication of being able to control the football and maintain possession which I think is important in our offense. There are still plenty of things we did not do well that we are going to work on and try to get better at," said Coach Monken.
Elon opened conference play with an 18-15 overtime victory over The Citadel last Saturday. The SoCon's leading receiver Aaron Mellette caught six passes for 97 yards including the Phoenix's lone touchdown. Mellette leads the league with 591 receiving yards and 147.8 yards per game.
"Aaron Mellette is a terrific receiver. If he is not the best receiver in our league, he is one of a few that are really good," said Coach Monken. "Mellette is special, he has 42 catches in four games."
Adam Shreiner proved the difference in the contest with the Bulldogs, connecting on four of six field goals including the game winner in overtime. Shreiner missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter, but rebounded with a game-winning 33-yard field goal in overtime.
"They did a great job of defending The Citadel this past week and obviously the similarities between The Citadel's offense and ours gives us some concern," said Coach Monken.
The game will be broadcasted live from Rhodes Stadium on the Georgia Southern Radio Network. For those traveling to the game the broadcast team of Chris Blair, Terry Harvin and Ryan Chambers can be heard on 96.5 FM in the stadium.
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