BY THE NUMBERS - Georgia Southern football
8/26/2013 7:23:00 PM | Football
1
The toughest 2012 schedule in the FCS belonged to Georgia Southern as Eagle opponents won a combined 63.49 percent of their games last year with 92 wins against 53 losses. In the combined Division I football rankings, Georgia Southern had the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation with Florida atop that list. Five Southeastern Conference schools occupied spots two through six with the Eagles ranked ahead of Notre Dame, LSU and Kansas. The next FCS team in the combined list was 22nd.
10
Georgia Southern won its 10th Southern Conference championship in 2012, bringing the trophy back to Statesboro for the second-straight year. For the season opener August 31st, Georgia Southern Athletics presents "A Night of Champions" to honor the Eagle Football team and league champions from 2012-13 – Women's Soccer, Volleyball and Softball. These teams will be paired with previous Eagle conference champions. For more on this special event, click HERE.
31
With the highest sack total since 1998, the 2012 Georgia Southern defense recorded 31 over 14 games for a 2.29 per game average, good for a top-40 spot in the NCAA rankings. Eleven Eagles had at least one sack with senior defensive end Javon Mention tying for the most with 6.5. Four-time All-American Brent Russell broke the Eagles' career sack record in his final season with a total of 25.0.
399.4
The Eagles finished the 2012 campaign by claiming their ninth NCAA rushing title with a per-game rushing average of 399.4, best across all divisions. Georgia Southern's season average was nearly 30 yards more per game than the FBS-best Army Knights and their 369.8 per game average.
400
Saturday's game vs. Savannah State will be the 400th game in the modern era. Since the program was restarted in 1981, Georgia Southern has played 31 years of football with a 287-111-1 record. As an established program with its start in 1981, the Eagles are fourth in all-time winning percentage (72.1) behind only Michigan, Notre Dame and Boise State.
614
The Eagles racked up four of the top six single-game rushing totals last year, contributing to the dominating offense and NCAA rushing crown. The top rushing effort of 2012 in the nation was Georgia Southern's 614 yards against Western Carolina. The lowest of the top six was still pretty impressive as the 529 rushing yards against Howard produced an 11.0 yards per carry average.
3,063
With a combined 3,063 rushing yards in 2012, the duo of quarterback Jerick McKinnon and running back Dominique Swope set an NCAA record for most combined rushing yards in a single season by teammates. Swope recorded the first back-to-back individual 1,000-yard rushing seasons since 2002-03 with 1,246 last season. McKinnon had 1,817 rushing yards, third-best single-season total in program history, behind only Adrian Peterson (1998-1,932) and Jayson Foster (2007-1,844)
5,591
Changes in NCAA recordkeeping starting with the 2002 season made Georgia Southern's 2012 total 5,591 rushing yards a team record last year, though it isn't the highest team total in history. Prior to 2002, postseason games were not included in team totals, so the 1999 team that amassed 6,639 rushing yards (442.6 avg. per game) is credited only with its regular-season total of 4,609.
20,087
For the third consecutive year, Georgia Southern Football broke its regular-season attendance record, averaging 20,087 fans per game at Allen E. Paulson Stadium in 2012. Three games last year ranked on the Eagles' all-time top-15 list for single game attendance totals. More than three million fans have attended games at Paulson since Georgia Southern played its first game there in 1984.
50,000+
The excavation process in the east endzone is complete and construction crews have begun formwork for the concrete and foundation of the lower-level walls of the new 50,000-plus square foot Football Operation Center. Work also continues on the Paulson Stadium expansion which will add 1,500 seats to the on-grade seating on the north side this season and 4,500 more on deck. Georgia Southern broke ground on the new facility and the expansion projects earlier this summer.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS. Fans can follow Coach Jeff Monken on his official twitter account, @CoachJeffMonken.
