STATESBORO, Ga. – With a short week to prepare for a Sun Belt Conference game, there could have been plenty of excuses for lackluster play, but Eagle fans had no concerns as Georgia Southern scored just 1:34 into the game off a Troy turnover and never looked back in a 42-10 Sun Belt Conference win. The Eagles posted their sixth straight conference win before a national television audience on ESPNU Thursday night and recorded their seventh win of 2014.
 
Troy won the coin toss and elected to receive, but Matt Dobson forced a fumble on the kickoff return and Rayquan Sam came out of the pile with the ball. Three plays later, Kevin Ellison went into the end zone from 6 yards out on a quarterback keeper and the Eagles were ahead 7-0.
 
"It was a big hit by Dobson and a good recovery by Rayquan," said Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz. "We got points right after it, and it was a great way to start the game." After the Eagles' quick three-yard score off the turnover, the Eagles got the ball back after a three-and-out by Troy, and marched down the field on 15 plays and finished with a second Ellison touchdown to put Georgia Southern up 14-0.
 
The Georgia Southern defense was stout in the contest, holding Troy to 154 total yards. Junior safety Antonio Glover led the Eagles with eight tackles and senior linebacker Edwin Jackson had six, including a tackle for loss. Junior linebacker Antwione Williams had five with a tackle for a loss of eight yards.
 
"We had some big minus plays, did a great job of tackling and got a lot of 3-and-outs," said Fritz. "A couple of times they ran nice screen plays or the quarterback scrambled out of there, and I thought 'oh boy, they might have us here,' but we made some great open-field tackles."
 
Meanwhile, the offense continued to display an insatiable appetite for rushing yards and touchdowns as the Eagles gobbled up 421 yards on the ground and ran for six scores. It was the Eagles' fifth game with 400 yard of rushing or more as Ellison ran for 99 yards and a career-best three touchdowns, and L.A. Ramsby rushed for two scores and 55 yards.
 
Favian Upshaw had 96 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, and Matt Breida finished with 72 yards on 16 carries. Georgia Southern was 10-of-13 on third down, held the ball for 38:43 of the contest and punted just once.
 
"They decided they would try to take away the quarterback so it was a give read most of the time," said Fritz. "That's fine when you can pick up four or five yards a play, which were able to do."
 
Ramsby kept the 15-play drive alive by running for a first down on 4^th-and-inches. On 3^rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Ellison faked a run, then faked a pass, then saw an opening to the left and took it himself into the end zone for the two-touchdown lead.

Through three quarters, Troy had 83 yards of total offense and was on the short side of the possession time at 21:17 to the Eagles' 38:43.  The Trojans punted six times and were without a touchdown until the final 1:18 of the game.
 
Troy (1-8, 1-4) took advantage of the Eagles' first turnover of the game to get on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when a fumble set the Trojans up at the Eagle 39-yard line. Troy moved the ball inside the 10, but on 3^rd down, Brandon Silvers overthrew B.J. Chitty and the Trojans had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Ryan Kay.
 
Upshaw carried the load for the Eagles on their fourth drive. The sophomore quarterback's five  rushes in the series totaled 68 yards and he converted two 3^rd downs with long runs. Ramsby finished the job by taking a handoff and darting left for a 4-yard touchdown run that put the Eagles up 21-3 midway through the second quarter.
 
Georgia Southern went 84 yards in nine plays, and Ellison kept it for a 2-yard TD run on the opening possession of the second half. Ellison's 30-yard run keyed another scoring drive early in the fourth quarter as Ramsby found pay dirt on a 9-yard scamper to make the score 35-3. Upshaw capped Georgia Southern's scoring with a 19-yard run around the left side that extended the margin to 42-3 with 5:58 remaining.
 
Georgia Southern returns to action with a Sun Belt Conference contest at Texas State Nov. 8. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. Eastern with the game available on ESPN3.
 
GAME NOTES: Ellison's first TD is the earliest the Eagles have scored in a game this season (13:26 of the first quarter)… Georgia Southern is the 10th team in FBS to post seven wins this season and is now assured of an above .500 record in its first FBS campaign… It's the 27^th season in the modern era in which Georgia Southern has posted at least seven wins… It's the Eagles' best start in conference play since 2004… Sam Houston State won its first six conference games in conference play under Fritz in 2012… Georgia Southern improved to 5-1 in games in the Peach State this season with the lone loss coming at Georgia Tech… The Eagles have 46 rushing TDs this season, already a Sun Belt Conference record; the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season is 61… For the third time in four years, the Eagles posted four wins in the month of October… (4-0 in 2013, 4-0 in 2012, 4-1 in 2011) Georgia Southern tight end James Dean was knocked out on a play just over a minute into the third quarter; he regained consciousness and was transported to East Georgia Regional Medical Center for tests.
 
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