BY THE NUMBERS -- Georgia Southern Football
11/26/2014 7:38:00 PM | Football
Special day at Paulson as program honors 22 seniors, shows appreciation for fans
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By the Numbers – 11-26-2014
Georgia Southern heads into the final home game of the 2014 schedule vs. ULM this Saturday, November 29th. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., but the ceremony to honor the 22 Eagle seniors will begin prior to the game. Come to Allen E. Paulson Saturday and cheer on the Eagles as they vie for an undefeated, undisputed Sun Belt Conference Championship. Gameday info all here: GSEagles.com/gameday.
1
With the exception of the Sun Belt Conference's first year of existence in 2001 when North Texas and Middle Tennessee State were co-champions, Georgia Southern becomes the first program in Sun Belt history to earn a league title in its first year of participation and has the best-ever conference start at 7-0 for a program in its inaugural year.
3
Of the programs that had a conference affiliation in their initial year of FBS competition, Georgia Southern is only the third program to win at least a share of a league title, joining Nevada (1992) and Marshall (1997). Only two other programs since 1978 have posted more wins in their inaugural years with Marshall (10-3 in 1997) finishing its 12-game slate at 10-2 and Florida Atlantic recording a 9-3 mark in 2004 as an independent.
8
Ranked 8th in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll, Georgia Southern becomes the lowest-ranked team in the league's history to capture a least a share of the conference championship. On three previous occasions the sixth-ranked team has earned a share: 2006 -- Troy (3) & Middle Tennessee State (6); 2007 – Troy (1) & Florida Atlantic (6) and 2010 -- Troy (2) & Florida International (6).
10
Sophomore Matt Breida was named one of 10 Doak Walker Award semifinalists last week. The award recognizes the top running back in the nation and is named after three-time SMU All-America running back, 1948 Heisman Trophy winner and College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Doak Walker. Breida is among the national leaders in rushing yards per game, points per game and touchdowns and owns the best per-carry average in the nation at 9.43 yards per attempt.
22
Twenty-two Eagles will play their last game at Paulson Stadium this evening. This group was a part of 46 wins, three conference championships, seven NCAA playoff wins and three NCAA semifinal appearances. This heralded group made history with Georgia Southern's first-ever win over an FBS program last November and again this season with the Eagles' first-ever Sun Belt Conference championship.
30
It's been 30 days since Georgia Southern last played a game at home at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, notching a win over Troy on October 30th. Only three times previously has the stretch without a home game been longer, 35 days, during the 1986, 1988 and 1991 seasons.
88
A one-play, 23-second jaunt for an 88-yard touchdown for Matt Breida put him in the Georgia Southern record book for the third-longest TD run in school history. Only Mark Myers' 92-yard touchdown run vs. Appalachian State in 2002 and Adrian Peterson's 91-yard TD vs. ETSU in 1998 are longer. Senior RB Ean Days had an 80-yard score earlier this season that ranks 11th all time.
95
Senior linebacker Edwin Jackson, who was nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy to recognize the nation's top football player who started his career as a walk-on, surpassed his 2013 season total of 92 tackles with 95 in 11 games so far this year. The former walk-on has started every game for the last two seasons and will finish his career as the Eagles' leading tackler for both the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
276
Georgia Southern racked up 276 rushing yards in the second half at Navy to push its total for the game to 375 to maintain the highest rushing average in the nation at 385.5. The Eagles' rushing total was buoyed by 93 yards on the ground by Matt Breida in each of the third and fourth quarters. He had only one quarter, the first quarter at South Alabama, with more rushing yards – 103.
992
Sophomore quarterback Kevin Ellison is closing in on his first season with 1,000 rushing yards, currently at 992 entering the ULM game. Ellison needs just 21 more carries for the minimum 300 attempts to be ranked on Georgia Southern's career yards per rush list. He has 1,878 career rushing yards on 279 carries for a 6.73 average, which would rank third behind Ricky Harris (6.75) and Jayson Foster (6.74).
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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can follow Coach Willie Fritz on his official twitter account, @CoachWEFritz.
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