Georgia Southern Head Coach Willie Fritz began his 22nd year as a head coach and his first as the leader of the Eagle Football program as it makes its FBS debut. The Shawnee Mission, Kansas, native has developed winning programs and cultivated success at each of his head coaching stops. He won two national championships at Blinn College, guided Central Missouri to 11 winning seasons and led Sam Houston State to back-to-back national championship appearances. He was selected as the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year at the FCS level in 2012 and was recognized nationally in 2011 as the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach of the Year. His 97-47 mark in 13 seasons as the Mules' head coach ranked Fritz as the winningest coach in the program's 118-year history where he was the only coach to ever win seven or more games in eight consecutive seasons.
 

The former offensive coordinator at New Mexico State in 2011, Doug Martin is now in his second season as head coach of the Aggies after a season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College. The native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kentucky, his alma mater, where he played quarterback for the Wildcats. He spent four years at East Tennessee State and then 11 seasons at East Carolina under Head Coach Steve Logan, serving as the offensive coordinator there from 1996-2002. He made an instant impact on Kent State as the offensive coordinator in 2003 and was named the Golden Flashes head coach a year later, a position he held from 2004-2010. Regarded as one of the nation's best quarterback mentors, Martin's list of proteges includes David Garrard, record-setting CFL quarterback Marcus Crandell and former collegiate quarterbacks Richard Alson and Joshua Cribbs.

QUICK HITS
The firsts continue with the Georgia Southern Football program's first-ever game against a team from New Mexico and first-ever trip to the "Land of Enchantment"...Coach Willie Fritz has played one previous game in the state of New Mexico, defeating the Lobos 48-45 in overtime in Albuquerque in 2011 for his first-career FBS win while he was head coach at Sam Houston State... The Eagles have faced opponents who have worn pink shoes, pink shoelaces, and pink wristbands, but the Aggies will be the first opponent to wear pink jerseys for "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" day in honor of October and Breast Cancer Awareness month... Coach Fritz is 63-28-1 in the month of October... Georgia Southern is 4-0 on October 4th with Coach Fritz posting a 3-0 mark in his head coaching career on that date... To date, Coach Fritz is 23-7 as a coach in NCAA Division I conference games (2-0 Sun Belt, 21-7 Southland)... Aggie linebacker Jesse Forte, from Atlanta, Ga., played on same Parkview team as Eagle Patrick Flowe and played for then-head coach Cecil Flowe, Patrick's father...  Sophomore quarterback Kevin Ellison was named the Sun Belt Conference's Offensive Player of the Week for Week 5, the first player in the league to earn the distinction twice so far this year... Ellison and sophomore running back Matt Breida have combined to win that award three total times in 2014... With 408 yards rushing vs. Appalachian State, Georgia Southern adds another single-game total to the NCAA top 20 for single-game efforts at No. 19 with the Eagles' 564 vs. Savannah State) good for second in that category.

FIVE FOR FIVE
Sophomore running back Matt Breida has scored the first touchdown for the Eagles in every game this season, all in the first quarter. Of those first five, four scores have gone for more than 60 yards. Breida's first career TD was a 61 yarder at N.C. State, which is a part of Georgia Southern history as the program's first FBS touchdown. He ran for a 56-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the Eagles their lead over Appalachian State last Thursday. 

#PACKPAULSON
Georgia Southern's exceptional home field advantage -- and home record -- is due in large part to the vocal and spirited Eagle Nation. Thursday's attendance of 24,535 was the largest regular-season attendance in Paulson Stadium history and second-best of all-time.

OUR HOUSE
Georgia Southern owns a 178-33 record in Paulson Stadium for an .844 winning percentage, which currently ranks as the third best in the nation behind Baylor (2-0, 1.000) and Marshall (138-25, .847).

ELLISON EARNS SUN BELT OFFENSIVE POTW HONORS (AGAIN)
Georgia Southern sophomore quarterback Kevin Ellison earned his second Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor this week after leading the Eagles to a 2-0 mark with a 34-14 win over App. State Thursday.

Ellison was responsible for two touchdowns, one rushing, one passing, and ran for a season-best 151 yards, rushing for his third 100-yard plus game in 2014. He averaged 7.2 rushing yards per play and his long run of 25 yards from midfield set up an efficient four-play drive and 17-point lead over the Mountaineers midway through the first half.

The Cornelia, Ga., native added a 6-10 passing performance in the victory, which included a 17-yard touchdown toss, his fourth of the year, to junior wide receiver B.J. Johnson. The Eagles rank at the top of the Sun Belt Conference statistical categories for scoring offense, total offense, rushing offense and passing efficiency.

LEGENDS OF FOOTBALL
The Eagle Football Alumni Association (EFAA) will hold its annual "Legends of Football" golf tournament on Friday, October 10th prior to Homecoming. The shotgun start begins at 1 p.m. and all proceeds will support the Georgia Southern Football program as well as former Eagles in need. This week is the final week to register. Details are available online at tinyurl.com/EFAALegends.