JONESBORO, Ark. – Justice Hansen hit Omar Bayless with an 8-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left, and J.D. Houston made the extra point to lift Arkansas State to a 27-26 Sun Belt Conference football victory over Georgia Southern Wednesday night in Centennial Bank Stadium.

Hansen threw the fade to the back of the end zone where Bayless snatched the ball at its highest point and came down, touching his left knee in bounds and his left hand out of bounds seemingly simultaneously. It was ruled a touchdown on the field and confirmed on video review.

The Red Wolves got the ball at their own 30-yard line with 2:41 to play, but Eagle Tre Griffin crashed through the line to make a 6-yard tackle for loss, and Logan Hunt forced a hurried throw to set up 4th-and-16. Hansen went back to pass, pulled it down and used his legs for a nifty 18-yard run and a first down. Seven plays later, he threw a back shoulder fade to Kendall Sanders for a 29-yard gain to set the Red Wolves up at the 8-yard line.

Kevin Ellison completed 14 of 22 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, and L.A. Ramsby ran six times for 68 yards and a score for Georgia Southern (3-2, 2-1). Myles Campbell caught six passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, and BJ Johnson III had four receptions for 68 yards. Younghoe Koo kicked a career-high four field goals, including a 53-yarder, the 10th longest in school history. 

Warren Wand ran 19 times for 140 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 27 yards for Arkansas State (1-4, 1-0). Johnston White rushed for 126 yards, and Hansen threw for 182 yards and two scores and ran for 61 yards.

The story
Georgia Southern forced five turnovers but managed to turn them into just three points as the Eagles settled for three field goals in their three trips inside the Red Zone.

Leading 26-20, Georgia Southern turned Arkansas State over on downs on 4th-and-6 when Darius Jones Jr. and Ukeme Eligwe tackled Sanders a yard short of the first down marker with 3:06 to go.

The Eagles went three-and-out, forcing ASU to use all three of its timeouts, but were forced to punt. GS managed just eight total yards and one first down in the fourth quarter.

Georgia Southern ate up 9:04 off the clock on its first possession of the second half, and a 24-yard Koo field goal put the Eagles on top 16-10. The defense got the ball back for the Eagles a few minutes later, and Ellison hit Myles Campbell for a 63-yard highlight reel touchdown pass that made the score 23-10 late in the third.

Ellison fired a strike to Campbell in the flat, and the junior spun to the inside, then juked to the outside, got a block from Johnson III, and tiptoed the sideline for the long touchdown. 

Arkansas State cut the GS lead to 23-17 with a 55-yard touchdown run by Wand, and the Red Wolves' defense forced Eagle Matt Flynn to punt from his own end zone. Flynn boomed the punt 60 yards, the Red Wolves' returner muffed it and Keigan Williams recovered it at the ASU 26-yard line.

The Eagles' drive stalled at the 2-yard line, and they settled for a 21-yard field goal by Koo to increase the margin to 26-17 early in the fourth. Christian Matthew picked off a Hansen pass on the next play from scrimmage, but the Eagle offense could not sustain a drive. A 35-yard field goal Houston with 6:32 remaining cut the margin to 26-20.

After the Eagles were held without a first down on their first three possessions, Ramsby took it 61 yards to the house on their fourth drive. The junior took the inside handoff and went through a gaping hole up the middle and untouched to the end zone. It was the longest touchdown run of the season for GS.

Quotable from head coach Tyson Summers
"We didn't have touchdowns and points off of takeaways and didn't have enough points off of our trips in the Red Zone. We didn't make the plays when we needed to make them. They scored touchdowns, and we kicked field goals."

"It's not a lack of want to or a lack of effort. It's a lack of us playing with discipline and making the plays to win the game. We had them at 4th-and-16, and that's an example of when we should have been able to make a play, but we weren't able to do that."

Game Notes
• Captains: #21 Wesley Fields, #56 Bernard Dawson, #83 Keigan Williams, #91 Logan Hunt

• Georgia Southern won the toss and deferred to the second half. It's the fourth time GS has won the coin toss this year.

• Chris DeLaRosa picked up a forced fumble on the first drive of the game and a fumble recovery on the second drive of the game. Both were collegiate firsts for the junior.

• L.A. Ramsby opened the scoring in the first quarter with a career-long run of 61 yards. His previous long was 46 at New Mexico State in 2014

• Sophomore Joshua Moon picked up his first collegiate interception late in the first quarter to thwart an A-State drive.

• Georgia Southern had three takeaways in the first quarter, but failed to score any points off of them. They converted a fourth turnover in the fourth quarter into a 21-yard field goal from Younghoe Koo.

• Younghoe Koo connected on a career-long 53-yard field goal late in the second quarter to give the Eagles a 13-10 lead. His previous long was 49 yards against Elon in 2013. The kick Wednesday night is tied for the 10th-longest field goal in school history with Reed Haley (three times) and David Cool. He also connected on four field goals, a new career high for the senior.

• Myles Campbell hauled in a career-long 63 yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, his second career touchdown catch. The other came in GS's last game at Western Michigan.

• Christian Matthew recorded his first career interception in the fourth quarter. It was the Eagles' fifth takeaway of the game.

• Senior quarterback Kevin Ellison set new career highs in completions (14), attempts (22) and yards passing (203).

• The Eagles scored in all four quarters, running their streak to 22 straight quarters scoring dating back to the third quarter of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl. GS has scored in all 20 quarters this season.

• The loss snaps a 17-game streak for the Eagles of winning when leading at the break. Prior to tonight, the last time they lost when leading at the half was the 2014 season opener when they led NC State on the road 17-3 but lost 24-23.

• GS has played 19 Sun Belt games as it plays its third season in the conference. The Eagles are 16-3 on the field in conference games, although the 2014 win over ULM was vacated due to NCAA violations to make GS officially 15-3 in SBC games.

Next up
Georgia Southern travels to Georgia Tech Oct. 15, with kickoff set for 12:30 p.m.

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