One consistent force Samford has had since it joined the Southern Conference before the start of the 2008 season has been running back Chris Evans.
    Now a senior, Evans is second in the league in rushing with 98.1 yards per game and has scored five rushing touchdowns. He’s been doing it since he was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference’s All-Newcomer team as a freshman in 2007.
    The other constant for the Bulldogs (3-4, 1-3), as far as folks in Statesboro are concerned, has been beating Georgia Southern, which they’ve done both times the teams have met since they joined the SoCon.
    The Eagles were 3-0 against SU before 2008.
    “I’m looking forward to getting after them, not only for this year, this team, but for other years and overall for Georgia Southern,” said sophomore GSU nose tackle Brent Russell.
    Samford entered the league as a power running team, but has expanded its offense with some spread formations, and even some wildcat.
    Evans is at the center of it all.
    “He’s got a leg up on every running back in this league that I’ve seen,” said defensive coordinator Brent Pry. “Samford has kind of had Georgia Southern’s number, so they’ve got that going for them. As we grow and develop as a defense, we’re getting better at defending I-backs and tight-end oriented teams, three and four wides, and that’s where we’ve got to come. We’re not near good enough against that stuff. Hopefully we took a big step from Chattanooga to Samford.”
    Against Chattanooga, the Eagles (4-3, 2-2) gave up 195 rushing yards — 148 in the second half — to an offense that is often similar to Samford’s.
    Samford and GSU have one thing in common on the offensive side of the ball — they’ve both had to turn to the backup quarterback. Sophomore backup Connor Lowery took over for injured Samford junior Dustin Taliaferro against Furman after splitting time until that point.
    Similarly, Georgia Southern backup Jerick McKinnon rushed 35 times in Saturday’s 20-0 win at The Citadel after starter Jaybo Shaw went down on the game’s second offensive play.
    Fortunately for the Eagles, Shaw is expected to return Saturday when GSU hosts Samford at 2 p.m. at Paulson Stadium.
    “We’d love to play Jerick some. Jaybo’s our quarterback, but we know that we can put Jerick in the game,” said GSU coach Jeff Monken. “That’s one of the things about having had to play the whole game at The Citadel, it gave him some confidence.”
    Defensively, Samford hangs its hat on size.
    The Bulldogs are lead by middle linebacker Bryce Smith, who was voted preseason SoCon defensive player of the year. He is No. 1 in the league in total tackles with 86, averaging 12.3 per game.
    “He’s bigger than our left tackle,” said GSU offensive coordinator Brent Davis about the 245-pound linebacker. “They’ve got him in the right spot to defend us. He’s the Mike linebacker, and we’re going to have to block him just like we would anybody else. It won’t be much of a difference for us.”

    Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.