After the No. 11 Georgia Southern Eagles got off to an 0-1 start in Southern Conference play with a 23-21 loss to The Citadel last Saturday, there was one word to describe how practice went during the week — focused.
    The most obvious deficiency in the game was the field-goal unit, which two tries, one at the end of the half and one as the game ended.
    They’ve been evaluated at every angle.
    “They’ve gotten some extra time in and they’ve gone out to the stadium,” said GSU coach Jeff Monken. “Every rep that they’ve taken, we’ve had hand-held cameras and we’ve evaluated everything.”
    The Eagles (1-1, 0-1 SoCon) have today off, and will take the opportunity to rest up for a stretch of nine-straight, regular-season games.
    “We’ve got a long stretch of nine in a row, and hopefully a first-round bye, but we won’t even talk about that at all if we play like we did on Saturday night,” said Monken. “We have to play a lot better.”
    The week’s practice ended Friday with an annual bye-week tradition — the Scout Bowl.
    “We just took 30 minutes at the end of practice and let our guys line up at their position, defensively and offensively, and they go each other,” Monken said about the scout team. “They get filmed, we evaluate them and it gives us a good idea about the future — which kids are athletic or fast enough, or are playing physical.”
    The rest of the team lines the sidelines to cheer on the scouts.
    “It’s fun for the older guys too,” said Monken. “When they come to the sideline they coach them and encourage them. These guys are cheering them on every Saturday, they’re on the sidelines, and here, it’s a reversed role.”
    Other than that, practice went as usual. The Eagles focused on the Sept. 22 matchup against Elon at Paulson Stadium.
    “It’s all Elon stuff,” said Monken. “We’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity when you’ve got two weeks to prepare as we do. It’s the most important game in the world to us right now.”
    But, there’s no game to worry about on a bye week.
    “I’ll do whatever every other married man is going to do,” Monken said about the off day. “I do whatever my wife tells me to do.”

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