Preparing for Presbyterian College’s offense has been challenging this week, Georgia Southern coaches said following the Eagles’ practice Thursday.
    The Blue Hose (2-4) have a well-balanced offense that averages 153.5 yards rushing and 145.3 yards passing. Presbyterian will play No. 1 GSU (6-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Paulson Stadium.
    “They’re going to be difficult to defend and difficult to try and run up against,” GSU head coach Jeff Monken said. “The thing that you get with the Presbyterian team, that we haven’t seen all year, is different personnel groups and different formations, so much so that in six games, they haven’t been the same personnel group in the same formation more than 20 times.”
    Monken said the Blue Hose are unusual because, at this point of the season, most teams have established tendencies. Presbyterian’s calling card is a variety of schemes.  
    “They really mix it up well,” Monken said.
    GSU defensive coordinator Jack Curtis said the Eagles will be challenged by Presbyterian, which defeated Gardner Webb, 28-14, Saturday. The Blue Hose beat North Greenville, 38-21, on Sept. 10.
    “They do a little bit of everything,” Curtis said. “They do a lot of different formations and they run and pass out of all of them. They make you adjust. There are a lot of motions and a lot of different formations that you have to make some checks.
    “It’s been a difficult week in preparation, getting ready for all the different things that you see. I think they do a real good job with their scheme. They make it very difficult on a defense.”
Curtis said GSU’s defense prepared to face two-back sets, one-back sets and even an empty backfield.
    “It’s a little bit of a combination of everything, so we’ve had to pull from a lot of different game plans and what we’ll be doing,” he said. “The main thing we’ve got to do is try not to confuse our guys. Try to make it as simple as we can and be sound. They do a lot of that stuff to try and confuse you, hoping that you’ll turn someone loose or not be in your gap. We’ve worked hard at doing those things, trying to be gap-sound and knowing who we’re covering.”