The Georgia Southern Eagles played good enough to beat many Sun Belt teams Saturday. The problem was they were taking on the top dog in the league and a few errors proved critical as James Madison snapped a six-game losing streak at Paulson Stadium and hung onto to beat the Eagles 27-24.
“You look at how competitive the Sun Belt Conference is and you know these are going to be one-score games,” said coach Clay Helton. “It becomes about the team that plays the cleanest. Two games ago at Coastal Carolina we end up playing really clean football with no penalties on offense and no turnovers and we came out on top. Saturday, we had two turnovers including on the seven-yard line going in to score. They went two for two on field goals and we were one of three and you lose a one-score game. What we are learning is in these games you have to finish and protect the football.”
Eagle quarterback Max Johnson has really come alive recently with nine touchdowns and only one interception in the last three games. He is also averaging over 270 yards per game passing in that stretch and leads the conference in passing yards.
“Max continues to improve and he is really spreading the ball around,” Helton said. “He has also done a great job of avoiding pressure and running when he needs to. It’s your job as a quarterback to get the ball out on time and have that clock in your head saying when it’s time to pull the ball and try and get up field and he is doing a great job of that.”
There’s no time for Helton and his team to sit around, licking their wounds after the loss to JMU as they have a short turnaround as they travel to Old Dominion for a Thursday night matchup.
“This is our seventh-straight week of playing football, but as I’ve told our team it is for ODU as well,” Helton said. “We are going to get 16 days of recovery after this game, but we have to pour ourselves into this game and don’t leave anything in the tank. This is about doing all we can to win on the road against a team that is playing elite defense and coming off a huge win. Whether it’s a short week or a long week we are trying to stay in contention for a conference championship so this is one of those games where you have to find a way.”
The Monarchs statistically are one of the worst offenses in all of college football, but their defense is a different story as they have done well and especially at creating chaos in the backfield. They are currently ranked 11th in the nation in tackles for losses.
“We know how tough it is to go into Boone N.C. and come out of there with a win and they held Appalachian State to just three points,” Helton said. “App. State came into the game first in the league in passing and they completely shut them down. They present a lot of problems on defense with some of the most exotic pressures we will see. They are a tackle for loss nightmare with over seven per game. We have a tough challenge on the offensive line being able to support the quarterback with a run game on another national stage.”
One of the reasons for the Monarchs' success is the unique defensive scheme they play. So much so that the Eagle offense actually practiced some against it in the summer.
“They play a three-down drop-eight coverage, a star defense with a safety names Lucas Struck who is a great player,” said Eagle receiver Josh Dallas. “That defense has been phenomenal and so much so that during the off season we made sure to get some looks at it because it is so much different than any defense you’re going to see all season. We are going to stay exactly who we are but it’s important to know what to look out for Thursday.”
Georgia Southern and Old Dominion are scheduled for a 7:30 start Thursday night in a game that will air on ESPN2.
