The Georgia Southern football team is currently 3-5 overall and 1-3 in Sun Belt play. Coming off a 34-24 loss against Arkansas State, the Eagles travel to Boone, N.C., for a Thursday night matchup with 4-4, 1-3 Appalachian State.
Overshadowing the annual hate-week rivalry between the Eagles and Mountaineers is the fact that the Eagles have been struggling and need wins in three of their last four games to become bowl eligible. Coach Clay Helton addressed Eagle Nation’s concerns at his press conference with the media on Monday.
“I know that Eagle Nation is disappointed and angry,” Helton said. “I am not happy either. Any time you lose two hard-fought games that take you out of contention for a conference title that is not who we are and that is not our standard at Georgia Southern. It is not acceptable and it never will be. To Eagle Nation, I say I am sorry. It is my job to make sure that doesn’t happen and I own that. The energy I have going forward is to improve that on the immediate front with us improving this week. The other area is big-picture wise and I will address any areas we may have with our athletic director Chris Davis and our president Kyle Marrero after the season.”
One of the biggest areas of concern this year has been the Georgia Southern defense that comes in ranked among the bottom teams in all of NCAA in many categories, including rush defense and points per game. Appalachian State comes in with the league’s leading rusher Roshod Dubinion, who has 756 yards and four touchdowns. The Mountaineers also lead the league in passing, so Helton knows the defense will be tested.
“My biggest concern is our run defense,” Helton said. “If you are not effective in run defense your time of possession goes down and your opportunities go down. It also hurts on your third down efficiency and we are at 51 percent which is last in our league. We have a huge challenge in shutting down the league’s leading rusher, but they also throw the ball 42 times per game so that presents a challenge as well.”
Another big concern for the Eagles is how they have played away from the friendly confines of Paulson Stadium. The Eagles have yet to win a game on the road and are now going into a hostile environment in Boone. The Eagles are just 5-12 all-time at Kidd-Brewer Stadium and 5-15-1 in Boone.
“With a lot of our veteran players out I think we are going to be asking some of our younger players to step up in a tough environment,” Helton said. “I told our staff it is going to be just as important for Dalen Cobb and Cam Brown to play really well as it is for a guy like Taeo Todd. We are going to have to have those younger players step up in this rivalry game. There is a tremendous history between these two schools with national championships and fierce competition and we expect that Thursday night.”
Georgia Southern and Appalachian State are scheduled for a 7:30 kickoff in Boone N.C. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
