In a Bizarro World season, the Georgia Southern defense who were among the worst in nearly every statistical category in 2025 are second in the nation in tackles for loss through two games. They are also Top-25 ranked in red zone defense, rushing defense and total defense. They also have eight sacks in two games when they only had 12 all of last year.
“I love the first two games how they produced negative yardage play on early downs and have gotten us off the field on third down,” Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton said. “Being able to be second in the country in tackles for loss as well as creating sacks on passing downs. The ability to get off the field has been huge and the defense has really led the way in the first two games.”
On the flip side, the usually competent offense is struggling and despite a 31-point performance in their season opener against FBS Charleston Southern, the Eagles rank 124th in third down percentage, 125th in the red zone and 130th in rushing offense.
“I think in week one we had 167 yards rushing and that’s what you like,” Helton said. “The magic number is 150 yards rushing to support the quarterback, especially on early downs efficiency you want to average about four yards. I’d like to see more of what we did in the first game of supporting the quarterback in the run games as well as in pass protection. Obviously, we played a higher level of talent in this past game and we won some battles and we lost some battles, but we need to be more consistent.
"Clemson stacked the box and said we’re going to go try to stop the run at all cost and it was going to be in a game where you needed to be able to throw the ball and throw the ball a little bit more efficiently than we did. I did think coach Ryan Aplin called a good game and we have to do a better job of executing the game plan.”
The Eagles are 1-1, but may be in an early must-win situation this Saturday against Jacksonville State. The Eagles will be heavy underdogs the following week at home against Houston and then at a much-improved Coastal Carolina followed by home against JMU.
“I think we have something right now defensively that I think is really special,” Helton said. “They always say defense wins championships. I know offensively we will get on track, and be able to be more efficient. I think we’ve learned that we have a really mature and confident football team that expects to win any time they walk into any stadium against any opponent.
"I love their maturity in this last game. I love their confidence in the last game and their approach to how they prepare, and how they walked into the park.”
Jacksonville State lost a hard-fought 41-34 game in Paulson Stadium last year and are 0-5 vs. the Eagles all time. JSU comes in after a heartbreaking 4-OT loss to Ohio Univ. and are 1-2 with a 49-7 win over Eastern Kentucky. They are led by quarterback Caden Creel who leads the team in passing and rushing with six passing touchdowns and two on the ground.
“Caden has done a tremendous job,” Helton said. “We didn’t get to see him last year. They went with him right after our game and made the change and then all of a sudden, he leads them to a conference championship game. He’s doing the same thing this year leading the team in rushing and he’s passing the ball effectively to a lot of different playmakers including a 6-9 receiver.
"It was a war last year here and we came out on the front end of it. I expect the same thing this week. This will be a great gauge of where we are as a football team and it’s a great challenge to go into AmFirst stadium. I think the last 90 games they’ve won 77 of them. It’s a hard place to go to and will be a great challenge for a football team.”
