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Georgia Southern Manhandles The Citadel 48-13 at Paulson Stadium

The Eagles rolled to a big win against their former conference opponent in Statesboro.

Todd Bennett/Getty Images

Georgia Southern and The Citadel used to play in the same conference but it sure didn't look like it Saturday night as the Eagles cruised to a 48-13 win.

The Bulldogs (2-1, 1-0 SoCon) came in flying high after winning their first two contests by wide margins. That feeling would last long enough for quarterback Dominique Allen to throw an interception on his first drive.

Georgia Southern (2-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) scored three points on its first possession thanks to an Alex Hanks field goal and then quickly made it a rout on two running scores from Kevin Ellison and two from Matt Breida. It was 31-0 by halftime and many fans were heading for the exits by the time the band took the field.

Breida is quickly establishing himself as an all-time great. His second touchdown was a career-long at 87 yards and was his ninth career score from beyond midfield. He racked up 140 yards in the first half alone and finished with an insane average of 12.2 yards per carry.

Ellison looked solid in his return to the field and even added 80 passing yards.

Wide receiver Ryan Langoria had a good night as well with four receptions on a single drive early in the game. I think half of Southern's receivers don't get that many in their entire career. Freshman running back Wesley Fields scored his first collegiate touchdown late in the game.

Fritz definitely switched it up Saturday night with Ellison throwing more than we're used to and Breida lining up in the Wildcat a few times. Southern finished the game with 101 passing yards, which is a relative ton. Some things never change though, Southern's first touchdown drive took up seven minutes of game clock. Oh, and backup quarterback Favian Upshaw came in for the third series, just like he did throughout 2014.

The Eagle defense held steady against Citadel's option offense as they played assignment football and kept the Bulldogs out of rhythm. The Citadel didn't get on the board at all until the third quarter and only scored twice in spite of gaining more than 300 yards on the ground.

The defense also forced four turnovers. Ross Alexander and Darrius White each picked up an interception and Riyahd Jones and Antonio Glover recovered a fumble.

Final thought: Remember this was a conference game just two years ago and the last three matchups before this one were all decided by 10 points or less. If anyone still thinks going FBS was a bad idea they need to hop on the yellow school bus.

Next week the Eagles travel to Idaho. The Vandals (1-2, 0-0 Sun Belt) managed to hang on for a win against another SoCon team, Wofford, picking up their first victory of the season and earning Paul Petrino half price on anger management counseling for the week (I keed I keed).

It'll be a long journey to Moscow but the airport hangar isn't known as as the toughest place to play and there's no reason to think Georgia Southern won't come home 1-0 in Sun Belt play.