Georgia Southern’s defense was lights out on Saturday night, as the Eagles picked up their third consecutive win over South Alabama by a score of 24-9.

GS simply outplayed the Jaguars in every facet of the game. Quarterback Favian Upshaw took the majority of the snaps from under center after Kevin Ellison was in and out of the game with an injured left arm.

Upshaw was efficient in his reps, rushing for 133 yards on 18 carries, and completing 6 out of 9 passes for 127 yards.

It was obvious the Jags were committed to not letting Matt Breida beat them, as they stuffed Mr. #HeGone early and often. Brieda only totaled 54 yards on the ground on 17 carries, with his longest rush being 8 yards.

Luckily for the Eagles, the slack was picked up by Upshaw, Ellison (11 carries, 90 yards, TD), Wesley Fields (11 carries, 48 yards, TD) and L.A. Ramsby (5 carries, 12 yards, TD).

But the story of the contest was the defense. Although Jaguars’ quarterback Dallas Davis threw for 279 yards, he was hampered by numerous dropped passes and a solid GS pass defense.

The Eagles forced USA to be one-dimensional on the offensive side of the ball, as Davis also led South Alabama with 29 yards on 11 carries. The achilles heel of the Jaguars was their inability to close the deal in the red zone against the GS defense. Davis and company had three trips inside the Eagles’ 20 yard line and only came away with a total of 6 points.

Footnotes

• I don’t know what it is, but Georgia Southern seems to lack some of the spark on offense that they had in recent years. Maybe it was because USA bottled up Matt Brieda so well, but the offense just didn’t have the same success we typically see.
• Some of the playcalling on offense left a lot to be desired. For example after Montay Crockett made a Sportscenter Top-10 catch in the third quarter, the coordinators dialed up two dive plays up the middle that gained a total of two yards. On a 3rd and 8, Upshaw was sacked and fumbled while trying to make a play while he was stuck with a near-impossible hole to dig himself out of.
• By the way, Montay Crockett. What a catch!

• The defense looks to be improved and has a new attitude. Everyone seems to be flying around the ball in pursuit, and the defensive line looks better than it did last season. Oh, and Ironhead Gallon may have killed a guy.