/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69845819/usa_today_11253621.0.jpg)
Florida Atlantic absolutely took a visiting Georgia Southern team to task on Saturday afternoon in Boca Raton, smacking around a helpless and dysfunctional Eagles team by a 38-6 margin and avenging FAU’s loss to Southern last season.
The Owls were buoyed by the passing attack led by former Miami Hurricane N’Kosi Perry, as the signal caller threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns and the Eagles’ secondary looked lost for the second consecutive week.
Anybody ever wonder what it would be like to just… not devote all our time and energy into this program?
— Jason Cassels (@KaptKlak) September 11, 2021
Florida Atlantic receiver LaJohntay Wester was more than happy to oblige the wide open spaces Southern was affording him on his routes, torching the visiting team from Statesboro to the tune of six catches for 121 yards and a score.
In the rushing side of things, FAU was able to roll up 198 yards on the ground, led by Johnny Ford, who had 14 carries for 69 yards.
This game looked like it may have been a competitive contest in the first quarter, as GS was able to get a defensive stop, and strung together a 13-play, 95 yard drive that took up 5 minutes of game clock to go up 6-0. Eagles kicker Britton Williams missing the ensuing extra point attempt was an omen for the rest of how the game would play out.
Southern quarterback Cam Ransom tweaked his ankle shortly after the opening drive, and the defense completely crumbled as the offense looked inept and stagnant with Ransom trying to play hurt. All-in-all, it’s one of the more embarrassing performances you will see from a Sun Belt team in all three phases of the game this season.
The Eagles mustered just 242 yards of total offense and six points, while surrendering a total of 531 yards to the Owls. For reference, Mercer scored over twice as many points against #1 Alabama than Georgia Southern was able to produce today.
Suspended quarterback Justin Tomlin is set to return next week against Arkansas for GS, but there’s about a zero percent chance the team wins that game. He also won’t shore up any of the glaring holes in the secondary.
If this Eagles team continues to play like this for the rest of the year, it will be looking at a new coaching regime before the 2022 season takes place. I originally thought 6-6 would be in the cards even with a slew of new players taking over for the players that had departed from the program after last year.
I didn’t anticipate the team being quite this bad.