Georgia Southern rides second half surge to 49-35 win over UAB

Georgia Southern struck back against a visiting UAB team on Saturday, outscoring the Blazers by a 21-13 margin in the second half alone, preserving a 14-point win over UAB to pick up the Eagles’ second win of the season.

GS quarterback Davis Brin turned in a second strong performance as the new signal caller for the Eagles, finishing with 318 yards and two passing touchdowns with one interception. Derwin Burgess and Khaleb Hood were happy to oblige a Blazers defense that is rebuilding from last season and didn’t put up much resistance, with the two wideouts combining for 145 yards and both of Brin’s touchdowns in the victory.

Photo by Chris Thelen/Getty Images

After jumping ahead early, it looked like UAB may storm back after a strong second quarter that saw the visiting team tally up 22 points behind a pair of rushing scores and a Jacob Zeno touchdown pass to make the halftime deficit just six points, 28-22.

But in a reverse of the 2022 contest, the second half was owned by Georgia Southern, who put up a massive 49-point performance on offense.

UAB’s Zeno was his typical efficient self, throwing for 385 yards and two touchdowns with a pick, but a number of plays that were boneheaded decisions either from a play calling or execution standpoint preventing the Blazers from getting any real consistency.

A perfect example of this came late in the contest, with UAB trailing by 14, and facing a 4th and 1 from its own 34 yard line. Zeno turned around to deliver a pitch but simply dropped the ball in the process, giving Georgia Southern an easy turnover on downs and an eventual field goal to push the Eagles lead to 17 points.

OJ Arnold and Jalen White each looked good toting the rock for the Eagles despite a meager amount of attempts, adding a touchdown apiece. Considering the two combined for just 16 carries between them, the running game needs more work, especially in a game where the Eagles led by double digits for much of the contest.

Next week, Georgia Southern will travel to Madison to face off with the (at the time of this writing) ranked Wisconsin Badgers, while UAB will take on another Sun Belt foe in Louisiana at home in Birmingham.