They’re the Georgia Power Company. Their women are all good-looking, and they’re all rich. And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Georgia Southern has reclaimed its identity as a running team. Last week, GaSo quarterback Shai Werts attempted less than 10 passes. That was OK, since he ran for 2 touchdowns and his team ran for 7 yards per carry during a 48-13 blow-out win.
When the Eagles can block and run like that, they’re a nightmare for any Sun Belt opponent. CFB betting odds reflect that in this Thursday’s meeting between Georgia Southern and host Texas State.
Who: Georgia Southern Eagles at Texas State Bobcats
When: Thursday, October 11th, 7:30 PM EST
Where: Bobcat Stadium, San Marcos, TX
Lines: GaSo (-17) at TxSt (+17) / O/U Total: (51)
When Georgia Southern head coach Chad Lunsford isn’t reviving smash mouth, bruising football in the deep south, he’s pursuing a strange hobby:
When Lunsford needs to get fans fired up, he knows right where to go: Georgia Southern’s Greek system.
Ahead of Georgia Southern’s matchup with Arkansas State on Saturday, which could have deep consequences in the Sun Belt standings, Lunsford is going door to door at sororities and fraternities staging mini pep rallies at chapter meetings to turn out fans. And when he goes to some fraternity houses, things have gotten a little crazy. Fraternity brothers are body-slamming folding chairs.
After the Eagles beat Louisiana-Lafayette on the road last year, they celebrated in the locker room with some good ol’ fashioned chair-slams out of the WWE playbook. Lunsford, who grew up a professional wrestling fan, has kept up the tradition and it’s caught on around campus. And now the fraternities are doing it, too.
“Sometimes they’re waiting for me to say something or they’re already yelling and screaming and hollering,” Lunsford said of the Greek houses. “They’re fired up about Georgia Southern football and we want to keep it that way. “When I started visiting the fraternities and they had the chairs ready to go it was a lot of fun.” No word on if the chairs find it fun. Or the neighbors.
Nice to have an FBS coach who knows the wrestling ring, at least as a fan. Heels (bad guys) are supposed to cheat with smashing chair-blows, but GaSo won’t be a fan-favorite in the Sun Belt anywhere outside of Statesboro if this keeps up.
At 4-1, the Eagles have attempted only 36 passes on the year, but they’ve rushed for well over 1,000 yards. Georgia Soutgern ranks 7th in the FBS with 275.2 rush yards per game; 4 different ball carriers have over 150 yards and a score on the ground.
Defensively, the Eagles are also among the nation’s best, holding opponents to only 18.2 points per game.
When you see these numbers attached to Georgia Southern, you might think it’s all from scrums against cake competition. But Georgia Southern’s lone loss is to #4 Clemson, a game where they actually held the Tigers scoreless though the 1st quarter of play and some change.
Werts has rushed for 454 yards and 8 touchdowns on 85 carries. Each of Georgia Southern’s top 5 rushers are averaging over 5 yards per carry. 6 different Eagles have an interception, 6 different players have forced fumbles.
And don’t bring out the old “just wait until they get in 3rd and long/a 2-minute drill scenario” bit. Not for Georgia Southern, which does not use the old-fashioned Flexbone seen at Army or Navy but rather a Pistol/Shogun-snap and zone-blocking variety of 11-on-11 option plays. When the QB needs to throw, he’s got targets and a good vantage-point to peek out from.
2018 has been an all-around struggle at Texas State. In fact, it’s hard to identify an area that Everett Withers’ squad has excelled. They rank 85th in passing, 103rd in rushing, 104th in points scored, and 97th in points allowed.
Freshman quarterback Tyler Vitt had a relatively encouraging 2nd half last weekend against Louisiana, throwing for nearly 300 yards and 3 touchdowns with 0 interceptions, but it’s worth noting the Ragin’ Cajuns had some backups on the field during the late Bobcat rally.
This would typically be a slam-dunk for GaSo to cover, but 2 things scare me going into the seemingly-mismatched conference tussle.
First, the Eagles will be on the road, facing a school that knows it must absolutely start winning now, or else it will have zero chance to make the postseason. That’s hard to swallow in early October. The Bobcats will likely give it their very best shot and hold nothing back.
Second, there’s a chance that the momentum from Texas State’s most-recent 4th quarter performance will carry over to the 1st and 2nd quarters this Thursday, and keep the scrum close for a while.
GaSo is a powerhouse finding its legs again, and is a solid bet to cover. But I’m more interested in the O/U total, which has fallen slightly from opening consensus. If Texas State runs out to an early lead, the Eagles won’t go down without scoring a bunch, win or lose. If the (New) Georgia Power Company rules over the 1st half, then you’ve got a situation where an explosive attack can score 50+ points and cover the O/U line on its own…to say nothing of Texas State’s proven track record in garbage-time minutes.
Side with Georgia Southern, but also look at a big wager on the Over (51) total points.