College Football News Preview 2020: Georgia Southern Eagles Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Georgia Southern Eagles Offense
The running game has to be far, far better on third downs. One of the biggest plusses to running the type of option attack that Georgia Southern employs is that it’s almost always third-and-short.
Air Force was No. 2 in the nation in third down conversions. Navy was 18th, and Army was 24th, with all of them hitting at 45% or better.
Georgia Southern wasn’t great at this in 2018, but it converted over 40% of its third down tries. Last year? 30.7%. Only seven teams were worse.
The team was still great in the time of possession battle, and the ground game was still fantastic. If the O can get to well over 45% on a regular basis, everything will work a whole lot better.
Biggest Key To The Georgia Southern Eagles Defense
Give up three, not seven. The Eagle defense allowed around as many trips inside the 20 as everyone else, but allowing teams to convert on 89% of their red zone drives into points was a problem.
That was bad, but giving up red zone touchdowns was one of the team’s biggest issues. Get inside the 20 on last year’s Georgia Southern defense, and 74% of the time you’ll get a touchdown – only seven teams were worst at this.
This was a massive deal in the 35-32 loss to Minnesota – especially late – the bowl loss to Liberty, and in against Louisiana when the Eagles gave up five touchdowns in six trips.
Key Georgia Southern Eagles Player To A Successful Season
PK Alex Raynor, RFr.
Or true freshman Dylan Lewis, or punter and last year’s backup kicker Bryce Christensen.
Tyler Bass was a special kicker, hitting 19-of-21 as a junior – including the game-winner to beat Eastern Michigan in the Camellia Bowl – and last year he nailed 20-of-28 field goals. The team played four games decided by three points and three others decided by a touchdown or less.
It’s not an overstatement to suggest that placekicking should be a different in at least two games for the Eagles.
Key Game To The Georgia Southern Eagles Season
Appalachian State, Oct. 14
It’s been really, really unfortunate that Georgia Southern has been able to beat Appalachian State over the last two seasons and weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunity. The Eagles won the battles, but the Mountaineers won the Sun Belt.
With a week off currently scheduled before the weeknight home showdown, Georgia Southern has to somehow make it three in a row, and then finally use the win to take the East.
– Georgia Southern Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Georgia Southern Fun Stats
– 1st Quarter Scoring: Opponents 101 – Georgia Southern 47
– Time of Possession Georgia Southern 32:58 – Opponents 26:54
– Rushing Yards: Georgia Southern 3,285 – Opponents 1,772