By Dan McDonald
Special to the Sun Belt Conference
Trick Play Eagles
Georgia Southern’s triple-option attack can be a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators, but for the most part it doesn’t involve a lot of trick plays.
The Eagles dialed one up at exactly the right time Saturday though and pulled off the Sun Belt Conference’s biggest upset of the young season.
Sophomore wide receiver Wesley Kennedy III went 47 yards on a reverse with 19 seconds left, breaking a 21-all tie and giving Georgia Southern a 28-21 home win over Arkansas State.
Standout A-State quarterback Justice Hansen had just driven the Red Wolves 77 yards to a tying score, scoring himself from four yards out with 5:07 left. The Eagles took the ensuing kickoff and drove to just past midfield before taking a time out while facing a third-and-7 with 29 seconds left.
“We took the time out for a few reasons,” said Georgia Southern coach Chad Lunsford. “We wanted to discuss if we didn’t pick up the first down what our next move would be, to punt or try a long field goal. We were trying to play for a field goal and take as much time off the clock as we could.
“But obviously during the time out we talked about what we were going to run, and when coach DeBeese (offensive coordinator Bob DeBeese) brought up the reverse, we said it was the right time, do it and see what happens. It was something we talked about earlier because of how fast Arkansas State runs to the football.”
“It was a great call on their part,” said Arkansas State defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen. “I knew their kicker was a good one and they needed to get to around the 35 to feel comfortable about that, but they’re not afraid to continue to use the option even on third down.”
Hansen was 38-of-50 for 376 yards passing while Georgia Southern quarterback Shai Werts completed one pass all night – but that was a 61-yard touchdown strike to Wesley Fields late in the first quarter. The rest of their 409 offensive yards all came on the ground.
“I’d rather not see that option every week,” Cauthen said. “Nobody likes preparing for it defensively. It’s tough enough defensively to come up with a plan and then you have to defend something like that.”
Arkansas State hosts an on-fire Appalachian State squad Tuesday in an ESPN2 game (7 p.m. Central), and Cauthen said he’d rather game-plan for the Mountaineers.
“I’m glad to get back to someone throwing the ball,” he said.
Big Night
Appalachian State ranks either first or second in the Sun Belt in each of the league’s 10 major offensive statistical categories, and it’s performances like Zac Thomas had Saturday that are the reason why.
The Mountaineer quarterback ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter and threw for two in the second quarter, guiding his team to a 42-7 halftime lead in what became a 52-7 win over South Alabama.
Thomas rushed for 77 yards on only six carries and had 146 throwing yards on a pedestrian 8-of-18 passing outing with two interceptions, not nearly the accuracy of his first three games when he was 50-of-67 with only the lone interception at the end of the Penn State game. But App State coach Scott Satterfield said part of that was due to aggressive play-calling in the third quarter.
“He’s a competitor,” Satterfield said. “He’s mad and all that, which I want him to be that way. So now when he comes back, he gets this scenario again later on into conference play, he’ll take a checkdown or he’ll take off running like he did early in the game to get some big yardage.”
Thomas had a 54-yard scoring run on the game’s sixth play and led his team on five straight touchdown drives in the first half.
“Offensively they can run and throw the ball, defensively I don’t see a lot of flaws or weaknesses and they’re strong in the kicking game,” said South Alabama coach Steve Campbell. “They’re very sound, very well coached. There’s no doubt they’re a Top 25 team, I think they should be ranked up there for sure.”
Glass Half Full
Louisiana coach Billy Napier found some positives in his team’s 56-14 loss to No. 1-ranked Alabama Saturday, and not just the fact that his Ragin’ Cajuns played the Crimson Tide closer than all but one of its four previous opponents.
“We did some things better,” Napier said. “There were some areas of our team where we played better Saturday. We’re seeing improvement defensively … I know that score probably is not indicative of that, but that group has taken a little bit of a step each week in my opinion.”
The Cajuns fell behind 49-0 by halftime, but held the Tide to one second-half touchdown – that one on a busted coverage that resulted in a 94-yard touchdown. Louisiana also had 214 offensive yards after halftime including 151 on the ground, and wound up rushing for 200 yards, the most allowed by Alabama since falling to Ohio State in the 2014 Allstate Sugar Bowl. Ironically, the last time Alabama gave up 200 rush yards at home came in 2011 – to current Sun Belt member Georgia Southern in a 45-21 ‘Bama win.
Cajun running back Trey Ragas, the Sun Belt’s leading rusher (101.2 ypg) became the first back to run for 100 yards against Alabama this season with his 111 yards. Ragas is only the 14th back to run for 100 yards against the Tide since Nick Saban took over as head coach prior to the 2007 season, and Elijah Mitchell (88 yards) came close to giving Louisiana the first set of 100-yard runners in a game since that time.
Napier admitted that success came against Alabama reserves, but still hoped the second-half success will carry over to its trip to face Texas State Saturday in its return to Sun Belt play.
“We did build some momentum with how we played, in the fourth quarter in particular,” he said. “We were able to generate some offense and got a couple of stops. There’s no quit in this group of players that we have.”
Texas State coach Everett Withers, whose squad had an open date last weekend, said that the Cajuns’ video from Saturday may not help much with preparation.
“We were able to TV and video scout,” Withers said, “but when you play Alabama it’s tough to get a bead on where truly a team’s level of play is at. But they did a great job offensively in the second half.”
Road Odyssey Ends
Coastal Carolina has the task of facing that Appalachian State team for Homecoming in a few weeks, but in essence the Chanticleers have already held a much more meaningful “homecoming.”
That came late Saturday night after Coastal’s 45-21 loss at Troy. Following that game, the Chanticleers were finally able to return to their Conway campus after being on the road for three weeks in the wake of Hurricane Florence’s ravages.
“It was our third week of evacuation mode,” said coach Joe Moglia. “We’ve been in four or five different states, in seven different hotels and seven different practice fields, so at least Saturday after the game we were able to get home.”
The Chanticleers had won twice since having to evacuate before the storm’s arrival, moving a home games to Buies Creek, N.C., and beating Campbell, and then winning their Sun Belt opener at Louisiana. But Troy proved to be too much, jumping to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and then scoring three second-half touchdowns after Coastal cut the deficit to 21-14 in the second quarter.
“I have a lot of respect for Troy, they’re good and they don’t beat themselves,” Moglia said. “We got back within striking distance but we didn’t hold up and they certainly did. There was a point with about five or six minutes left when our kids realized they had no shot, and you could see the fatigue in the last minutes of the game. Physically we were in good shape, but mentally we were just drained and that’s the first time I really saw that.”
“They came in here not being able to practice at their place and living out of a bag for three weeks,” said Troy coach Neal Brown, whose team won its Sun Belt-best fourth straight game and hasn’t lost since the opener against Boise State. “I think in the second half that wore on them a little bit.”
Marcus Jones returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a score and the Trojans never looked back. Jabir Daughtry-Frye and B. J. Smith both rushed for over 100 yards, Daughtry-Frye getting 140 yards on only five carries.
Run-Pass Option
Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott had been waiting for a performance like Saturday from his offensive unit.
The Panthers rolled up the third-most points in program history and had the largest margin of victory ever against an FBS opponent in a 46-14 home win over ULM. Georgia State set a school record with 308 rushing yards, while quarterback Dan Ellington set another school mark for completion percentage (.833) with his 15-of-18 passing performance.
“That’s one of the more complete games we’ve played this year, offensively, defensively and special teams,” Elliott said. “The focus from our team was right where it needed to be.”
Ellington threw for 170 yards in the first half alone when he was 12-of-13, and also rushed for 64 yards and another score, while freshman Seth Paige ran for 145 yards and two more touchdowns.
“The running game starts with those guys up front,” Elliott said. “Sometimes before we’ve had to insert maybe a freshman in the offensive line, but this year we have a chance to get guys in there with more consistency. It was a good job in executing assignments.”
ULM hurt itself with three first-half turnovers and also gave up a fourth-quarter 49-yard punt return touchdown to breakaway threat Penny Hart.
“It’s the law of averages,” said ULM coach Matt Viator. “You punt three times from inside your own 10 and he’s going to hit one of them. Their guy back there’s a great athlete and he broke a couple of tackles, but we have to do a better job before that of getting out of the hole.”
“He is such a great person with a great work ethic and demeanor,” Elliott said of Hart. “We have the ability to put him a lot of places, quarterback, running back, wide receiver, he could be one of our best corners if we wanted him to, and he’s our punt return and kick return guy. He’s everything to us. I love watching him play and practice.”