SIX FCS NATIONAL TITLES | ELEVEN CONFERENCE TITLES @GSATHLETICS_FB 2016 GEORGIA SOUTHERN FOOTBALL GAME NOTES UL LAFAYETTE (3-5, 2-3 SUN BELT) GEORGIA SOUTHERN (4-5, 3-2 SUN BELT) RAGIN’ CAJUNS EAGLES THURSDAY, NOV. 10, 2016 • 7:30 pm BROADCAST INFORMATION Television: ESPNU/Watch ESPN ALLEN E. PAULSON STADIUM • 25,000 • STATESBORO, GA. PBP: Alex Faust Analyst: Jay Walker Series vs. UL Lafayette: First Meeting Radio: Georgia Southern Sports Network Last Meeting vs. UL Lafayette: N/A PBP: Danny Reed Analyst: Terry Harvin THE SERIES THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Sidelines: Russ Brown • This will be the first football meeting between Georgia • TheAP/Coaches Eagles are 5-3 all-time in games played on ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS Southern and UL Lafayette, the last team in the Sun Belt for Thursdays, 3-1 at home. GS defeated App State and Troy in Asst. AD for Athletics Communications/FB: Bryan Johnston the Eagles to play. 2014 and Texas State last year. Two weeks ago, they lost to App o: 912-478-5448; [email protected] State. The most memorable Thursday night game in program c: 912-531-3575; c: 540-392-1994 AGAINST THE SUN BELT history came when the Eagles battled the elements for the Associate Director: Marc Gignac • GS has played 21 Sun Belt games as it plays its third victory over Middle Tennessee State in the 1989 “Hugo Bowl.” o: 912-478-5288; [email protected] season in the conference. The Eagles are 17-4 on the field Assistant Director/#2 FB: AJ Henderson o: 912-478-5071; [email protected] in conference games, although the 2014 win over ULM was ON SHORT REST Assistant Director: Milledge Austin vacated due to NCAA violations to make GS officially 16-4 in • Georgia Southern will have a short week to prepare for o: 912-478-1233; [email protected] SBC games. the Ragin’ Cajuns on Thursday night. Communications Assistant: Maggie Tyler • Earlier this year, the Eagles lost to Appalachian State on o: 912-478-0352; [email protected] GEORGIA ON OUR MINDS short rest (Saturday/Thursday) and lost to App State on short GS On the Web: gseagles.com/football • Thursday’s contest against UL Lafayette is the fifth rest last year. They beat Troy and App State in 2014 and in Twitter: twitter.com/GSAthletics_FB of seven games in the state of Georgia for the Eagles this 1983, the Eagles beat Savannah State on short rest. Instagram: instagram.com/gsathletics season. • GS is 3-2 all-time in short weeks (less than seven days). THE COACHING STAFF • GS blanked Savannah State 54-0 in the season opener ON THE FIELD and held on to beat UL Monroe 23-21 on Sept. 17. The MAKING PEACH STATE RUSHING HISTORY Tyson Summers ...........................................................Head Coach Eagles fell at Georgia Tech and lost at home to App State. • Senior Matt Breida is moving up the all-time state of Rance Gillespie ..................Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks • Georgia Southern will finish the season with three Georgia FBS/D-1A rushing leaders. Chris Foster .............................................................Running Backs straight games in the Peach State: UL Lafayette this week, Allen Mogridge ........................................................Offensive Line Jimmy Lindsey ....................................................... Defensive Line Georgia State on Nov. 19 and the season finale against Troy 1. 5,259 Herschel Walker (Georgia), 1980-82 Jeremy Rowell ...............................................Defensive Secondary on Dec. 3. 2. 4,066 Robert Lavette (Georgia Tech), 1981-84 3. 3,699 Jerry Mays (Georgia Tech), 1985-89 IN THE BOOTH Zo Costantini ...............................................Defensive Coordinator HOMECOMING 4. 3,599 Matt Breida (Georgia Southern) 2014- David Dean .....................Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers • Georgia Southern is 27-6 on Homecoming and has Chad Lunsford ..................... Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator won its last five Homecoming games. This will be the first • Breida’s numbers do not include his one 15-yard rush in Pat Bastien ..................................................................Linebackers Homecoming in school history on a Thursday night. 2013, which came while GS was still playing in the FCS. THE 2016 SCHEDULE Sept. 3 SAVANNAH STATE W, 54-0 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF Sept. 10 at South Alabama * [ASN] W, 24-9 10 Thursday’s game with be the eighth of 10 games played on artificial turf this season for the Eagles. Sept. 17 UL MONROE * W, 23-21 9 Linebacker Ironhead Gallon is averaging 9.0 tackles per game, fifth-best in the Sun Belt Conference. Sept. 24 at Western Michigan L, 31-49 8 Senior kicker Younghoe Koo has eight made field goals in his career of 40 yards or longer, including four this season. Oct. 5 at Arkansas State * [ESPN2] L, 26-27 7 Seven position players have started all nine games this season. Oct. 15 at Georgia Tech [RSN] L, 24-35 6 Myles Campbell’s 121 yards receiving last week was the most by a GS receiver in the past six years when current Oct. 22 at New Mexico State * W, 22-19 Dallas Cowboy safety JJ Wilcox had 121 yards at Chattanooga in 2010. Oct. 27 APPALACHIAN STATE * [ESPNU] L, 10-34 5 Thursday’s contest against UL Lafayette is the fifth of seven games in the state of Georgia for the Eagles this season. Nov. 5 at Ole Miss [ESPNU] L, 27-37 Nov. 10 UL LAFAYETTE * [ESPNU] 7:30 PM 4 Georgia Southern has blocked four kicks this season: two field goals and two punts. Nov. 19 at Georgia State * 2 PM 3 The Eagles have won three of their four home Thursday games in program history. Dec. 3 TROY * 1 PM 2 This will be the second of two games played on short rest for the Eagles this season. * - SunG BeltAME Conference 10: VSgame;. UL times L listedAFAYETTE are Eastern 1 Georgia Southern#HAI andLS OULU TLafayetteHERN will be meeting in football for theGEOR firstG timeIA S onOU ThursdayTHERN F night.OOTBALL NOTES SIX FCS NATIONAL TITLES | ELEVEN CONFERENCE TITLES GSEAGLES.COM (MORE) SUN BELT RUSHING NOTES • Only seven times has a Sun Belt team ran for over 440 yards since the start of the 2015 season. The Eagles own all seven of those instances, including the 2014 game at New Mexico State (592). That figure also leads the country. THE DYNAMIC DUO • When counting only his FBS yards, Kevin Ellison passed the 2,000-yard rushing mark against Western Michigan, joining Taysom Hill of BYU as the only active QBs to rush for that many yards. SInce hitting the mark, three other FBS quarterbacks have hit the 2,000-yard mark. Ellison’s freshman year, he ran for 886 yards while the Eagles were still in the FCS. • Ellison was joined in Week 1 by Favian Upshaw in the 1,000 yard club. They’re the only active quarterback teammates to both rush for over 1,000 yards in their career. • Ellison (3,152) and Upshaw (1,263) have combined to run for 4,415 yards in their career. This leads FBS quarterback duos. RUNNING TOWARD SUCCESS • Since joining the FBS in 2014, are 22-5 when outrushing their opponents, 0-6 when being WEEK 11 NOTES outrushed and 0-0 when the rushing total is even. • Thursday’s game will be Georgia Southern’s fourth in 19 days (Oct. 22 at New Mexico State, Oct. 27 vs. Appalachian State, Nov. 5 at Ole Miss, Nov. 10 vs. UL Lafayette). • Since 2014, GS is 21-1 when rushing for 300 yards or more. The Eagles are 13-0 when rushing for 400 yards or more, 4-0 when rushing for 500 yards or more and 1-0 when rushing for 600 yards or • Since joining the FBS in 2014, GS has the second-best record in the state of Georgia: more. Georgia: 25-10 Georgia Southern: 22-12 (one win vacated by NCAA) • The Eagles are 20-5 when rushing 50 times or more in a game over the past two-plus seasons. Georgia Tech: 18-16 Georgia State: 9-24 • Additionally, GS is 19-7 when holding the time of possession battle advantage in that span. UL LAFAYETTE NOTES MOVIN UP THE CHARTS • This will be the Eagles’ first game played against UL Lafayette despite being their third season in the • Matt Breida passed Georgia Tech’s Eddie Lee Ivory (3,517 yards; 1975-78) for fourth place all-time Sun Belt Conference. They dropped their first game against Arkansas State earlier this year. Coastal in the state of Georgia for career FBS/D-IA rushing yards and now has 3,599 career FBS rushing yards. Carolina joins the league next year, but GS is 3-0 all-time against the Chanticleers. His 15-yard run in 2013 when the Eagles were still in the FCS does not count toward this mark. • In the modern era ... Georgia Southern is 9-4 all-time against teams from the state of Louisiana and • Kevin Ellison sits is fifth place at GS in career passing yards (3,067) and is 10th in rushing yards is 201-49-1 all-time playing in the state of Georgia. The Eagles are 87-30 all-time in the month of (3,152). He passed Chaz Williams for 10th place all-time at GS in the South Alabama game to join November and 5-3 all-time on Thursdays. Tracy Ham, Greg Hill and Jayson Foster as the only players in the top 10 for both. NEW OPPONENTS • Kevin Ellison sits in fifth place in school history in career passing yards (3,076). He’s 137 yards from • Including this week, Georgia Southern has played their first ever games against Arkansas State, Ole Kenny Robinson passing fourth place. Miss and now UL Lafayette.