Georgia Southern rebounds, thumps Western Michigan
STATESBORO -- If there were any lingering hangover effects from Georgia Southern’s 44-0 loss at West Virginia to open the season, they didn’t show up Saturday night against Western Michigan.
The Eagles spotted the Broncos, 37-24 losers to No. 5 Michigan State in their opener, a 3-0 lead but then reeled off 23 straight points to take control of the game and coast to a 43-17 win at Paulson Stadium before 23,520, the fourth-largest crowd in stadium history.
The Broncos, who appeared to be a step slower all night, had no counter for Georgia Southern running back Matt Brieda, who ran for four touchdowns. Defensively, Eagles strong safety Antonio Glover put himself in the program record book with three interceptions.
“This was a big win for our program and our conference,” Georgia Southern head coach Willie Fritz said. “There have been a lot of good football teams -- those Appalachian State teams that won three national championships -- that have come in here to play, but (Western) Michigan has been playing Division I football for a long time.
“We got the running game going early, got some stops, and that gave our guys some confidence. We laid it out there this week and prepared. I’m not a big pregame talk guy. We just got ready during the week.”
Glover, a senior from Atlanta, had one career interception before matching Rodney Oglesby, who had three against Savannah State in 1991. Brieda’s four touchdowns equaled his career high, which he had last year against Georgia State.
“We were definitely embarrassed last week,” Glover said. “We felt we had put in a lot of hard work in the offseason, and then against West Virginia, we did not execute. If you’re a competitor, you want to come out and show you can play better than that.
“We had a great game plan, and we watched a lot of film. The picks were not my doing. The defensive line and linebackers had pressure, and our other defensive backs had good coverage, which made it tough for the quarterback.”
The game began on an ominous note for Georgia Southern as the Broncos drove from their own 9-yard line to the Eagles’ 17 where the defense stiffened and Andrew Haldeman came on to kick a 34-yard field goal.
Brieda got his first touchdown on a 9-yard run with 3:21 left in the first quarter, and four minutes into the second quarter, the Eagles got a gift when the Broncos snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt. Brieda scored on a 4-yard run following the ensuing free kick, and on the Eagles’ next possession, he stunned the Broncos with a 34-yard run to make it 23-3. Western Michigan scored with 28 seconds left in the half.
Any momentum the Broncos hoped to establish off that late score evaporated quickly, thanks to Brieda.
Georgia Southern got the ball to start the second half and wasted no time in scoring as Brieda went 70 yards on the second play of the series. It was his 21st career touchdown and eighth of 50 yards or longer. That gave him 170 yards on 10 carries, and he finished with 176 yards on 11 attempts.
Quarterback Favian Upshaw had 103 yards rushing while completing 1-of-4 passes for 7 yards, and freshman Wesley Fields added 82 yards on six carries. The Eagles finished with 413 yards rushing, with seven different backs carrying the ball.
“I was proud of Favian,” Fritz said. “I thought he played well. When he started at West Virginia last week, that was the first game he had started since high school.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Georgia Southern rebounds, thumps Western Michigan ."