Georgia Southern gets back on track
STATESBORO -- Texas State went into Thursday night's game with Georgia Southern thinking it was turning the corner on what has been a disappointing season.
The Bobcats were basing those hopes on a win last week over South Alabama and a revitalized defense under new defensive coordinator Brad Franchione.
After what happened at Paulson Stadium, the Bobcats are going to be looking for another corner to hang out on. Georgia Southern, coming off a loss at Appalachian State, unleashed its frustrations on the Bobcats by rolling to a 37-13 win before 14,212 fans -- the Eagles' smallest home game attendance since joining the Sun Belt Conference.
The win made the Eagles (6-2, 4-1 Sun Belt Conference) bowl eligible for the first time in their second year of play in the Sun Belt. Georgia Southern won the conference championship last year but was ineligible to go bowling because it was completing its second year of transition to FBS.
Matt Breida torched the Bobcats for 205 yards on 23 carries and had first-half touchdown runs of 37 and 48 yards. Georgia Southern had 503 yards rushing, the second time this season it surpassed 500 yards. Freshman Wesley Fields had only nine carries, but he finished with 158 yards, highlighted by a 64-yard run in the fourth quarter. He also had a 38-yard touchdown run on the Eagles' first possession of the second half.
"He's a special football player," head coach Willie Fritz said of Fields. "He's a tough guy who does not go down easily. He's one of the smarter freshmen I've ever coached."
Georgia Southern led only 14-6 at the half after losing three fumbles, the most they've lost in their 20 games under Fritz.
"We did not play well the first half with the fumbles and takeaways," Fritz said. "It was amazing we were ahead. I can't talk to them anymore than I do about ball security. We talk about it every day. No one feels worse about it (fumbles) than those guys.
"But I thought our defense did a great job. Holding them to two field goals was huge. We tackled really well."
Georgia Southern fumbled the ball at the Bobcats' 30-yard and the 12 and at its own 8. Texas State only got a field goal to show for it as the Eagles' defense limited the Bobcats to 115 yards in the first half and 213 for the game.
The Eagles scored on their first possession of the game after going for fourth-and-short on the drive.
"We knew at the start of the drive if we had a fourth-and-2 or less, we were going for it," Fritz said. "I thought our offensive line did a great job of knocking people off the ball, and to get long runs, your receivers are having to get blocks on the perimeter. Our wide receivers did a great job."
Georgia Southern had 12 rushing plays of 10 more yards, six by Breida who surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for the second straight season. Breida now has 1,158 for the year and 2,658 for his career. He also pushed his career touchdown mark to 30 for his career, 13 this season.
The Eagles had four rushing touchdowns with L.A. Ramsby scoring on a 7-yard run following Fields' 64-yard blast to start the fourth quarter.
Younghoe Koo also kicked three field goals of 44, 21 and 25 yards.
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Georgia Southern gets back on track ."