Georgia Southern strikes quickly, rolls past Savannah State

Georgia Southern made head coach Tyson Summers’ debut a successful one as it jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and then put it on cruise control to post a 54-0 win over Savannah State before 21,250 fans Saturday night at Paulson Stadium.

It was a methodical, taking care of business win for the Eagles, who will not have much time to rest.

Georgia Southern travels to South Alabama next weekend to begin Sun Belt play against a Jaguars team that shocked Mississippi State 21-20 on Saturday after trailing 17-0 at the half. It was South Alabama’s first win ever over an SEC team in five attempts.

Summers, hired to replace Willie Fritz, who left after two years for Tulane, is the third straight Georgia Southern head coach to get his first Eagles win against the Tigers.

Jeff Monken, now the head coach at Army, saw his team beat Savannah State 48-3 in 2010, and Fritz got his first Georgia Southern victory with an 83-9 rout in 2014.

Quarterback Favian Upshaw scored twice in the first quarter on runs of 2 and 33 yards, and Wesley Fields added a 1-yard score with 1:21 left on the clock to set the tone early.

The pace slowed in the second quarter, however, as the Eagles could manage only one score, a 12-yard pass from Upshaw to Matt Breida just 30 seconds before halftime, although the eventual outcome was never in doubt.

“I was not excited about us hitting a lull in the second quarter,” Summers said. “We came out in the second half the way we wanted and was able to take control.”

Georgia Southern scored three touchdowns in the third quarter as quarterback Kevin Ellison scored on an 11-yard run, Upshaw teamed with Fields on a 30-yard scoring pass and Brieda added a 26-yard touchdown run the first play after a Savannah State fumble.

At that point, Summers pulled his starters. Backups played all of the fourth quarter.

It was Georgia Southern’s first shutout since blanking Jacksonville 58-0 in the 2012 opener. Senior linebacker Ironhead Gallon said that was one of the defense’s goals.

“Our goal was to contain their offense and shut them out,” Gallon said. “It’s a great feeling to get a win. We preach accountability, and our offense did a great job.

“Our secondary is young, but I feel good about those guys.”

Georgia Southern ran for 420 yards, but the Eagles also added 185 yards through the air as Upshaw and Ellison combined to complete 12-of-15 passes with one interception. The 12 completions matched last year’s single game high which came in a 48-13 win over The Citadel.

“We’ve been talking a lot about improved passing efficiency,” Summers said. “Three incompletions is not bad.

“I thought our two quarterbacks managed the game well, and I feel we’re as talented and deep as anyone in the country at running back.”

Freshman Demarcus Godfrey led the Eagles in rushing with 124 yards, all coming in the fourth quarter. Fields added 87 and Breida had 68, while Upshaw had 57 and Ellison 53.

Savannah State, making its debut under head coach Erik Raeburn, was limited to 114 yards as it completed 10-of-19 passes for 80 yards and added 34 rushing on 27 attempts.

Georgia Southern played without seven players who were suspended for the game by Summers for violations of team rules. Summers said they would all return for the South Alabama game.

The suspended players were senior starting defensive tackle Bernard Dawson, junior backup running back L.A. Ramsby, senior linebacker Ken Butler, Jr., sophomore defensive lineman Ryan George, freshman defensive back Jesse Liptrot, freshman defensive back Christian Matthew and junior running back Chaz Thornton.

This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Georgia Southern strikes quickly, rolls past Savannah State."