Throughout the spring and into preseason camp the Georgia Southern coaching staff thought the Eagle defense may be one of their biggest strengths this year. That still may prove to be true, but last Saturday Boise State had their way with the Eagles in a season opening 56-45 loss. This week Southern looks to rebound with a trip to Nevada.
Boise State had over 650 yards of offense and the Eagles allowed Ashton Jeanty to rush for a school record 276 yards and six touchdowns. Freshman Sire Gaines earned freshman of the week honors after rushing for 116 yards on 16 carries and Boise averaged over 10 yards per carry.
“Obviously we played against a very talented running back in Ashton Jeanty,” said Eagle coach Clay Helton. “He is very talented but we helped the situation, too. We had 14 critical errors assignment-wise that led to nine explosive plays on the day. I truly believe in our defense but we have to get better in terms of the accountability to assignments.
"We had 14 times where we weren’t in the correct gap. They had some shifts and motions, some eye candy, and we took the bait some and it created large gaps.”
The good news is the Eagle offense was able to put 45 points up against a Boise State defense that was one of the top-20 defenses in the country last season. After a little rocky start, sophomore quarterback J.C. French looked sharp, completing 28 of 50 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns. French also led the Eagles on the ground with 39 yards and one score.
“A lot of the time you put a quarterback in for their first start and it’s a deer in the headlights,” Helton said. “I thought J.C. came out there and after a couple of good hits he really settled in. He needed real live football to really grow. I think one of the most impressive things he did was he took the shots when they were there. When the opportunities were there, there wasn’t any fear, he let it fly.”
This week the Eagles hit the road for Reno, Nevada to take on the 1-1 Nevada Wolf Pack. Nevada lost their season opener 29-24 to SMU, but rebounded last week with a 28-26 win over fellow Sunbelt conference member Troy.
The Wolf Pack are led offensively by running back Savion Red who has 165 yards rushing and one score. Quarterback Brendan Lewis has 240 yards passing and four touchdowns.
“You have an offense who really lean on their running game,” Helton said. “They also have a quarterback who doesn’t turn the ball over. They rely on the run game and good decision making by the quarterback because they also have a good defense. I think their defense has played at an extremely high level against two good football teams.”
The Eagle defense is eager to get a chance to put what happened Saturday behind them and show a little more consistency against Nevada.
“I feel like we had a few flashes on defense on what we can do well,” said Eagle safety T.J. Smith. “We need to carry that out through the whole game. That is not our standard and we will not do that again. We all looked n the mirror and knew we could have done so much better. Nevada has a balanced attack and some good playmakers. I feel like we will be ready for them Saturday.”
French passed his first test of being productive in his first collegiate start. Saturday comes the additional pressure of doing it on the road in a hostile environment. His teammates have confidence he will not be rattled on the road.
“I think it was amazing to see J.C. get comfortable out there in his first start,” said Eagle running back Jalen White. “Last week Boise State tried to take our running game away and J.C. was able to hurt them throwing the ball. I expect him to be able to pick up this week right where he left off against Nevada. We have to be a little more physical up front and as runners and take care of any ball security issues.”
The Wolfpack are led by first year head coach Jeff Choate who came from Texas where he was the co-defensive coordinator. He brought in a new staff and a lot of new players as well as Nevada has over 50 players who transferred in this season.
“I have been really impressed by coach Choate,” Helton said. “I think their new players and staff have really provided a spark. I have been particularly impressed by their defense who held SMU in check for three quarters and then went down and beat our Sunbelt champ in Troy. We have a great challenge on our hand besides this being our first road game.”
The Eagles and Wolfpack are scheduled for a 7:00 ET start. The game can be seen truTV/Max.
