The Georgia Southern football team was in the drivers seat entering last Thursday’s game at Old Dominion. Unfortunately, they got run over by the Monarchs in a humbling 47-19 thrashing, leaving them still one win away from being bowl eligible and tied for the lead in the east at 3-1.

This week, the Eagles pack their bags and hit the road again as they travel to South Alabama. Head coach Clay Helton says everyone was disappointed in last week’s effort and said the team did a lot of soul searching in the days after the loss.

“When you have a game like this toward the end of October and beginning of November it’s important to have immense poise,” Helton said. “We were brutally honest in saying what went wrong, identifying the corrections that need to be made and respond. The good thing is this team has already shown they can respond with wins over Nevada and Georgia State after tough losses.”

Since starting the season with six touchdowns and no interceptions, Eagle quarterback J.C. French has six touchdowns, six interceptions and has lost four fumbles. In limited action, Dexter Willaims has led the team to four touchdown drives out of five opportunities. Helton said he is sticking with French as the Eagle starter, but did use a baseball analogy of possibly going to the bullpen for Williams if he sees he is struggling.

“When you look at J.C. in the last few games, he has thrown five touchdown passes and he secured the ball better this last game than the previous one,” Helton said. “He also had a higher accuracy rate than the guy behind him, so he is going to walk out there first. It’s like if a pitcher is struggling in the World Series. If he is on fire, they keep him out there. If he struggles, they bring in a reliever, which we have. When you are battling in November, those are the decisions that have to be made and I’ll make them.”

Over the past two years, it has been less battling and more struggling for the Eagles in November. Under Helton the Eagles are 1-9 after October. Helton has not shied away from this fact and has said the Eagles have prepared differently and is hoping their increased depth will also help them this year.

“We have had quite a few things from a technology standpoint to help us prepare for the end of a season to stay healthier,” Helon said. “I think you have seen fewer season-ending injuries due to this. We have also provided more depth. It’s tough to lose a Justin Rhodes, but now we can bring in an Elhadj Fall who is playing well. I also think the overall maturity of this team is better than it has been.”

Life on the road has been tough under Helton, as well, as they are 5-11 on the road. This would be a perfect time for a game at Paulson, but instead the Eagles have to head to Mobile to take on a South Alabama team who is 3-1 in conference play, including an impressive 46-17-win Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe.

The Eagle defense gave up over 500 yards of offense last week against ODU and this week goes up against a South Alabama team that has been particularly good running the ball, where they average over 216 yards per game, as well as scoring at over 36 points per contest.

“I think we have a chance to right a lot of wrongs this week,” said Eagle linebacker Marques Watson-Trent. “We are in a similar situation to what we were in last year and I feel last year we looked around and got lost. Right now, I feel we are focused. They are well balanced and are a physical team. I feel we are a physical team too and when we play our brand of football, we can be a dominant defense.”

On offense, the Eagles know they are going to have to do a better job of establishing the run. Coming off a 190-yard effort against the toughest run defense in the league in JMU, the Eagles managed just 113 against ODU, including only six yards on two carries for Jalen White.

“I wish it would have been more,” Helton said. “We didn’t support our quarterback with a run game Thursday. That falls on all of us, me included. We have to be better in the run game. When you look at us against Georgia State and James Madison, we were very efficient in the run game and we won. This week it is time for us to respond.”

Georgia Southern and South Alabama are scheduled for a 7:30 start in Mobile in a game that will air on ESPNU.