Georgia Southern Sept 12th

[JackJD]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

No shortage of respect up here for GSU's program. In fact there's a lot of gratitude since GSU was willing to schedule us right away when we moved up. That meant a lot to SDSU and I would dare say that most SDSU fans are big GSU fans when we're not playing.

I agree with the foregoing statement. I have followed GSU closely since the first time we played.

[straightshooter]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

We graduated our DL and All-American Chris Covington and all of our starting receivers last season. The program had pretty much been decimated when Hatcher arrived, thanks to that ego maniac VanGorder, so we had to start from scratch. The 2007 team that the Jacks played is nothing like the current team. That was Hatcher's first season, and he put Jayson Foster at QB and the team lead the nation in rushing. Trust me. That's not Hatcher's M.O.

Last season we played 38 freshmen. Most of them are still with the team and are now sophomores. Last night we played around a dozen players who had never played a down for GSU. Six or seven of them were true freshmen, including four really talented WR.

We've switched to a 3-3-5 D. The NT and DT are 300 pounds plus. The DE is 6'3', 250 and is pretty fast. DB's are as fast as we've had, including one corner who ran a 4.24 at the start of camp. The LB are not very big, but they are very fast. This may be the fastest D we've ever had at GSU, and that's saying a lot.

The offense now is more of a Texas Tech like spread. The OL now is experienced and averages 300+ lbs. The QB is SO Lee Chapple, who was 30-43, including completing his last 15 passes last night. We're going to throw it a lot. Chapple is an accurate passer and the WR are young, but very talented. Watch for RB Adam Urbano. He's a player both running and catching the ball out of the backfield.

We are probably still a year away from being back in contention, but this year's team has a lot of young talent that should get better each week The Jacks will be a stern test for these young guys, but they will come to play.

[thumper_76]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

Looking forward to a great game this coming weekend. On AGS it seems it would be quite a statement to the SOCon people if we take this one. Their all predicting 10 pt. plus win for GSU.

[straightshooter]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

The GSU D held Albany's All-American, Payton Watch candidate, Dave McCarty (6'0", 215) to 63 yards on 24 carries. He did score twice on short goal line carries. Other than that, he wasn't much of a factor. GSU did a good job of shutting him down. McCarty had over 1,800 yards rushing last season.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

I've read a lot of talk about Albany. That's a good win. But Albany is a 38-scholarship team. Yes, they won 8 in a row to end the year last year. But who did they play? Duquesne, Central Connecticut, Sacred Heart, St. Francis, Monmouth, Robert Morris, Wagner, and Jacksonville.

I don't want to be disrespectful. I'm sure those are good programs. But that schedule doesn't have much in common with a SoCon or MVFC schedule. For example, NDSU beat Central Connecticut at home 50-14 while Albany beat them at home 24-22 (and, of course, SDSU beat NDSU in Fargo.)

I know that chain of opponents stuff doesn't hold up, but it indicates something about the relative quality of schedules. 1,800 yards is a lot. But I have to wonder how many yards Kyle Minett might have piled up against the schedule that Albany plays. He got nearly 1,300 rushing (plus 413 receiving and 22 TDs total) against Cal Poly, McNeese, WIU, Iowa State, UNI, SIU, and NDSU (plus Mo State, Indiana State, and Illinois State). I don't think there's any question (with the possible exception of those last three) that's a tougher set of defenses than Albany faced last year.

Bottom line: Who knows what to expect? It's going to be a lot of fun. Nobody doubts that GSU is very good. I think maybe the Jackrabbits are pretty good, too.

[JHB_eagle]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

As a GSU fan, I still don't know what to expect. I am guessing this game with the Jacks will tell what kind of season we will have. Good luck SDSU this season. Beat North Dakota!!!

[GaSouthern]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

I know we will have a good game, in the history of our series the jackrabbits have always played us well and SDSU (and dare I say NDSU) fans always came to paulson with class and were never as annoying as some Appy fans we see every other year. Hope both teams come away with no injuries and are strong going into conference play. And of course I hope the eagles come away with the W

[EQguy]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

The GSU D held Albany's All-American, Payton Watch candidate, Dave McCarty (6'0", 215) to 63 yards on 24 carries. He did score twice on short goal line carries. Other than that, he wasn't much of a factor. GSU did a good job of shutting him down. McCarty had over 1,800 yards rushing last season.

McCarty also had a hammy pull

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

Georgian Southern will get a whole lot of #30 down there throat! I have a good feeling the Jacks will come out fired up and ready to play well! Crawford has a lot of weapons to help him and the defense is so experienced, talented and deep!

[straightshooter]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

They said that McCarty had tweaked his hammy a bit, but he still got 24 carries. Fact is that even at 100% he really had no place to run. GSU had the middle blocked pretty good all night. Most of the yardage that Albany got on the ground was from RB bouncing outside after they saw there was no hole between the tackles, and the 790 yards they got on the fake punt and the sneak turned outside on 4th down. Albany is a ground attack team. They were going to run it and run it and run it, and they had no hesitation going for it on 4th down. GSU probably forced them to throw the ball more than they wanted to.

The Jacks will be a bigger team up front than Albany, so that should be an advantage. Albany did have a very experienced SR QB at the helm, and lots of seniors on O and D. That experience really helped them.

As has been mentioned, GSU is very young except for the right side of the OL an at CB. All the other starters are freshmen or sophomores. Fact is, no one in Statesboro knows how this team will travel or play. They could play like champs or chumps, but Hatcher's teams seem to play really well on the road. It should be interesting.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

SoCon fans seem pretty confident:

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/foru...ad.php?t=63195

Several predictions of 14+ point GSU wins.

I'm confident the Jacks will be a lot better than a 38-scholarship Albany team.

[straightshooter]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

You might notice that many of those picking GSU by 10+ plus aren't GSU fans. None of the other teams in the SoCon have played the Jacks. GSU fans know to expect a knock down, drag out battle to the end like always ( except the first game played a few years ago. It was an ugly 63-7 GSU win)

[turkeybacon]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

This game probably is one of the top games to watch in the FCS this weekend. Big game already in week 2 for two potential playoff teams. I will be there Saturday. GO JACKS!

[JackFan96]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

My prime concern is that GSU has a game in hand. We haven't played yet. And, in past years, we've struggled to keep athletic teams with whacky offences (spread, triple option, etc.) in check. Games we've won against such opponents have been shootouts. If the Eagles can plug our running game (perhaps a big if) and we can't control the clock, we might struggle. But they are young and making a 1,500-mile trip. It's a tough call. An SDSU loss is - in the first game of the year - a very, very serious setback to any potential of our making the playoffs. That should serve as motivation Go, Jacks!

[sfjacksfan99]

Re: Georgia Southern Sept 12th

Can we start tailgating tomorrow?

This week 1 bye is painful. Which leads into maybe the #1 factor in the game, the Jacks' experience on the field with juniors & seniors versus GaSouthern's one game in the books last week.

I think the other big factor if the Jacks are going to come away with this game is containment of the mobile quarterback. Lots of problems in recent years for the Jacks when it comes to qb's who want to run just as much as they throw. Like one past post mentioned, this has usually resulted in shootouts in recent years, which I don't know if we want Crawford getting into in his first career start. I hope his wrist and shoulder have gotten loosened up and are in good shape.

I'm not going to lie, the Albany score makes me a little more confident. However, the one game in the books is a pretty big deal.

0-4 versus the Eagles, but it gets closer every time. Lets get into the W column!