Watch Out SoCon: Georgia Southern Football Is Back!

The Georgia Southern Eagles are back. I hope the rest of the Southern Conference has enjoyed the last four years, because all of the momentum is starting to move in the direction of Statesboro, Georgia.

The Eagles’ last two head coaches, Chris Hatcher and Brian VanGorder, combined for a 21-23 record in four seasons. A mark like that is sacrilege in Statesboro. Even worse, both coaches brought in their own offensive schemes that were decidedly not the triple option.

The triple option offense had been run at GSU from 1982 to 2005. In those 23 years, the Eagles collected a record six FCS National Championships. And despite the best efforts of Hatcher and VanGorder to sully the program’s good reputation, Georgia Southern still holds the record for most FCS playoff victories.

Don’t look now, but the triple option and National Title aspirations have returned to South Georgia. GSU could be on the verge of having something very special on their hands this season.

After a 48-3 (expected) thumping of Savannah State on opening weekend and a surprisingly close 13-7 loss to the Naval Academy in week two, the Eagles traveled to Coastal Carolina where they handed the Chanticleers a 43-26 beat-down.

That win was followed up with GSU’s most impressive victory of the season to this point, a 38-21 drubbing of Elon in what was both teams’ Southern Conference opener.

Yes, that Elon. The same Elon that was ranked 11th in the country and that had beaten the Eagles for three consecutive seasons leading into Saturday’s game. Someone should’ve reminded them that no SoCon team has ever beaten Georgia Southern in four consecutive seasons.

GSU (3-1) entered the contest ranked 24th, and is sure to fly up the standings when the new polls are released. Eagle fans expected sizable returns from the switch back to the triple option, but with a team comprised entirely of players recruited for a spread offense, who could have expected this kind of turnaround, this quick?

New coach Jeff Monken expected it.

A former Georgia Southern assistant coach under Paul Johnson who followed Johnson to Navy and Georgia Tech before returning to GSU as the head coach, Monken has made it abundantly clear that expectations for the program have not lowered since the last time he prowled the sidelines in Statesboro.

That was extremely evident in his halftime speech during the Navy loss, when he lambasted the team for not being in the lead, exclaiming, “Georgia Southern is supposed to win this game!”

It’s clear that Monken will accept nothing less than Eagle Domination, and he has injected his young team with program pride and supreme toughness.

Oh, and the words “young team” are an understatement. Georgia Southern is incredibly young. 16 true freshmen have made appearances this season, including two offensive starters and five second-stringers on the defensive two-deep.

Robert Brown is one such freshman making an immediate impact as the Eagles’ starter at B-Back, the primary ball-carrier in the triple option offense. Playing in three games, he’s racked up 233 rushing yards and two touchdowns. 

Despite their youth, Georgia Southern has also shown surprising depth. Quarterback Jaybo Shaw, a transfer from Georgia Tech, is doing an excellent job distributing the football to a large stable of running backs. Lee Banks and Darries Robinson, two backs who had four carries between them in the first three games, combined for 38 carries and 213 yards against Elon.

And the GSU defense isn’t embarrassing itself either. The unit is surrendering less than 16 points per game, which is in stark contrast to the open sieve defense that characterized the last few seasons, resulting in many shootout losses.

While several factors have influenced Georgia Southern’s early-season success, it all comes down to Coach Monken. Being the head man in Eagle Nation is a demanding task, and one that requires a refusal to accept even the smallest of failures. Eagle fans have grown used to success, and expect nothing less than perennial National Championships.

Georgia Southern has found the right man for the job. Look out, SoCon.