This Georgia Southern team is a carbon copy of the '22 and '23 teams.
Throw the ball around. Can't/Don't commit to running the ball.
A leaky offensive line (almost 3 sacks allowed per game - we've given up 5 sacks all season).
The defense can't stop a nose bleed.
Dare I say, they're soft.
Their QB has done a good job of not putting the ball in harms way this season (7 TDs and only 1 INT) but his performance has been very up and down.
They had a 37-36 4th quarter lead against Boise in the first game before the bottom fell out (3 TDs allowed in a little over 7 minutes in 4th).
They did run the ball well the last time out against Georgia State and after seeing the Western Michigan & App State film, I'd say they'll want to lean more on the ground game than they're accustomed to (we've given up 81 rushes for 418 yards in the past two weeks). They were off last weekend, so they've had 2 weeks to prepare for us this week and JMU next week.
Interesting factoid: While we have the 16th best 3rd down defense in the country, our 4th down defense has been the worst. Opponents have gone for it 16 times and picked up 13 first downs - a 81% conversion percentage.
| Marshall (3-2) | Georgia Southern (3-2) |
PPG | 30.4 (61st) | 31.6 (50th) |
Points Allowed | 28.0 (93rd) | 32.0 (112th) |
Total Offense | 375.2 (81st) | 358.0 (94th) |
Rush Offense | 202.0 (27th) | 124.0 (104th) |
Pass Offense | 173.2 (113th) | 234.0 (68th) |
Offensive Pass Effic | 140.78 (57th) | 129.88 (88th) |
3rd Down Offense | 40.9% (66th) | 42.9% (52nd) |
Total Defense | 390.0 (95th) | 491.8 (129th) |
Rush Defense | 190.8 (113th) | 191.6 (115th) |
Pass Defense | 199.2 (52nd) | 300.2 (129th) |
Defensive Pass Effic | 122.67 (46th) | 140.38 (98th) |
3rd Down Defense | 30.1% (16th) | 47.7% (126th) |
Turnover Margin Per Game | +0.80 (21st) | +0.40 (46th) |
Penalty Yards Per Game | 48.0 (43rd) | 48.6 (48th) |
Net Punting | 33.68 (129th) | 41.54 (27th) |