Week 3 Preview: South Carolina State
After winning their first game since October 26, 2023, the Georgia Southern Eagles will host the South Carolina State Bulldogs from just a couple of hours up the road in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The Eagles and Bulldogs last played on September 1, 2018 in a matchup that ended in a 37-6 win for Georgia Southern. The Eagles are 8-0 against the Bulldogs all time dating back to November 23, 1985.
The Eagles of Georgia Southern will look to continue building momentum after “bend but don’t break” showing against the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno last weekend. After giving up 267 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns to Ashton Jeanty and 110 rushing yards and a touchdown to Sire Gaines of Boise State in Week One, the Eagles gave up 227 yards rushing against Nevada. The Eagles defense gave up a ton of yards to Nevada - 498 to be exact - but only gave up 17 points in route to a 20-17 win to get their first victory in 319 days.
In Reno, the Eagles were penalized 10 times for 100 yards which is concerning, but the coaching staff will likely spend plenty of time cleaning up those mistakes going forward. The biggest play of the game came in the 4th Quarter when LB Marques Watson-Trent chased down Nevada RB Savion Red and forced a fumble that was recovered by CB Chance Gamble in the end zone and gave the Eagles the ball back and prevented Nevada from taking the lead late in the game.
South Carolina State will come into Statesboro sporting a 1-1 record with a 22-18 loss to Florida A&M in Week One and a 23-20 win over the Citadel in Week Two. The Bulldogs offense is led by QB Eric Phoenix who is from Savannah, Georgia and played his high school football at Windsor Forest. He is now playing for his third college after playing for Benedict College from 2019-2022, Murray State in 2023, and now for the SC State Bulldogs. The left handed signal caller was a two time All-SIAC player that passed for 4,400 yards and 32 touchdowns in three seasons at Benedict but only saw game action twice at Murray State before transferring to SC State. So far in 2024, he is 30/48 for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Bulldogs have two receivers with 98 or more yards through two games: WR Justin Smith-Brown (130) and WR Caden High (98). On the ground, SC State is led by RB Deondra Duehart from Macon, Georgia who averages 7.2 yards per carry through two games for a total of 202 rushing yards. The offense has an extremely balanced attack and are capable of moving the ball but have not scored many points so far this season.
Defensively, the Bulldogs have been led by DB Daythan Peterson, DB Diego Addison, and DL Ashaad Hall. Peterson is the leading tackler with 10 tackles through two games followed by Addison with 9 and Hall with 7. Through two games, the Bulldogs defense has three sacks and have forced three turnovers - two fumble recoveries and one interception. As a unit, the SC State defense has given up, on average, 119 yards on the ground and 225 through the air per game. With that said, expect the Eagles offense to try to establish some confidence in the ground game against the FCS opponent.
Bulldogs K Kyle Gallegos is 3-4 on the season with a long of 37 yards. P Dyson Roberts averages 42.5 yards per punt and has had two punts downed inside the twenty yard line. The Bulldogs have only attempted to return two punts this season for a total of 7 yards and two kicks with an average return of 27.5 yards.
The offensive game plan for the Eagles should be simple: establish the ground game and then use play action and motion to take some deeps shots. Defensively, this game should give Georgia Southern the chance to fix some common mistakes, clean up technique, establish some confidence, and work on discipline. SC State has a very solid running back and Georgia Southern will need to maintain gap discipline to avoid giving up chunk plays.
Georgia Southern should win this game handily and move to 2-1, but you never know.
