Week 4 Wrap-Up: Ole Miss
The Georgia Southern Eagles traveled to Oxford, Mississippi to take on #5 Ole Miss who was favored by 35.5 points coming into the game. This game was the final non-conference matchup for the Eagles this season as they will begin Sun Belt Conference play against in-state rival Georgia State on September 28, 2024. The Rebels of Ole Miss quickly jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Eagles sustained an offensive drive that ended with a trick play that saw RB OJ Arnold throw a touchdown pass to WR Derwin Burgess, Jr. to make it a 17-7 game. After scoring that touchdown, Coach Helton dialed up K Gavin Stewart to attempt an onside kick that was perfectly placed and WR Joshua “Jet” Thompson made an incredible effort to recover the onside kick just before stepping out of bounds. Unfortunately, the Eagles could not capitalize on that and ended up punting the ball away. Ole Miss went on to score another touchdown and took a 24-7 lead into halftime.
The Eagles got the ball first in the second half, but that drive ended with QB JC French’s first thrown interception of the season. Nine plays later, Ole Miss scored a touchdown and went up 31-7. After a three-and-out, the Eagles punted the ball away to the Rebels and after six plays and seventy yards, Ole Miss took a 38-7 lead with another touchdown. The Eagles got the ball back and sustained a ten play drive before K Gavin Stewart booted a 42-yard field goal through the uprights to make it a 38-10 game. Just three plays and forty five seconds later, Ole Miss scored again to extend their lead to 45-10. Another three-and-out for the Eagles led to a punt and Ole Miss got the ball back at their own 22-yard line. On the fifth play of that drive, Georgia Southern DB Chance Gamble intercepted a pass from Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and gave the Eagles the ball on their own 22-yard line. Unfortunately, the offense could not capitalize and were forced to punt yet again. Ole Miss scored for the last time with 7:37 left in the game to make it a 52-10 game. The Eagles did not lay down and quit and put together a solid drive of their own and went sixty yards in eleven plays on a drive that ended with a 33-yard field goal by K Gavin Stewart. Those were the final points of the game and the final score was 52-13 in favor of the Ole Miss Rebels.
Takeaways from Week 4
The Georgia Southern offense continues to be one dimensional in terms of moving the ball
We played Ole Miss… I get it, but 36 yards on 41 carries is not a good sign
The offensive staff must continue to work on this and figure out how to get RB Jalen White, RB OJ Arnold, and RB David Mbadinga more involved on the ground
The defense makes some big plays, but lacks consistency
The defense gave up 607 yards of offense (388 through the air and 219 on the ground) in this game
The group continues to show glimpses of greatness, but consistency is key
The front seven have to figure out how to pressure the opposing quarterbacks to give the secondary some help
Georgia Southern has lost two games and both have been to AP Top 25 opponents
Ole Miss was ranked #5 coming into the game and is now ranked #6 in the AP Poll
Boise State is now ranked #25 in the AP Poll
The Eagles went toe-to-toe with Boise State and battled down the stretch after getting punched in the mouth against Ole Miss: Georgia Southern is closer to being competitive on the national stage than they have been in years
The Eagles now turn their focus to in-state rival, Georgia State, as they are scheduled to play each other in Atlanta on Saturday, September 28, 2024 in the first conference game of the season. Former Georgia Southern RB Coach and Interim Head Coach, Dell McGee, is the Head Coach for the Georgia State Panthers and they are off to a great start (2-1) with a win over SEC-foe, Vanderbilt, in Week 3. Currently, the Eagles are favored in that game, but knowing Coach McGee, he is going to have those guys ready to play and he is out to prove that Georgia Southern made a mistake in overlooking him after Coach Fritz took the Tulane job.
