Georgia Southern players thank their fans following a 45-21 loss to Alabama in their NCAA college football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.Georgia Southern may have picked up a lot of fans in the Southern Conference this week. In what may prove to be the marquee SoCon matchup this season, the nationally seventh-ranked Eagles host undefeated and No. 4 Wofford on Saturday.
The Terriers (5-0, 3-0) are the only team without a loss in league play, which means Georgia Southern (4-1, 3-1) would help itself and everyone else in the SoCon by winning.
“They’ve been beating people all year and beating them handily,” Eagles coach Jeff Monken said of the Terriers, who are first in the SoCon in scoring (46.8 points per game) and first in scoring defense (13.6 papg).
That’s an average margin of victory of more than 33 points, although the combined record of Wofford’s opponents, who include Furman, Western Carolina and Elon, is 6-23. The Terriers can’t control the quality of their opponents and have drilled everyone but Furman, which led Wofford 17-13 in the fourth quarter last Saturday before the Terriers pulled out a 20-17 win.
Wofford and its triple-option lead the Football Championship Subdivision with 448.8 rushing yards per game — individually, fullback Eric Breitenstein is second in the FCS at 178.6 a game — and the Eagles’ triple-option is second at 437.