Georgia Southern and Old Dominion played an epic Football Championship Subdivision playoff game last season in Statesboro, Ga. The offenses were unstoppable and nearly matched the FCS playoff record of 105 combined points.
“We tried it all. We blitzed; we didn’t blitz. We didn’t know what to do,” GSU coach Jeff Monken told the media after his Eagles’ 55-48 win. “The kid playing quarterback for them did a great job. They made plays.”
The “kid” is Taylor Heinicke, who very much is still around and will be on the field Saturday when No. 3 seed ODU (11-1) hosts No. 5 Georgia Southern (9-3) in the quarterfinals at noon on ESPN. The other Southern Conference squad in the final eight is Wofford (8-3), which plays at defending national champion North Dakota State (11-1).
Heinicke in September set an NCAA Division I record with 730 passing yards in ODU’s 64-61 win over New Hampshire. In the Monarchs’ 63-35 defeat of Coastal Carolina last Saturday, he threw for 497 yards and six touchdowns and ran for two scores.
“They score a lot of points and that quarterback they’ve got is really something special,” Monken said during Tuesday’s SoCon teleconference. “They’ve got a whole host of guys he can throw it to, and he’s a good running back. When he pulls the ball down. he’s difficult to tackle.”