Georgia Southern heads north to Conway, South Carolina, where they face off against Coastal Carolina.

While Saturday’s game does not have any impact on the conference race, with both teams no longer being in contention, but a win would be big for both teams.

Quick hits

GS travels to Coastal, where the Eagles (4-2 conference, 7-3 overall) and Chanticleers (2-4, 5-5) face off in Conway for the second straight season. GS fell 17-28 a year ago and are looking for revenge.

A win for the Chants means bowl eligibility for the first time in program history. Coastal has been less than stellar on their signature teal turf, going 1-3 through their first four home games, but GS hasn’t been great on the road.

The Eagles are 2-2 on road games this season, escaping a scare in San Marcos against Texas State, and more recently getting pummeled in Monroe just a few weeks ago. One of these teams will come out with a win on Saturday, but the matchup to watch will be the GS offense against the Coastal defense.

Eagles’ triple-option attack

Through most of the season the GS offense was rolling. Pair that with the stellar defense and this team was playing like they deserved to be ranked, but tough times have come over the past two seasons. The offense has been outscored 46-79 and has had no answers. For the Eagles to pick up their eighth win of the season, the offense will need to execute like their midseason form.

A week ago, redshirt-sophomore Shai Werts accounted for all three Georgia Southern touchdowns, two through the air and one on the ground late in the game.

 

If the offense wants to be successful, senior running back Wesley Fields needs to get into the end zone.

A win Saturday would be the first step towards getting the Eagles to the 10-win plateau for the first time as an FBS program. Redshirt-senior tight end Ellis Richardson talked about the importance of getting his team to 10 wins.

“It would be nice to go and win the last three games and finish the season with 10 wins,” Richardson said. “Not too many teams in the nation can say they won 10 games in a season, and I don’t think it’s been done here since Georgia Southern has been division-1.”

Chanticleers on defense

If GS is looking to right the ship offensively, Coastal’s defense might just be the squad to get it done against. The Chants have given up 40+ points or more in four games this season, including a recent 16-44 loss to Arkansas State in a game that was never really close.

To put just how bad Coastal has been on the defensive side of the ball into perspective, the Chanticleers have given up a total of 26 touchdowns to opposing offenses while the Eagles have given up just seven. The Chanticleers can win this game, however, if their defense comes to play and shuts down the triple-option, becoming bowl eligible.

Prediction

GS scores two touchdowns early and crushes the confidence of the Chanticleers to run away with the game. The Eagles play like the team that beat App State a few weeks ago and pick up their eighth win of the season. Coastal is going bowling, but they won’t clinch it this week.

Saturday’s matchup is scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern from Conway, South Carolina.

Ryan Kostensky, The George-Anne Sports Reporter, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu