Georgia Southern traveled up to Oxford, Mississippi Saturday to take on the Ole Miss rebels. GS looked to bounce back after a tough loss to Appalachian State a week ago, but Ole Miss is a power-five team that would not go out without a fight. Ole Miss defeated the Eagles 37-27 after the Eagles gave up a 21-10 lead in the second quarter.

Offense

The Eagles finally showed a pulse offensively and it did not go unnoticed. GS took the ball down the field methodically on a few of their scoring drives with one drive going 69-yards and another going 75-yards. The Eagles biggest issues came from shooting themselves in the foot. In the first half, the Eagles had two pass interference penalties that put the Rebels in prime scoring position.

“Penalties came in spurts and we have to do a good job when those things happen to move on to the next play and not let the play before affect us,” head coach Tyson Summers said.

In the first quarter, the Eagles looked like a whole new ball club compared to last week. On the Eagles second possession, they drove 69-yards down the field and capped off the drive with a 29-yard pass from Kevin Ellison to Myles Campbell. On the ensuing drive by GS Ellison ran the ball in from 9-yards out. There were even flashes of Mr. He Gone himself. Running back Matt Breida broke loose on a 68-yard touchdown run, his longest in the season.

The Eagles seemed to have gotten back to their ways of giving a heavy dose of the running game. GS ran for over 200 yards in the first half alone. Breida eclipsed 100 yards for the first time this season. Ellison finished the game seven of 16 for 134 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Breida recorded his first 100-yard game of the season averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

Defense

The defense started out tough against the Rebels, but over time their young secondary started to get exposed. Ole Miss Quarterback Chad Kelly kept attacking deep and the Eagles secondary got caught in bad positions. The Eagles gave up most the points to Ole Miss in the second quarter. This was a decisive quarter as Ole Miss outscored GS 28-7. Cornerback Darius Jones Jr. made a spectacular interception at the beginning of the fourth quarter after he took the ball out of one of the Ole Miss Wide Receiver’s hands.

A couple of GS players made history on Saturday. Ellison became the fourth player in GS history to pass and run for over 3,000 yards. Breida moved to fourth place all-time in the state of Georgia’s FBS rushing list.

“It’s just a great feeling to be mentioned with all of those great guys. I just got to give it all to the O-Line and the Quarterbacks and Receivers that are blocking. Without them I would not be able to do it,” Breida said.

The next game for the Eagles will be on Thursday, November 10 against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. This will be the first Thursday homecoming game for GS and will be aired live on ESPNU.