This Saturday, the Eagles will face The Citadel Bulldogs at the “Prettiest Little Stadium in America,” Paulson Stadium. Last season, the Bulldogs went 5-7 in the Southern Conference. So far this season, the Bulldogs have won against Davidson 69-0 and Western Carolina 28-10. The Bulldogs plan to continue winning just like the Eagles, however, the Eagles’ defense is returning to play after a record-breaking performance against Western Michigan. The Eagles have dominated the Bulldogs in the all-time series 18-5, and have lost to the Bulldogs just once at Paulson Stadium. Moral of the story, Eagles don’t play with puppies.

Eagle Nation should look forward to another showing of what Coach Curtis and his defense are capable of. Antonio Glover is a prime example of that. “It was our coaches,” Glover said. “The game plan they put together week in, week out. It’s our job to execute it to the best of our abilities.”

Against Western Michigan, the Eagles’ defense didn’t look like they were playing an offense who almost beat Michigan State the week before. Instead, the Eagles’ defense was swarming the ball and limited the Broncos to 252 yards total offense. Matt Dobson led the way in tackles with nine. Dobson has been and plans to continue to lead the Eagles’ defense. Antonio Glover was second in tackles with seven. He also intercepted three passes and generally wreaked havoc all over the field. He’ll continue to inspire the other corners and safeties as they look to lockdown the Bulldogs this week. Antwione Williams, Deshawntee Gallon and Chris DeLaRosa caused havoc at the linebacker positions. They had a total of 18 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one forced fumble. With Williams leading the charge, the Eagles’ linebackers will once again call the shots on defense. The defnsive line allowed 25 total rushing yards and applied pressure to the quarterback all night, forcing him to make impromptu decisions which led to turnovers. Count on the defensive line to create a rotation that won’t relent in the trenches.

What was the last meeting like between the Eagles and Bulldogs? For starters, the meeting was in 2013 when Georgia Southern was still in the SoCon, and it was certainly a closer score than the Western Michigan game last week as the Eagles won by a score of 28-21. The Bulldogs rushed for 166 yards for an average of 6.6 per carry and passed for 106 for an average of 11.8 per completion. With that being said, the Eagles’ offense still out rushed and out passed the Bulldogs. Matt Dobson, Darius Jones and Tay Hicklin are the only defensive players still on the team to have played the Bulldogs in 2013. With the leadership, intelligence and athletic ability that were shown against Western Michigan, the Eagles’ defense is looking to walk the Bulldogs off the field.

This Saturday will be another opportunity for the Eagle Nation to rally behind the Eagles’ defense. When asked about a contributing factor in the defense’s success against Western Michigan, Jamal Johnson mentioned, “Being in Statesboro, Georgia. Being at home.”