Game recap: Georgia Southern suffers season's first home defeat, 38-31 to South Alabama
STATESBORO — Georgia Southern football players like to talk about the "power of Paulson" Stadium giving them a boost, and the home-field advantage is based on fact.
Heading in Saturday's home game against South Alabama (4 p.m., ESPN+), the Eagles have an all-time record of 208-46 at Paulson Stadium, according to NCAA records, an .819 winning percentage that is third-best in FBS.
Only Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa (289-54-3; .840); and Boise State at Albertsons Stadium in Idaho (281-60; .824) have a better percentage. Oklahoma (417-88.15; .816) and Marshall (175-41; .810) follow GS as titans of their home fields.
Georgia Southern's first-year head coach Clay Helton credited "stellar" fan support as one of the reasons the Eagles are 3-0 at home this season. They're are counting on that electricity to help power them to wins with three of the final four regular-season games in Statesboro.
"There is always that sense of urgency to be able to play great on this field and honor this field where the foundation and tradition of excellence was born right here," Helton said Monday in referencing the program's prior FCS history as a six-time national champion. "It is a little bit different when we're at home. We know the expectations of our fans and alumni and student base. We also know our own expectations and we know what we represent."
Georgia Southern is 7-1 all-time against South Alabama, including 4-0 at Paulson Stadium. The Jaguars' broke the losing streak in a big way in 2021 win a 41-14 victory in Mobile. The Eagles' seven wins featured a scoring advantage of 251-71, an average of 35.9 to 11.3.
GS has averaged 44.8 points a game against USA at Paulson. Jaguars second-year head coach Kane Wommack was the team's defensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017 and is very familiar with the Eagles' home turf.
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"It's a tough place to play for anyone that's been there before, as I have," Wommack said Monday. "They have a tradition and a pride in their program. Their fanbase shows up and is supportive. When you have that winning tradition and you have won year after year, there's something to be said for 'generational wealth.'
You think about the success of that program from different divisions and when they were in FCS, along with the expectation of how they are supposed to play at home. There's something generational in that that's carried outside of coaching eras. So, one, their crowds fill the stands, and two, it's an expectation of who they are and their tradition."
Charting a new course in Statesboro
South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack, in his comments on Monday, was highly complimentary of Georgia Southern's positive start while overhauling its offense.
New head coach Clay Helton and an almost entirely new coaching staff have installed new schemes offense, defense and special teams. Helton and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Bryan Ellis pledged before the season to balance the running and passing games after the program's successful history as a run-heavy option attack.
"It was easy for all of us to sit there and say, 'Well, they're going to change from the triple-option system and their going to go in this other direction, so it will take them a long time (to transition) because they don't have the offensive linemen they need or the receiving threat they need.' Great coaches, though, find great ways to best use their personnel," Wommack said.
"Clay has seen a lot of football. He doesn't have all the pieces to the puzzle across the board, but they're going to continue to recruit at a high level and get better both in their depth and their overall talent of their roster. They're utilizing their personnel really well right now, though."
Wommack said quarterback Kyle Vantrease's performance as a decision maker and passer as allowed the Eagles' offense to flourish.
"He was a piece to the puzzle that Georgia Southern really didn't have a year ago in terms of a quarterback that is able to disperse the ball the way he does," the coach said. "I know it's a little bit of a different system, but nevertheless having a guy that knows and is able to make the decisions that he has to make is important. Kyle's experience reminds me a little of a (former South Alabama quarterback) Jake Bentley-type player that knows where to deliver the ball and knows where his reads are supposed to go. You can tell that Clay, (offensive coordinator) Bryan Ellis and their quarterback are all on the same page about what they need to get done. They're managing their offense really well right now."
3:40 p.m. | Eagles' depth chart at wide receiver
The Georgia Southern depth chart for today's home game against South Alabama at WR, without the Eagles' Amare Jones, who is out for the season after an internal injury suffered in the most-recent game at Old Dominion: Khaleb Hood, Jeremy Singleton, Derwin Burgess Jr. as starters. Dalen Cobb, Parker Self and Marcus Sanders Jr. are listed as No. 2's. Joshua "Jet" Thompson is listed as a No. 3.
Cobb, Sanders and Thompson are true freshmen.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern vs. South Alabama football: Live score updates
