Georgia Southern downs Ball State 34-23: Takeaways from Saturday night's win

STATESBORO — Quarterback Kyle Vantrease engineered two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter as host Georgia Southern pulled out a 34-23 victory over Ball State on Saturday night at Paulson Stadium.

Vantrease, a sixth-year player who transferred to GS in January, finished 26 of 39 (67%) for 310 passing yards, two TDs, no interceptions and a 150.4 passer rating.

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Here are key takeaways for the Eagles (3-1) and Cardinals (1-3) in their first-ever football battle of the birds before a crowd of 18,434 in Statesboro:

Coming through in the clutch, Part I

When they absolutely, positively needed a big play, the Eagles came through for their third win in September. The 2021 squad won three games all of last season.

This was the case in the program's milestone victory over Power 5 Nebraska of the Big Ten on Sept. 10. Vantrease, not known for his running, took off for an 8-yard TD run with 36 seconds left for the winning score in a 45-42 final.

It was the case Saturday night against Group of 5 Ball State of the Mid-American Conference.

Trailing for the first time all evening at 23-20, Georgia Southern drove for the go-ahead score — tight end Jjay Mcafee's first career touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Vantrease. Mcafee, converted for this season from a wide receiver, dove over the near right pylon of the end zone for a 27-23 lead with 7:04 remaining.

Then, on fourth-and-inches on its 36 with 3:23 remaining in regulation, GS went for it when failure would mean terrific field position for Ball State.

Vantrease took the snap and made one quick cut to the right before plowing forward for 4 yards and the first down.

On the next play, Jalen White broke through tackles for a 12-yard gain to the Ball State 49.

Georgia Southern provided some breathing room when Vantrease hit a wide-open Amare Jones for a 47-yard touchdown with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter.

Defensive back Justin Birdsong, playing center field, picked off a pass with 1:01 left at his 1-yard line for the clinching play.

"I'm super proud of this team, offensively, defensively and special teams," Vantrease said, "and their resiliency to come back and keep fighting and take the lead and hold the lead and come out with the win."

Grinding out the offense

Georgia Southern played Ball State's type of game, a close contest that allowed the Cardinals to mix run and pass plays without having to be forced into many third-and-long plays. The defense was left guessing.

The Cardinals' strengths coming into the game were a dependable running game and the accurate passing of quarterback John Paddock. He was able to find both open receivers and thread passes between defenders to his targets and finished 33 of 47 (70%) for 338 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He had a 140.4 passer rating.

Paddock's favorite target was Jayshon Jackson, who made 10 catches on 15 targets for 122 yards and one touchdown.

Georgia Southern's focus on improving its rushing defense showed improvement through much of the game. At haftime, Ball State had 200 yards of total offense: 135 through the air and 66 on the ground.

Credit is also due to the GS offense, which owned time of possession in the first half (18 minutes, 38 seconds, to 11:22 for the visitors) and kept the ball away from the Cardinals' offense.

Ball State finished with 143 rushing yards, 338 passing yards and 481 total yards, but was short on the scoreboard. Carson Steele, the Cardinals' featured back, had 22 carries for 104 yards. He had not been tackled for a loss on any attempts in the first three games but was tackled for 9 yards in losses on Saturday and averaged 4.7 yards a carry.

"We felt this game was going to be one of those back-and-forth games, we really did," GS coach Clay Helton said. "We had a lot of respect for their running game with (Carson) Steele. We really felt our running game had to at least match it. I think at the end of the day, we outrushed them. That was a big key to be able to have a balanced attack. I think we were right at it."

Georgia Southern totaled 474 yards, 310 through the air and 164 on the ground. There were a lot of hard-earned rushing yards, as Jalen White (15 carries, 69 yards), Gerald Green (nine carries, 38 yards, one touchdown) and OJ Arnold (seven carries, 38 yards) broke tackles to gain additonal yards in key situations.

"We knew coming into this game we were going to have to run the ball and make our plays when they came to us," GS sophomore wide receiver Derwin Burgess Jr. said. "Ball State is a really good team. We knew it wasn't going to be a little walk in the park. We were going to have to play tough. I knew it was going to have to come down to four quarters."

Missed opportunities

Georgia Southern led 13-10 at halftime and might have felt it left some touchdown opportunities get away.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and drove from their 11 to the Cardinals' 4 for first and goal. The red zone offense then took a step back. A running play gained 1 yard, then the next lost 2 yards, then a pass lost 2 more yards. Alex Raynor came on and kicked a 25-yard field goal for 3-0 with 7:09 left in the first quarter.

In a case apparently of whatever you can do, I can do and be similarly disappointed, Ball State put up a field goal on its first possession to match GS at 3-3.

The Cardinals drove from their 25 to the Eagles' 10 for first and goal. Two rushing plays made it third and goal from the 5. Paddock's pass was broken up in the end zone and deflected into the air, but defensive back Birdsong could not grab the ball for an interception. Instead, Ben VonGunten nailed a 22-yarder.

Georgia Southern kept moving the ball but couldn't capitalize on its next drive, failing on fourth-and-3 from the Ball State 29.

Vantrease said after the game that there was a sense that the Eagles were settling for field goals on drives deep into their opponent's territory, and that wasn't good enough.

"There's always a sense of that. I'm sure it was on both sides, too," he said. "Nobody likes to score field goals when you want to score touchdowns. Especially offensively. The defense did a great job holding them to just field goals. We've got to go down and get touchdowns every time."

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The Eagles made a big play — Burgess' acrobatic catch in tight coverage on the right sideline for a 44-yard gain to the Cardinals' 26.

"I wouldn't say it's a 50-50 ball. It's a go-get-it ball," Burgess said. "I just don't panic when the ball's in the air. I see the nose of the ball and use my fundamentals."

On the next play, running back Arnold lofted a floater to Burgess alone in the end zone but he couldn't hold on.

Two plays later, Vantrease stepped away from the rush and created time for a throw to a wide-open tight end Beau Johnson, but the pass was overthrown.

Raynor got another three points for the home side with a 43-yard field goal and a 6-3 lead with 13:15 left in the second quarter.

GS was methodical in mixing a total of 10 pass and run plays to march from its 20 to the end zone. Green went in from 6 yards for the red-zone touchdown and a 13-3 led with 5:29 left in the half.

Ball State matched the TD with its own on Paddock's 9-yard pass to a wide-open tight end Tanner Koziol with 1:54 left in a busy first half.

Coming through in the clutch, Part II

Derwin Burgess Jr. had a big day, making five catches on eight targets for 133 yards, including a 53-yard bomb in the third quarter on a post pattern. The completion put the ball on the Ball State 6. Two plays later, Vantrease scrambled for a 4-yard touchdown and a 20-13 lead with 7:10 left in the third quarter.

Last season as a true freshman, Burgess caught five passes for 134 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown, in a win at Texas State.

This was his third career 100-yard game.

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern downs Ball State: Takeaways from Eagles' win