Georgia Southern football hosts James Madison on Saturday: Kickoff, how to watch and more
The Georgia Southern Eagles (3-3, 0-2 Sun Belt) are seeking their first conference victory this season on Saturday at the expense of new league member and No. 25 James Madison (5-0, 3-0), a former FCS power which is also new this season to the national polls and FBS. Here's how to watch and listen to the game, and more.
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Midseason report: Georgia Southern putting up big offense, shaky run defense numbers
What time do the Georgia Southern Eagles play the James Madison Dukes?
Kickoff: 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022.
Location: Paulson Stadium (capacity 25,000), Statesboro
How to watch James Madison at Georgia Southern on TV
Danny Waugh (play-by-play), Cole Neely (analyst) and Emily Grace McWhorter (sidelines) will have the call on the ESPN+ digital streaming network.
Radio for James Madison at Georgia Southern
Danny Reed (play-by-play), Terry Harvin (analyst), Russ Brown (analyst) and Frank Sulkowski (sidelines) have the call on the Georgia Southern Sports Network. The pregame, in-game and postgame shows can be heard in Savannah on WIXV 95.5 FM and on the network's flagship station WPMX 94.9 FM in Statesboro.
Betting: Over/under & point spread
As of Friday morning, James Madison was an 11.5-point favorite, according to the Tipico Sportsbook. The over/under was 66.5 points. The money line was -450 for James Madison, +330 for Georgia Southern.
Series history
Georgia Southern leads the series 7-1, the last seven in a row from 1986-92 after losing the first meeting 21-6 at Bridgeforth Stadium in 1985. The Eagles are 4-0 vs. the Dukes in Statesboro, 3-1 in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Game notes
The No. 25 Dukes are the fourth team to come to Paulson Stadium ranked by The Associated Press. Georgia Southern beat No. 25 Appalachian State at home in 2018 but lost to No. 21 Coastal Carolina and No. 14 BYU in 2022 in Statesboro.
Eagles quarterback Kyle Vantrease has thrown at least one touchdown pass in six straight games to set a new school record for consecutive games with a scoring pass.
The sixth-year player, a transfer from the University of Buffalo, has in just six games set the program's single-season passing mark with 1,933 yards. During his 359-yard effort against Georgia State on Oct. 8, Vantrease passed Antonio Henton's season total of 1,852 set in 2008.
Commentary: Georgia Southern, college football take on issue bigger than a game in mental health
Todd Bradley-Glenn: Season-ending injury again thwarts Georgia Southern seventh-year linebacker
Analysis: Coach likes Georgia Southern's fighting spirit, but turnovers, rush defense are its undoing
Why the Eagles lost: Too many turnovers, and more takeaways from Georgia Southern's 41-33 loss at Georgia State
Final: Georgia State hands Georgia Southern second loss in Sun Belt Conference play
Dukes QB Todd Centeio was selected the SBC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season — the other being on Sept. 26. He was 28 of 37 for 394 passing yards and four touchdowns in a 42-20 win at Arkansas State on Oct. 8. He added 10 rushing yards to finish with 404 yards of total offense.
Centeio set season highs in completions and passing yards. His 397 passing yards ranked fourth in JMU single-game history. He has thrown 15 TD passes to just one interception this season.
The graduate student transferred to JMU in January after spending two seasons at Colorado State (2020-21) and three at Temple (2017-19)
In the loss at Georgia State, GS receivers Khaleb Hood (120 yards) and Jeremy Singleton (101) had at least 100 reception yards. The other times two GS receivers had at least 100 yards in the same game 1985 against Furman and 1986 against James Madison.
JMU leads the Sun Belt with 44.2 points per game, whille GS is second with a 37.0 average.
The Dukes have the top rushing defense among all FBS teams (41 yards per game) and the No. 2 total defense (227.40) along with the No. 23 passing defense (186.40).
The Eagles are 119th in total defense (453), 126th in rushing defense (223.0) and 67th in passing defense (230.0).
GS has the No. 11 passing offense (322.2), compared to 32nd for JMU (274.8). The Dukes have the statistically better rushing offense (18th, 213.8) than the Eagles (53rd. 169.7). For total offense, GS has the edge at 14th (491.8) to 16th (488.6) for JMU.
Linebacker Marques Watson-Trent leads the Eagles and stands fifth in the conference with 51 tackles (8.5 stops per game).
James Madison is streaking with 11 straight regular-season wins, eight straight conference wins (including FCS), 14 straight regular-season road wins and 13 straight conference road wins (including FCS).
JMU, at No. 25 in the AP poll, became the first FBS-transitioning team to garner a national ranking in its first season. The Dukes are one of two two non-autonomy 5 programs to rank in the Top 25, as Cincinnati is No. 21.
The Dukes are just the third first-year FBS squad to start a season 5-0, joining UTSA in 2012 and Florida Atlantic in 2004. JMU pursues the first 6-0 start by a first-year FBS program this upcoming week.
There are multiple connections between GS players and coaches and JMU. Eagles defensive back Mari Wingard played for JMU head coach Curt Cignetti when the duo was at Elon in 2019. Sixth-year receiver Ezrah Archie played three seasons at JMU (2017-19) before transferring to Monmouth.
Georgia Southern offensive analyst Bryan Schor was a Walter Payton Award finalist and All-American as a quarterback at James Madison, leading the Dukes to the 2016 FCS national title. Running backs coach Matt Merritt coached the running backs at JMU in 2019.
They said it
Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton on this week's opponent, No. 25 James Madison:
"You're looking at a very veteran, experienced, extremely well-coached organization. They've done the things to separate away from teams. They have a tremendous run game, they play tremendous defense, one of the top defenses in the country, especially run defense. They play really sound football. They don't beat themselves. You look up, it's no surprise they're undefeated and a top-25 team. Credit to coach (Curt) Cignetti and his staff for what they're accomplishing right now."
James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti on playing Georgia Southern:
"Focused in now on another very, very difficult challenge this week on the road again against a Georgia Southern team that obviously beat Nebraska at Nebraska and has been on the road four of the last five weeks, so they're returning home. High-octane, explosive offense with a number of playmakers. A defense that gives you multiple looks and packages that'll be a challenge. They've got good specialists, so we're going to have to have a great week."
Twitter follows
Follow Georgia Southern beat writer Nathan Dominitz of the Savannah Morning News/savannahnow.com @NathanDominitz for Eagles updates and James Madison beat writer Shane Mettlen of the Daily News-Record @Shane_DNRSports of Harrisonburg, Virginia for Dukes updates.
You can follow the teams' official Twitter accounts at @GSAthletics_FB and @JMUFootball
Podcast
Listen to the new and previous episodes of the "Georgia Southern Extra" podcast at https://omny.fm/shows/georgia-southern-extra/playlists/podcast
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: How to watch Georgia Southern Eagles football vs. James Madison Dukes
