South Alabama rallies to beat Georgia Southern football 38-31. Here are our takeaways

STATESBORO — South Alabama's La'Damian Webb rushed for 247 yards and four touchdowns, including the final three of the game to lift the Jaguars to a 38-31 victory over host Georgia Southern on Saturday night.

Here are key takeaways from the Eagles' first loss in four games at Paulson Stadium, as USA improved to 7-2, 4-1 in the Sun Belt, and GS dropped to 5-4, 2-3.

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Recap: Georgia Southern suffers season's first home defeat, 38-31 to South Alabama

Georgia Southern's run defense vs. La'Damian Webb

South Alabama pounded Georgia Southern's struggling rushing defense, ranked among the lowest in FBS.

GS entered the game ranked 127th of 131 FBS teams in total defense, allowing 480.9 yards per game. The Eagles were 125th in rushing defense (210.8) and 112th in passing defense (270.1).

The rushing defense was the Jaguars' main target, especially in the second half. Webb was the chief weapon, as the 5-foot-7, 208-pound junior totaled a school-record 247 yards (the old mark was 203) and as well as a program-high four touchdowns on 35 carries, a 7.1 average.

His scoring runs were of 1, 5, 5 and 9 yards, the last two in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars took their first lead at 38-31. Webb had 15 carries for 131 yards in the fourth quarter alone.

The first tackler usually didn't bring him down. It took two or more Eagles to do the job.

South Alabama totaled 321 yards on 56 rushing attempts. The Jaguars had 514 total yards, with quarterback Carter Bradley finishing 16 of 27 for 193 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions (by Khadry Jackson and NaJee Thompson).

The Jaguars entered the day ranked 15th in FBS in total defense, yielding 296 yards a game. Their passing defense was 42nd (211.0 ypg) and their rushing defense was fourth nationally with a mere 85 yards allowed per game (214 carries, 684 yards, 2.82 yards per carry).

Georgia Southern totaled 366 yards, 278 through the air and just 88 on the ground. The Eagles had 84 net yards on five carries in the first quarter, 14 net yards on six carries in the second quarter, minus-4 yards on five carries in the third, and minus-6 yards on two carries in the fourth.

South Alabama chips away at early lead

Georgia Southern got off to a dream start with a very early 14-0 lead. So early that South Alabama had a lot of time to recover.

Eagles linebacker Khadry Jackson, on the second play from scrimmage, picked off USA quarterback Bradley and ran 43 yards to the end zone for his first career interception. It was the Eagles' first pick-six since Quin Williams had one in 2021.

The lead was 7-0 with 11:31 left in the first quarter, and Georgia Southern's defense forced a punt on the next drive. So when the Eagles' offense finally got the ball, it drove from its 22 to the end zone, with running back Jalen White covering the last 54 yards on a dynamic play.

On third-and-1 from his 46, White looking like he was picking his way for a short yardage gain. He broke a leg tackle as he got to the corner, then avoided getting pushed out of bounds and had a clear path to sprint to the end zone with 9:20 left in the first quarter.

But the Jaguars responded with a 75-yard scoring drive with a touchdown pass for 14-7. The Eagles matched that with a 75-yard drive culminated by Kyle Vantrease's 16-yard lob to the end zone, where Derwin Burgess Jr. reached high over tight coverage for the catch, then held on as a second defensive back knocked him to the ground.

South Alabama didn't go away, and kept a drive alive with a fake punt on fourth-and-3 with a 30-yard run. The drive ended on the first play on the second quarter with Webb's 1-yard plunge for a 21-14 deficit.

The Eagles couldn't punch in a drive with first-and-goal from the 2 and settled for Alex Raynor's 22-yard field goal with 10:17 left in the second quarter.

"There were several moments in that game that really stand out to me," Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton said afterward. "One was the great call by coach (Kane Wommack), he executes a fake punt. It keeps the drive alive and keeps the score alive.

"Then definitely not getting the ball in the end zone from the 15-yard line after a big play by our defense is crushing. Those are plays when you look up, say five or six plays, you look back, you're just going to be sick about it. You always remember the losses, and I'll always remember the five to six plays that end up, when two good teams get together, that's the difference."

Later, USA's Diego Guajardo nailed a 29-yard field goal for a 24-17 difference.

That was the score at halftime, as the Eagles had one more scoring opportunity that went awry.

Michael Lantz attempted a 52-yard field goal and USA called timeout before the kick. The kick appeared good but no official signal was needed. On the real attempt, USA's Charles Coleman III blocked the kick.

In the second half, Georgia Southern scored one touchdown in the third period and zero points in the final quarter. South Alabama had seven in the third and 14 in the fourth, when the Jags dominated time of possession, 11 minutes, 10 seconds, to 3:50 for the hosts.

For the game, USA held a big advantage, 37:04 to 22:56.

The Jaguars' edge on third-down conversions, 8 of 15 to 4 of 12, compensated for being on the wrong side of turnovers (3-1).

Passing game off for Georgia Southern, Kyle Vantrease

The Eagles' wide receiver room was deep to start the season, and quarterback Kyle Vantrease made an effort to spread the ball around. He didn't have one particular receiver as a so-called security blanket, but Vantrease went to a group of three or four each game more than others.

That depth is being tested by season-ending injuries — first to Sam Kenerson in Game 2, and then to Amare Jones in Game 8 at Old Dominion. Jones, in particular, is a fifth-year player with sure hands who came up with clutch plays on offense as well as returned punts and kickoffs.

On Saturday, another veteran player went down. Redshirt senior Jeremy Singleton, a transfer from Houston, was injured (likely an ankle) in the first half.

From that point, the Eagles' passing game seemed out of sync. Vantrease had his timing down with senior Khaleb Hood and sophomore Derwin Burgess Jr. — both starters — but some passes to other targets were dropped, or short or long. The receivers didn't seem exactly on the same page.

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When the Eagles were down 38-31 with 4:17 left, they went for it on fourth-and-10. After an offside penalty gave them 5 yards, Vantrease connected with Dalen Cobb for a 4-yard gain when 5 yards were needed to avoid a turnover on downs.

For the game, Burgess was targeted 13 times and made eight catches for 96 yards, including the 16-yard TD catch. Hood had 10 targets and caught seven passes for 76 yards.

There were five passes to true freshman Marcus Sanders Jr. (two catches, 19 yards); four apiece to true freshman Cobb (three catches, 29 yards), tight end Jjay Mcafee (two catches, 37 yards, one 7-yard TD) and running back Jalen White (one catch, 6 yards); two apiece to Singleton (two catches, 11 yards) and Ezrah Archie (one catch, 4 yards); and one to running back Gerald Green (no receptions).

With the passing game appearing off a tick, the running game was less effective against South Alabama's top-15 defense. At halftime, Vantrease was 15 of 25 for 138 yards, and the rushers totaled 98 yards — including 54 on Jalen White's TD run.

South Alabama's Bradley was 9 of 16 for 111 yards, and the Jaguars rushed for 117 yards.

When the game totals were in, Vantrease was 26 of 45 for 278 yards, two touchdowns (keeping his streak alive of at least one TD pass at nine games) and one interception.

A rare sack of Kyle Vantrease

Georgia Southern's Vantrease had to dip and shuffle his feet and get rid of the ball to avoid numerous sacks against South Alabama. But the Jaguars did get him once — only the third sack in nine games allowed by the Eagles, who are among the leaders in FBS at protecting the quarterback.

Georgia Southern Eagles still need a sixth win

Losing to South Alabama dropped Georgia Southern to 2-3 in the East Division and likely takes them out of contention for the division title. Coastal Carolina is 5-1 in the East and has beaten GS head to head.

More pressing at this point for the Eagles is earning a sixth victory and becoming bowl eligible in their first season under head coach Clay Helton.

Georgia Southern has one road game remaining at Louisiana (4-5, 2-4 SBC) on Thursday night, then rounds out the regular-season schedule with home games against Marshall (5-4, 2-3 SBC) on Nov. 19 and Appalachian State (5-4, 2-3) on Nov. 26 at Paulson Stadium.

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 Eagles football loses to South Alabama: Takeaways