| #69 Georgia Southern Eagles |
| #3 in Sun Belt |
There is no excuse for Georgia Southern to suffer through a repeat of a 2019 season that saw them inexplicably unable to run the ball. They are a triple option team returned a full backfield from a team that ranked 14th in the nation in yards per carry in 2018, and yet averaged under 5 yards per carry in 2019, 5th in the Sun Belt. That’s not, by itself, the worst, but when you want to run the ball like the Eagles do, which 78.02% of the time, more than any non-service academy FBS school, that’s unsustainable. They’ve got all of the key pieces back, in senior quarterback Shai Werts, and a pair of All-Sun Belt running backs. Werts should, assuming he stays healthy, pass 3,000 rushing yards in his career this season. And he’s a better passer than he’s allowed to be, completing over 55% of his passes for his career, with 26 touchdowns, to just six interceptions. The issue in 2019 was not the guys carrying the ball, it was with the guys blocking for them. The Eagles ranked in the low 20s or high 30s in every one of Football Outsiders’ run blocking metrics in 2018, and dropped off into the 90s across the board last year. With four upperclassman starters returning in 2020, they should allow that talented backfield to flourish, and get back into the top 15 nationally in rushing. That said, Werts does need to play better. While the offense did regress overall, to #101 in SP+, and a large portion of that falls on the line, Werts was not the player he was as a sophomore. His completion percentage dropped by 7%, his yards per attempt by 2.2 yards, his passer rating by 32 points, and even rushing, his yards per attempt by 0.7 yards, with 11 fewer overall touchdowns. All in all it was a 36 point drop in QBR, resulting in falling from the #2 quarterback in the Sun Belt as a sophomore in 2018, to #8 last year, as a junior. The defense was a mixed bag, with an outstanding run defense, but an inability to stop the pass, specifically the big pass play. The Eagles allowed just 3.8 ypc, narrowly behind Appalachian State for best mark in the conference. But the pass defense, despite holding opponents to just under 60% completions, surrendered over 13 yards per completion, 2nd worst in the Sun Belt. There’s no reason to expect that to change this year, as the front seven still looks stacked, and the secondary, particularly at cornerback, still appears to be a mess. If there’s one area that front could help at, it’s generating more pressure, as they only ranked #71 in sack rate. Their best returning players are also their best pass rushers, so there is hope that they can alleviate some of the burden on their cornerbacks. The Eagles have beaten their rival, Appalachian State, in each of the past two years (the Mountaineers going 16-0 in Sun Belt play otherwise), but they’ve been unable to avoid other hiccups, preventing them from playing for the conference title. They get Appalachian State at home this year (seeking their second ever three game winning streak in the rivalry that dates back to 1932, and has been played every year, plus playoff meetings, since 1993), Troy is still down, and Arkansas State rotates off their schedule. This might be as good a shot as they are going to have.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| QB | Shai Werts, Senior |
| RB | Wesley Kennedy III, Senior |
| RB | J.D. King, Senior |
| . |
| DE | Raymond Johnson III, Senior |
| LB | Rashad Byrd, Senior |
| S | Kenderick Duncan Jr., Junior |
