Friday, September 28th, 2007
Looks like it’s almost official, they picked up $1.2M in donations and are ready to start football now. The students will vote on the proposal to increase fees next month and if it passes, the program will be put on the fast track. They’ll be competing on the field by 2010.
Patton is expected to give his OK by November and send the plan to the Board of Regents, which likely would rubber-stamp its approval in the spring.
Less than 4 years … where will The Real GSU be in 4 years? Dr. Grube? Mr. Baker? Where are your plans? We represent nearly 10% of your boosters … many of your lettermen … over 1,000 fans and supporters … don’t we deserve your leadership on this topic?
Start the process!
Supporters of a I-A study, SIGN THE SURVEY NOW! We will deliver your signatures to the boosters program very soon!
Friday, September 28th, 2007
The path of destruction through Eagle Nation’s collective psyche following last week’s loss to Chattanooga is as apparent as the path of an F5 tornado through a trailer park.
Inevitably, criticism of the team’s performance followed the obvious paths. The defense is shoddy, beginning with a comatose pass rush and ending with the inability to tackle properly. Defensive coordinator Ashley Anders is in over his head and before several snaps the defense was out of position. Penalties killed the home team, which according to which Eagle fan you talk to is either a sign of poor discipline or the Southern Conference officials are inept, vindictive and Appalachian State graduates all at once. The offense is too one-dimensional and the offensive genius at the head of this beast has forgotten how to throw downfield. The players are in poor condition, which leads to declining performance late in ballgames and probably has something to do with all the injuries. Plus, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named peed in Eagle Creek on the way to toting his sorry ass out of town, so there’s some lingering ethereal damage screwing up the mystical properties of the water. This is definitely taking its toll.
That covers about everything. More…
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
SuperPrep.com’s Jamie Newberg posted a story yesterday discussing the signing class of 2005. The state of Georgia was ranked FOURTH in the entire country for producing football players for NCAA I-A universities.
Class of 2005 I-A / FBS Signees by State
1) Texas 389
2) Florida 341
3) California 232
4) Georgia 148
5) Ohio 131
6) Virginia 88
7) Pennsylvania 86
8) Alabama 83
9) Louisiana 72
10) North Carolina 59
Of those top 10 signee producing states, here’s the breakdown of FBS universities within each state.
Tally of I-A / FBS Universities by State
1) Texas 10 (38.9 signees / institution per year)
2) Florida 7 (48.7 signees / institution per year)
3) California 7 (33.1 signees / institution per year)
4) Georgia 2 (74 signees / institution per year)
5) Ohio 8 (16.4 signees / institution per year)
6) Virginia 2 (44 signees / institution per year)
7) Pennsylvania 3 (28.7 signees / institution per year)
8) Alabama 4 (20.8 signees / institution per year)
9) Louisiana 5 (14.4 signees / institution per year)
10) North Carolina 5 (11.8 signees / institution per year)
How long will it be before Georgia State, Kennesaw State, or some other school beats Georgia Southern to the punch? Georgia is a fairly untapped market … even if a 3rd school was added in to the mix, you’d see more recruits per institution in Georgia than any other state in the top 10.
Competitiveness at the next level is probably the least of our worries. It’s no wonder the Detroit News named GSU #1 for potential!
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
When you lose to Chattanooga, it is seriously time to start taking stock of things. So when Georgia Southern fell on the road to the Mocs last year, it was a devastating blow. It was truly the point at which the tide shifted for many fans. And for good reason.
There may not be a worse example of FCS/I-AA football in the nation than Chattanooga. Not because the Mocs are bad on the field, either. There are worse teams on paper. Chattanooga is a prime example of how FCS/I-AA can define a team in absolutely the worst terms. If Montana is the shining example of having a prominent program within the confines of the FCS, then Chattanooga is a prime example of why football isn’t even worth the effort to some other subdivision schools.
Chattanooga is dangerous because the Mocs should be good. Not just pretty good, either. They should be a championship-caliber team, year in and year out. But because the Mocs have floundered and wasted opportunities and failed to do even the most fundamental of football things at key points in their history, football at Chattanooga should probably consider going the way of East Tennessee and just close up shop. More…
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Eric Lacy, sports writer for the Detroit News, compiled a list of the top 5 programs in the country who are ready for a move to the I-A / FBS Subdivision of Division I football. Georgia Southern was #1 on that list while SoCon rival App State places 4th in the list.
Lacy, who covers Michigan football, sees the potential for our program and even ranked us ahead of the program that made Michigan look so bad. It’s good to see that the potential of our program getting noticed by sports people outside of Statesboro.
Monday, September 17th, 2007
In what turned out to be a shoot-out … or maybe a shoes-out … Jayson Foster juked his opponents all the way to a 42-34 win over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
The Good Stuff: Georgia Southern hasn’t lost its rushing game from ‘05 and Jayson Foster has the strength to will us at least 5 wins this season on his own. The Eagles rumbled on the ground with 3 different powerful weapons in Jayson Foster’s 250+ yards of magic and SIX scores, Lamar Lewis’ 200+ yards (11.4 per carry) and Zeke Rozier’s 50 yards on 9 carries. The running game was more than Coastal was able to handle despite forcing 5 punts and 2 field goal attempts.
Coach Hatcher also left his playbook mostly concealed as the Eagles offense stuck with a small number of plays that seemed to be more than enough to get the ball in to the redzone. The quickouts to the receivers, slant routes, deep routes and the various run calls kept Coastal coverage questioning themselves all night.
The Bad Stuff: Our defense gave up 370 yards, 205 of it on the ground and had a hard time stopping them on 3rd (47%) & 4th downs (66%). The secondary coverage seemed to be on their game while the linebackers and linemen weren’t able to put much pressure on Coastal’s QB. The pressure we did get typically came from good coverage on receivers, although we did see a couple of big moments from the defense and special teams; especially with the picks and Echols’ forced fumble.
The D-line and linebackers had an off-game outside of a lot of good positioning to keep drives limited. I think Webb and Wise were in on most every play in the 4th quarter. Tackling problems and penalties on both sides of the ball were major concerns, but we overcame them.
We had a tough time with Fordham and Tolbert, especially in the 3rd quarter. Kudos to those guys, their O-line, and their coaches for a great game and making us work hard for the W. If Coastal ever opens up their passing game, those guys could hurt some unsuspecting team. They had as much trouble with their defense as we did and if we face a team with a better D, we could see some trouble. Thanks to Coastal (and West Georgia) for exposing that for us.
As a tip of his hat, Coach Hatcher left the final unnecessary touchdown off the board with the Eagles on Coastal’s 6 yard line as time expired.
The Ugly Truth: Foster has shown that when he’s focused, he can single-handedly will a win out of our Eagles. Lamar Lewis, Zeke Rozier and our massive O-line have shown they can do the job as well. How is this ugly? Well, what this tells us is that we may have issues being perceived as one-dimensional. Foster was 6 for 15 with 2 INTs (although admittedly the helmet deflection couldn’t be prevented really). He missed on some wide open long balls down the sidelines and was generally off the mark. We certainly need to work on the passing game and keeping the pocket from collapsing on Foster, but as we saw Saturday … maybe that isn’t such a big problem to have so long as Foster stays healthy.
It’s hard to find fault in a road win against a playoff caliber team for sure. This early in the season and it is hard to judge things accurately with so few games having been played. But if Coastal is as tough against other teams as they played us, then we are going to have a solid year. For Big South champs from last year, they sure did play like them even though they had lost so many starters.
The Final Word: We have to get better than we were on Saturday night with our front 7, but I’ll chalk this one up to road-game jitters. If opponents decide to focus on limiting Foster and if they have some success at keeping him rattled and stifling our offense, we will drop those games this year unless our other weapons step up.
With the weapons we have in Covington, Walker, Bynum and others on defense, teams should have a hard time throwing the ball against us. But until those other guys on defense get some pressure on offenses, these shootouts are going to be a way of life for us. Enjoy the win and focus on the small things Eagles!
Congrats on a great win Eagles! GATA this weekend! It’s revenge time for UTC!
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
When asked what kind of defenses gave his spread offense the most trouble, former Georgia Southern football coach Paul Johnson would just look at you for a second like he’d had sex with your sister and you didn’t know it. It was a trademark. Then he’d matter-of-factly utter: “the ones with good players.”
So let’s get that right out of the way. Teams with good players win more games than teams with not-so-good players. You don’t have to be Vince Lombardi to figure that truism out. Hell, you don’t have to Lyle Lombardi, the head fry cook at the Green Bay McDonalds, to figure that out.
So why do we get so fired up about offensive and defensive innovations like Paul Johnson’s spread offense, Rich Rodriguez’s West Virginia option, Urban Myers’s spread option and Georgia Southern’s own “Hatch Attack?” For one, we believe that by giving something a unique name (“the Hambone”) or lining up in a slightly different formation (again, see West Virginia) or seemingly inventing a new position (like a “rover” or a “fox” or an “H-back”) the team we like to yell for has something no one else does. It’s a secret weapon—the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator on turf. It’s a rabbit’s foot in a binder, steroids for the brain and videotape of the other team’s defensive signals all rolled into one.
But is the Hatch Attack really all that? More…
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
One final picture, worth posting as I found it by some great google searching :) We’ve covered all the pictures of the past … let’s start the season by looking at a picture of our future (although the picture is a few years old! :)
Anyone want to take a guess at which D2 quarterback is pictured in this photo? That’s right, Coach Hatcher himself. Here’s to a successful season Coach … victory cigars all around!
Friday, September 7th, 2007
We’ve made it! Here’s a picture of Raymond Gross & Carl Miller hold up the 1990 national championship trophy. GSU fans everywhere were riding high that day! On top of the world with only one way to go – up. The clipping even refers to comments by CBS Sports announcers on the school going to Division I-A football.
What exactly happened?
Who failed?
Who is remedying this?
SouthernFACTS has pledged to follow up on this issue for as long as it takes!
As it stands, this image marks the last of the Countdown to Kickoff images for 2007 … we’ve posted OVER 100 IMAGES of sports at GSU and that was just the tip of the iceberg. And this movement is just getting started! We have hundreds of signatures, over $300,000 in new money pledged to the University, and a lot of good will from alumni and fans which will keep the site growing.
We hope you will continue to read and post on the forums here, we’ll be posting news and stories regularly throughout the coming weeks (all related to GSU, and only a few specific to I-A).
Make sure to continue to spread the word … football season is here and people NEED to hear about this!
But most of all, don’t rely on us … DO YOUR PART! We’ll never get anywhere without your help!
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
This one should be very sentimental for all the die-hards out there. In hand, the K-mart football. Both a sign to the past … and the future. Give ‘em heck Coach Hatcher!
