In Saturday’s 27-3 win over Western Carolina, the passing game was complimented by a solid rushing attack that finished the night with 188 yards and a touchdown – the first of the season on the ground.
Adam Urbano took a handoff on 4th-and-1 from the 13-yard line and scampered up the gut to put GSU ahead by 24 and put the nail in WCU’s coffin.
“It was the highlight, besides the win. It felt good for me,” said Urbano, a sophomore whose last rushing TD came in the third overtime of a 44-41 win over The Citadel way back on November 1, 2008. “I wasn’t expecting it, but the seas parted. I was just trying to get the first down and keep the drive going, but it just opened up."
On the back of the running game, quarterback Lee Chapple passed for 249 yard and two scores. The Eagles won the turnover battle 3-1.
“I think in any offense a good, solid running game opens everything up,” said Urbano. “We worked on it all week running a little more and it just worked out Saturday.”
About the only thing that went the same as it did in the 44-6 loss to South Dakota State were the stalled drives in the red zone that resulted in Adrian Mora field goals.
“We still gotta get rid of these stupid penalties in the red zone,” Urbano said. “It’s killing us. We’re wanting to come off the ball. We’ve just got to get focused a little bit more and just get locked in.”
Although two drives ended in field goals, the Eagles were able to find the end zone three times from the red zone – once on Urbano’s run, and twice on passes to freshman Jamere Valentine and senior Garryon Taylor.
The philosophy
The running game enabled some of the backs and wide receivers to make some plays. For the first time this season, screens and short passes were turned into big gains by an offensive attack filled with underclassmen.
“The whole offensive philosophy is get the ball out of your hands and get the ball as quick as you can to guys in space,” said Chapple. “Saturday they made guys miss, and it turned into big plays. In the fourth, we hit Urbano for a seven-yard throw and it ended up being like a 50-yard gain. That’s what this offense is really all about.”
The defense’s wheel-house
After two weeks of games against I-formations and power running games, Georgia Southern finally got a taste of what it was used to in Western – the spread attack so common to the SoCon.
“It think from a player’s perspective it’s a little more of a comfort zone,” said GSU defensive coordinator Ashley Anders. “They’ve had more reps in facing those types of offenses.”
Western isn’t exactly in the upper echelon of SoCon offensive production, and defensive back Darrell Pasco will have the task of covering the top receiver in the SoCon on Saturday – Elon’s Terrell Hudgins.
He got a taste against Western’s Marquel Pittman, matching him step-for-step throughout most of the game and picking off a fade route in the end zone to prevent the Catamounts only shot at a TD.
“It think he came out and had one of the best games he’s had since he became a Georgia Southern Eagle,” Anders said about Pasco. “I think that gave him a lot of confidence, I think it gave his teammates a lot of confidence. In a lot of those plays he made, he was in a one-on-one situation. Any time you play with confidence – man you play a lot better.”
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.
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