The Georgia Southern Eagles out of the FBS and the Sun Belt Conference rushed for 395 yards on Saturday evening with three starters rushing for 100+ each, in holding off the Maine Black Bears out of the FCS 26-18 in a non conference football game at Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia before 17,202 fans.
Maine (1-1) worked their way down the field in the games opening possession to take the early lead. The biggest plays were an 12 yard pass from quarterback Chris Ferguson to Jaquan Blair, a 10 yard pass to Andre Miller, and an 11 yard run by Emmanuel Reed. The drive was also aided by a pass interference on Georgia Southern. Kenny Doak booted a 31 yard field goal in a drive that took 7:47 off the clock and made it 3-0. After a lackluster first 15 minutes of action where the Eagles only had 33 yards of offense, the hosts got it going and took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish early in the second quarter on three plays that took just 51 seconds to go 66 yards. Matt LaRoche had a 21 yard run to the Maine 45 yard line, and then quarterback Justin Tomlin on an option play went up the middle 45 yards for an Eagles touchdown to put GSU up 7-3. The Eagles attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but the Black Bears recovered and drove to the GSU 23 helped by a 16 yard pass from Ferguson to Miller. Doak though would miss a 40 yard field goal attempt to keep it a 7-3 score. Tyler Bass would add a 37 yard field goal for GSU with 6:16 left in the first half, and the score was 10-3 at the break.
Maine wide receiver Jaquan Blair (11) scores a touchdown during the Black Bears 42-14 win over Sacred Heart on August 30 in Orono. Blair had another touchdown Saturday as Maine fell to FBS opponent Georgia Southern 26-18 in Georgia. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
GSU looked to put an early stranglehold on Maine in the third quarter. Logan Wright exploded for a 70 yard run down to the Black Bears three yard line as the Eagles looked to take a two touchdown lead. Quarterback Tomlin though fumbled on the next play and Richard Carr recovered for Maine in the endzone for a touchback. Later after another big run by Tomlin, Bass kicked a 20 yard field goal to increase the lead to 13-3 with a little less than eight minutes left in the third quarter. A good Maine drive including a 53 yard reception by Earnest Edwards set the Bears up inside the Eagles five yard line. Reed though would fumble at the three and GSU recovered. On the very next play LaRoche busted off a 75 yard run to the Maine 22 yard line, setting up another Bass field goal of 31 yards to make it 16-3.
Early in the fourth a Tomlin 29 yard run set up an 11 yard touchdown run by LaRoche that looked like it may end any Maine hopes of a win by extending to a 23-3 lead. But the Black Bears wouldn’t quit. A Ferguson 34 yard pass to Jaquan Blair set them up deep in Eagles territory, and Edwards took a reverse pitch from Ferguson and passed one to Devin Young for a 21 yard touchdown in the right corner of the endzone to finish a 75 yard drive that took less than two minutes. Bass kicked his fourth field goal of the night for GSU with 3:46 remaining from 40 yards to push it back to a 16 point lead. The Bears quickly drove into Eagles territory though, and Ferguson found Blair streaking across the middle who made a great juggling catch in traffic and outraced the secondary for a 46 yard touchdown. Blair also cashed in on the two point conversion, making a one handed leaping catch to get the Black Bears within a touchdown and another two point try of tying the score. But with no timeouts and 2:19 left on the clock, Maine would need to go for an onside kick. The onside kick try by Doak went out of bounds and GSU was able to run out the clock.
For Maine, Ferguson finished the night 23-47 passing, 286 yards, with one touchdown, and one interception. Reed led the ground game with 14 carries for 53 yards. Blair had five receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown. Young caught five for 71 yards and a score, while Edwards also snatched four catches for 73 yards. Joshua Huffman, Charles Mitchell, and Taji Lowe all had seven tackles a piece for the Black Bears defense. LaRoche led the way for the GSU offense with 9 carries, 154 yards, and a touchdown. Tomlin had 11 carries, 132 yards, and a touchdown and also completed 4-9 passes for 63 yards. Wright had 15 carries for 114 yards. Monquavion Brinson and Reynard Ellis had seven tackles a piece to anchor the Eagles defense.
#6 ranked FCS Maine falls to 3-18 all time against FBS opponents. The Bears will play one more FBS school on their 2019 schedule later in the year when they visit Liberty. Maine will return home next Saturday for a huge early season clash at Alfond Stadium to open up their CAA conference schedule against Towson at 7 p.m. The 2-0 Tigers were ranked #8 in the STATS FCS football rankings last week and are coming off a 42-3 home win Saturday over North Carolina Central.
UME (1-1) 3 0 0 15- 18
GSU (1-1) 0 10 6 10- 26
Total yards- Maine 359 GSU 458
First downs- Maine 17 GSU 16
Third downs- Maine 4-16 (25%) GSU 3-13 (23.1%)
Turnovers- Maine 2 GSU 1
Time of possession- Maine 27:43 GSU 32:17
