STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV)โGeorgia Southern completed a third of its schedule on Saturday, with the Eagles record 2-2 after four games.
They lost on the road to the number five team in the nation Ole Miss 52-13.
โI really appreciate our teamโs courage or toughness,โ Head Coach Clay Helton said. โI thought they give unbelievable effort and fight, but at the end of the day, when youโre playing one of the better teams in the country, you know you canโt have a couple critical holding calls that stop drives. You canโt have a two coverages that end up where weโre at a place for big plays and you canโt have two turnovers.โ
With start of conference play this week, helton shared his thoughts on the first third of the season
โThis type of schedule, I think, has really been a great experience for our team as we go into conference play,โ Helton said. โWhen you play the likes of a Boise State and Ole Miss, you have a long road trip to Nevadaย and play in the environment of an Oxford, Mississippi. It builds your strength and builds your confidence as a football team.โ
The Eagles have eight regular season games remaining, all of them against Sun Belt teams, the first of those 8 games will be in Atlanta against in-state rival Georgia State.
โHe spreads the ball around to different guys and different playmakers,โ Helton said. โDefensively, you know, this will be our first time playing in odd front. They bounce in and out of odd (front) and four down. So thatโll be a new challenge.โ
JC French has been the storyline this season. He won a three-way competition for the starting quarterback position. Through four games, heโs completing 64% of his passes with six touchdowns against one interceptionย
โFor the first four games, I played pretty well,โ French said, โbut obviously not to our standard because we want to be 4-0 and at this program we expect to win. So I think just by growing game to game, Iโve just seen like defenses just kind of understanding what theyโre doing more.โ
Georgia Southern will make the three-hour trip to Atlanta to take on Georgia State Saturday with the game kicking off at 3:30 p.m.
