Jekyll And Hyde
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2023 football season in Statesboro has been a year out of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Year two for the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro for Clay Helton has seen highs of capping off a 6-2 start with a Thursday night 44-27 victory over rival Georgia State, and devastating lows of finishing the regular season by falling in the final four games including 55-27 in Boone, NC to App State.
Despite the downhill slide in the back half of the year, the Eagles finish the regular season with a 6-6 record and earned an invitation to the Myrtle Beach Bowl to face Ohio from the MAC. So how did we get to this point?
The Eagles began the season taking care of business to the tune of 2-0 with an opening game win over The Citadel and a revenge victory over the Blazers of UAB 49-35.
Helton’s crew then soared to Big Ten country to take on Wisconsin. Although a good showing early, 6 turnovers (including 5 interceptions) got the best of the Blue Birds and saw the Badgers pull away late 35-14.
Georgia Southern would respond the next week on the road at Ball State with 530 yards of total offense and pick up a road win in Muncie 40-3.
After falling to a rolling and undefeated James Madison 41-13 on the road, the blue and white would rattle off 2 straight wins at the prettiest little stadium in America. A come from behind victory against ULM 38-28 at Paulson set up a 5-2 Georgia Southern hosting a 6-1 Georgia State team on ESPN 2 the Thursday prior to Halloween.
Georgia Southern dominated the Panthers from the word go, racking up almost 300 yards rushing, and knocking off the in-state rival 44-27.
That’s when the Jekyll turned to Hyde for GSU with a tough final 4 games of the year and 3 of those on the road.
It began with a 45-24 Texas State victory deep in the heart of Texas to a much-improved Bobcat team under first year head coach GJ Kinne.
Next, Marshall would get the best of the Eagles 38-33 on an emotional weekend in Huntington, WV as the Thundering Herd remembered the 30-year anniversary of the Marshall plane crash.
The Blue and White would return home to try and get off the spiral against Old Dominion but wouldn’t go the way for the Eagles. ODU led in this game 17-10 in the 4th quarter, Georgia Southern tied the game at 17-17 on a Davis Brinn TD pass to Jjay Mcafee with 1:25 remaining.
It appeared that the game would be heading to overtime, but Monarch QB Grant Wilson ran for 28 yards up the middle to the 5-yard line to set up the Ethan Sanchez 22-yard field goal as time expired to snatch the win away from GS 20-17.
The season would wrap up at the Rock against Appalachian State in-front of a sold-out crowd at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Georgia Southern would take a 14-3 first quarter lead, but App State would score the next 6 touchdowns and take a 48-17 lead thanks to 4 Eagle turnovers. The Mountaineers would finish off the regular season finale 55-27 over the Eagles.
It’s not only been a Jekyll and Hyde Season for the team as a whole, but for some individuals as well. Quarterback Davis Brin has seen highs of throwing for over 300 yards 6 times this year including a high of 383 at Wisconsin, but also the lows of multiple interceptions in 4 games with the high of 5 also coming against the Badgers.
OJ Arnold, who has been hampered by injuries this year, has shown what the future at running back can look like with 405 yards and 4 scores in just 9 games played. Jalen White racked up just shy of 900 yards on the ground and 10 total TDs.
Now the Eagles head to the postseason in a familiar spot. The Eagles were invited to the Myrtle Beach Bowl to face the MAC’s Ohio at Brooks Stadium (home of Coastal Carolina) on December 16th.
Will it be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde at the beach?
