Georgia Southern at Fresno State: Five things to know about home football opener
Fresno State did not show well in its opening game, a 31-7 loss at Kansas. The Bulldogs were thoroughly outplayed on both sides of the football by a Power Four conference team from the Big 12, and some of the same issues they struggled with last season were again exposed by the Jayhawks.
Fresno State was overmatched at the line of scrimmage, rushing for only 37 yards on 29 plays, 1.3 yards per pop. Kansas had 10 tackles for loss, three sacks. It also forced Fresno State quarterback E.J. Warner into three turnovers, two interceptions and a fumble.
The Bulldogs have a new coach in Matt Entz, a new offensive coordinator in Josh Davis and a new quarterback in Warner, but they also did not score a point in the second half in Lawrence — and have not scored a touchdown in the third or fourth quarters in four games in a row dating to last season.
The Bulldogs on Saturday get a chance to take a step forward in their home opener against Georgia Southern, from the Sun Belt Conference. The Eagles, led by former USC coach Clay Helton, went 8-5 last season with a loss to Sam Houston State in the New Orleans Bowl.
Georgia Southern Eagles at Fresno State game details
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Valley Children’s Stadium.
TV: FS1 (Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Records: Fresno State 0-1, Georgia Southern 0-0
Line: Fresno State -1.5
Five things to know:
1. Georgia Southern is opening with an extended road trip. The Eagles play at USC next week, so rather than fly to Fresno, fly home to Statesboro, Ga., fly to Los Angeles and fly back home again, they will spend next week in Oxnard, where the Dallas Cowboys have held training camp since 2012. The plan is to fly to Fresno on Friday, play the Bulldogs on Saturday, bus to Oxnard on Sunday, practice Sunday through Thursday, bus to Los Angeles on Friday and fly home on Saturday after playing the Trojans. Georgia Southern is in Statesboro, about 50 miles from the nearest major airport in Savannah, and to fly across the country and back twice means the Eagles would have covered more than 8,500 air miles in nine days.
2. Fresno State ran the football 26 times in its season-opening loss at Kansas (not including three sacks) and gained two yards or less on 14 of them.
3. Bulldogs’ quarterback E.J. Warner threw two interceptions at Kansas, the 13th time in 33 career games that he has thrown two or more interceptions in a game. He has thrown 39 career interceptions. Georgia Southern last season ranked last of 14 teams in the Sun Belt Conference in passing defense and 120th in the nation, allowing 258.6 yards per game through the air.
4. Remember 2018? Fresno State started that season playing nine teams in a row that didn’t have a returning starter at quarterback, squaring off in that stretch against two true freshmen, one redshirt freshman and a sophomore making a first career start. They aren’t so fortunate this season. Kansas had a sixth-year senior in Jalon Daniels and Georgia Southern will have a returning starter in junior JC French IV, who last season hit 65.6% of his passes in throwing for 217.8 yards per game with 17 touchdowns. The JC is short for James Charles.
5. There were not many bright spots for the Bulldogs in their opening loss at Kansas, but defensive end Finn Claypool did show he could be a factor, transferring in from FCS Drake. Fresno State rotated its edge players through the game with no one playing more than 38 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Claypool was on the field for 29, rushed the passer on 14 and was credited with four pressures – one sack and three quarterback hurries. That tied for second among edge players who took the field in Week 0. French, the Georgia Southern quarterback, hit 71.5% of his passes from a clean pocket last season, but only 43.5% when under pressure.