Yahoo Autos Recap: Georgia Southern football team falls at Louisiana on Thursday night
The Georgia Southern football team, after a 52-point season-opening victory over FCS Morgan State, has played eight games through last week that were one-score contests in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles were 4-4 in those games. Georgia Southern won four games by margins of three, 11, seven and five points. GS lost four by differences of 14, four, eight and seven points.
"This is a team that's learning how to be in each and every game," said Georgia Southern's first-year head coach Clay Helton, whose squad (5-4, 2-3 Sun Belt Conference) visits Louisiana (4-5, 2-4 SBC) at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday in a game moved from ESPNU to ESPN2. "They've put themselves in every game. That was not the case last year."
Georgia Southern went 3-9, 2-6 SBC in 2021 under former head coach Chad Lunsford (1-3 start) and former interim head coach Kevin Whitley, now the assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach, for the final eight games.
Those Eagles won games by five, 26 and eight points. They lost by margins of 32, 35, eight, three, 27, seven, 20, 17 and 24 points.
Georgia Southern had a golden opportunity to earn win No. 6 this season last Saturday at Paulson Stadium, it was 3-0 this campaign. However, South Alabama rallied from deficits of 14-0 and 21-7 in the first quarter and 31-17 in the third quarter. The Jaguars (7-2, 4-1 SBC) scored the last 21 points of the game and took their first lead with the final touchdown for a 38-31 victory.
Helton said Monday that coaches have to get players "to understand there can't be a lull, there can't be a lax (moment). In this league, because the teams are so good, they're so competitive that you have to keep that hammer down and keep playing highly efficient, well-executed football."
Louisiana dominated from the start at the line of scrimmage and pulled away for a 36-17 victory on Thursday night.
More: 5 things to know when Georgia Southern visits Louisiana on Thursday night
Game-day information: Georgia Southern football visits Louisiana on Thursday: Kickoff, how to watch and more
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Commentary: Georgia Southern football coach Clay Helton wants Eagles to 'play mad' at Louisiana
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7:30 p.m. | Singleton appears ready to play
According to the announcers on the Georgia Southern Sports Network, redshirt senior wide receiver Jereemy Singleton (low ankle sprain) was questionable but appears ready to play in a game-time decision.
However, defensive lineman Trevon Locke, a Savannah native and Benedictine graduate, is out with a leg injury and did not make the trip to Lafayette.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern vs Louisiana football: Live score updates
