Despite the setback, ASU (8-1, 6-1 SoCon) will play for its sixth-straight SoCon championship and the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Football Championship next Saturday against No. 7 Wofford (8-1, 6-0 SoCon). The de facto conference title game — the second for ASU in as many years – is set for 3 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
ASU jumped out to a 14-0 lead just 10:31 into Saturday’s game but Georgia Southern (5-4, 3-3 SoCon) scored the game’s final 21 points to pull out the upset. ASU was plagued by three turnovers, all of which occurred in the red zone, including a fumble by quarterback DeAndre Presley on the final play of the game.
The turning point of the game occurred early in the second quarter when ASU, already leading 14-0, appeared to extend the lead to three touchdowns when Devon Moore shed several tacklers on his way to the end zone from 22 yards out. However, ASU was flagged for a hold on the touchdown run and three plays later, Presley was intercepted in the end zone by GSU’s Laron Scott to end the scoring threat.
GSU knotted the score at 14-14 with back-to-back touchdown drives that sandwiched halftime – the first capped by a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jaybo Shaw with five seconds to go in the first half and the second which milked 9:27 off the clock to begin the second half.
ASU’s best scoring opportunity in the second half came on its first possession of the fourth quarter when, sparked by back-to-back completions of 25 and 42 yards to CoCo Hillary and Brian Quick, ASU had the ball at the GSU 14 yard line. However, ASU didn’t come away with any points when GSU’s Michael Butler intercepted Presley at the goal line.
The teams traded scoreless possessions for the rest of regulation and the Eagles got the ball first in overtime. They took a 21-14 lead when Robert Brown scored from four yards out.
Needing a touchdown to force another extra period, Moore ran for 14 yards on ASU’s first overtime play. However, on 3rd-and-10 from the 11, Presley was sacked by GSU’s Darius Eubanks, fumbled and the loose ball was recovered by Josh Rowe to end the game and set off a long-awaited celebration among the GSU faithful that are likely in the midst of their fifth-consecutive season without a postseason appearance.
ASU out-gained the Eagles, 325-301, but couldn’t overcome the three turnovers or GSU’s sterling 10 conversions of 20 third-down opportunities. GSU had the ball for nearly 10 minutes more than ASU (34:52-25:08).
Despite the three turnovers, Presley had another impressive showing with 277 yards of total offense (211 passing, 66 rushing). Filling in for injured starter Matt Cline, B.J. Frazier was Presley’s favorite target, catching a game-high six passes for 62 yards. Quick racked up a game-high 79 receiving yards on four receptions.
Defensively, ASU limited GSU to 80 fewer rushing yards, 63 fewer total yards and 14 fewer points in regulation than its season averages coming in. D.J. Smith led the defensive charge with a game-high 16 tackles.
The loss was ASU’s first in a SoCon game since it also fell to Georgia Southern, 38-35, on Oct. 20, 2007, a span of 1,112 days. That setback also snapped a monumental winning streak for ASU — a string of 30-consecutive home victories.
