STATESBORO – Buoyed by a stifling defense and an opportunistic and ball-control offense, the Georgia Southern football team down James Madison 28-14 Saturday night at Allen E. Paulson Stadium/Evans Family Field.
The Eagles (5-2, 3-0) committed two early turnovers, but the defense held stiff both times, allowing no points. On the next drive, David Mbadinga broke free around the right side for a 29-yard touchdown run. After two more forced punts, the Eagles went on an 18-play, 96-yard touchdown drive that took 9:14 off the clock and culminated with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Derwin Burgess Jr. It was the 17th of the senior's career, one off the school record of 18 set by Monty Sharpe (1983-86).
The Dukes punted for the fourth straight drive and French led the Eagles back down on another scoring driver, hitting Tyler Fromm from 15 yards out with 1:43 left.
JMU cut into the lead with an 11-yard Pick Six, but the Eagles didn't flinch and drove 75 yards for a touchdown as French hit tight end Elija Walton on a 2-yard scoring pass with 4:43 left in the third quarter. JMU got a big 35-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, to cut it the deficit to 14 points, but could not get any closer as the Eagles closed out the game with another stop.
French threw three touchdown passes on 24-of-33 passing and Jalen White racked up 134 yards on the ground for his 11th career 100-yard rushing game. Marques Watson-Trent tallied 14 tackles, including 2.0 for loss and 1.5 sacks, while picking up a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry. While the Eagles committed four turnovers, the defense didn't allow any points off those miscues when they had a chance to get on the field and forced six punts, three turnovers on downs, and a missed field goal to account for 10 drive stops. The unit also recorded a season-high six sacks, nine tackles for loss, six pass breakups and five quarterback hurries in holding the Sun Belt's top offense to just 253 yards of total offense.
Up Next: at Old Dominion (3-4, 2-1), Thursday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
