The NC State football team looks to dodge an opening day upset as it faces the Georgia Southern Eagles in the first game of the 2014 season. Head Coach Dave Doeren and junior quarterback Jacoby Brissett met with the media Monday at Murphy Towers to discuss the upcoming season and the game against the Eagles.
Georgia Southern is coming off of a seven-win season last year which included a statement win over SEC powerhouse Florida. Georgia Southern replaced most of its coaching staff from a year ago, including former Head Coach Jeff Monken, who moved on to coach at West Point. His replacement, former Sam Houston State coach Willie Fritz, looks to bring a new spread-option attack to the Eagles’ offense.
Wolfpack Head Coach Dave Doeren remained confident his players are well-prepared for any new looks they might see on Saturday.
“You can turn on Georgia Southern’s film and see a lot of their players and what they do even though the scheme is a little different on offense,” Doeren said. “We are just making sure we show the guys enough things so that they are ready.”
Georgia Southern returns many key players to its new-look team, including sophomore quarterback Kevin Ellison. Ellison, a six-game starter for the Eagles last season, threatens both through the air and on the ground.
He averaged more than 80 yards rushing per game last year with a career high against Elon, where he tallied 163 yards on the ground. Ellison also averaged 149.3 total yards per game — ranking seventh in the conference in that category.
“Quarterback Ellison, number four, is a really good runner,” Doeren said. “Tough, not a guy who goes down easy.”
Besides Ellison, the Eagles return many members of an offense that averaged more than 33 points per game last year. State will work to slow down Georgia Southern’s ground attack which averaged 360 yards per game last year.
To make the run game even fiercer, the Eagles return five seniors to an already talented offensive line. The Pack spent a good portion of the offseason preparing for this area.
“The main focus we have this offseason for defense is that we need to create turnovers and pound the run,” senior defensive tackle T.Y. McGill said. “That was the main thing: just pounding the run.”
Doeren expressed how the Pack’s newfound depth on the defensive side of the ball will help out this season, and this will be put to the test against a ground and pound team such as the Eagles.
Though the Pack may have its lowest amount of upperclassmen since 1995, standing at only 33 juniors and seniors, McGill seemed to be impressed with the amount of leadership and depth that formed for the Pack through the offseason.
The Eagles defense, however, isn’t exactly on the same level as its offense. Georgia Southern allowed opponents to average 200 yards per game through the air and more than 160 yards per game on the ground.
The Pack will look to exploit this weakness and get its new, highly rated quarterback Brissett involved. While neither team has played each other since Nov. 30, 2013, Brissett tops both teams, having not played in 651 days. Doeren, however, said he is hardly bothered by questions of rust.
“I’m not going to dampen his excitement, and I want him to have fun,” Doeren said. “There’s nothing wrong with butterflies; he’s just got to make sure they go away quick and that he makes the same decisions he’s been coached to make in practice.”
The Pack and the Eagles face off Saturday, as State looks to open the season with a win and show that this is a different team than what fans saw last year.
