Georgia Southern Pulls Away from Coastal Carolina Late
Seventeen-all after three quarters, and then Max Johnson threw two touchdown passes in under five minutes. That was Georgia Southern's 31-24 win over Coastal Carolina, and everything before the fourth quarter was a wash.
The Eagles looked comfortable early. A 41-yard field goal and an 18-yard Johnson touchdown pass to Zay Hilliard made it 10-0, and Weston Bryan's 67-yard run pushed it to 17-3 with 7:14 left in the half. Then Coastal got its first real break: Robby Washington took a punt back 73 yards with 23 seconds left before the break, and just like that it was 17-10. Goldie Lawrence caught a 9-yard Deuce Bailey pass with 3:16 left in the third and the game was tied at 17. It was the only tie of the day.
Georgia Southern broke it open in the fourth. Johnson found River Helms for 16 yards at 14:14, then Alex Taylor for 14 at 9:54, and it was 31-17. Coastal did not score again until Bailey hit Karmello English for 29 yards with 57 seconds left. It made the final look closer than the game was.
The box score favors the winners in the places that count. Georgia Southern had 408 yards to 370, no turnovers to Coastal's two lost fumbles, and three sacks to none. Coastal ran 36 times for 142 yards, the Eagles 25 times for 167. More carries, fewer yards (and the fumbles).
The Eagles move to 2-3. Coastal Carolina falls to 1-4, a record that does not match how often Bailey has been putting up points. Fantasy managers who started either quarterback got a fine day out of it. Johnson's 28.6 points tied his best game of the year, and Bailey's 26.9 came despite the loss.