— By Bill Cornwell
First place in the Sun Belt Conference East Division is on the line Saturday night in Statesboro, Georgia as Georgia Southern hosts Marshall at 8 p.m. from Allen E. Paulson Stadium.
The game is being televised nationally on ESPNU.
The Herd and Eagles enter with identical 3-2 records, including 1-0 in Sun Belt play.
Marshall leads the all-time series 6-2 on the strength of six straight victories.
Marshall is 3-2 in games played at Paulson Stadium, one of which was the 1991 NCAA I-AA title game when the Herd was defeated by Youngstown State.
Here are three things to look for in Saturday’s game:
Braxton Again?
Marshall’s start of redshirt junior transfer quarterback Braylon Braxton in last week’s 52-37 win over Appalachian State was a surprise to many.
Braxton delivered with a performance that led to him being named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week. He accounted for 269 yards of offense and hand in five of the Herd’s seven touchdowns. His 140 rush yards were especially damaging as Braxton kept drives alive with his legs and even scored a rushing touchdown.
Marshall head coach Charles Huff said that Braxton started because the Herd wanted to operate with ball control against Appalachian State, plus regular starting quarterback Stone Earle was nursing minor injuries following the previous week’s game against Western Michigan.
Huff and his coaching staff now must decide if they want to go with the hot hand under center in Braxton or return to the growing leadership in recent weeks with Earle.
Unleash the green beast
The Herd’s defensive line is anchored by two strong rushers Mike Green and TyQaze Leggs.
Green has turned into one of the Sun Belt’s top defenders, as he leads the league in tackles for defensive lineman (and he’s second in the nation in the category), leads the Sun Belt in sacks with seven and tops the conference with 8.5 tackles for loss. Georgia Southern relies heavily on the pass, so Green, Leggs and their teammates will get plenty of chances to rush Eagles’ quarterback J.C. French.
Georgia Southern has surrendered 12 sacks this season and Marshall will look to increase that total by following the plan of defensive coordinator Jason Semore.
Extra special
Special teams could play a key role Saturday.
The place kicking duel between Marshall’s Rece Verhoff and Georgia Southern’s Gavin Stewart is one to monitor.
Verhoff has struggled with consistency on field goals, making 4-of-7, but he made his only attempt last week, a 38-yard kick. Verhoff has also been consistently placing kickoffs in the end zone, booting 13 of 16 kicks for touchbacks.
Stewart is 6-for-7 on field goals and he hit his biggest kick of the season in the Eagles’ last game, knocking in a 53-yard field goal during a win over Georgia State. He’s also had 18 touchbacks on 29 kickoffs.
The game also pits two Australian punters — Alec Clark of Marshall and Georgia Southern’s Alex Smith. Both have solid numbers.
Clark is averaging 41 yards per punt, has three punts of more than 50 yards and has placed six inside the 20-yard line.
Smith averages 42.2 yards per punt and has put nine of his 26 punts inside the 20. Smith has a long punt of 63 yards this season. The ability of these kicking specialists to aid their teams could be a deciding factor in what should be a competitive contest.