Troy Trojans
vs.
Georgia Southern Eagles
By Jason Green
12/3/16
Troy only has 2 losses this season and one came facing Clemson early in the season. They are one of 3 teams with 1 loss in the Sun Belt Conference and to win it they will need to win this Game and have Texas State beat Arkansas State, who they lost to this season. Troy has a pretty good aerial attack and they are led by their defense, which ranks 32nd in the nation giving up an average of 22.9 ppg.
Georgia Southern is out of the bowl picture and they can just play spoiler in this season finale. They have lost their last 4 Games overall and 7 of their last 8 Games. They don’t have much of a passing offense, but rely on their rushing offense, which ranks 28th averaging 224.7 rushing yards per Game.
I am sure the Eagles would like a little payback, as last season and Troy they were embarrassed losing to the Trojans 45-10.
In their last Game Troy got over their only Conference loss of the season to Arkansas State by beating Texas State 40-7 easily covering as a 28-point road favorite.
Georgia Southern lost their 4th in a row in their last Game losing to Georgia State 30-24 on the road where they failed to cover as a 3-point favorite.
In their blowout win over Texas State in their last Game Troy had 391 yards giving up 256 yards and they forced 2 turnovers. QB Brandon Silvers passed for 218 yards with 2 TD and 0 INT and he did not play the whole Game in the easy win. The Trojans rushed for 154 yards in the Game with Jordan Chunn leading the way with 74 yards.
Georgia Southern ranks 68th in the nation defending the pass and 63rd defending the run. In their loss to Georgia State in their last Game the Eagles played solid run D, but they gave up 318 passing yards.
Georgia Southern was only outgained by 28 yards in the loss to Georgia State, but they committed 2 costly turnovers. The big gun in the Game was Kevin Ellison, who rushed for over 100 yards and the duel threat QB shares time under center with Favian Upshaw, who passed for 91 yards and rushed for 54 yards in the Game.
The key for the Troy defense will be containing the run and this season they rank a solid 13th in the nation in run defense.
Troy is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road Games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road Games vs. a team with a losing home record, and they have an Under record of 5-1-1 in their last 7 road Games.
Georgia Southern is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 Games overall, 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home Games, and in their last 5 home Games the posted total has gone Under 4 times.
Our Pick – Georgia Southern +7