FURMAN'S IVORY POWERS PALADINS PAST TOP-RANKED GEORGIA SOUTHERN 45-10
GREENVILLE, S.C. ‹ Junior tailback Louis Ivory rushed for a career high 301 yards and three touchdowns to lead the 11th-ranked Furman Paladins (7-2, 4-2 SoCon) to a 45-10 victory over the NCAA I-AA top-ranked and 2000 Southern Conference champion Georgia Southern Eagles (8-2, 7-1 SoCon) in front of 15,127 homecoming fans Saturday afternoon.
Ivory, the leading rusher in NCAA I-AA coming into the game, reeled off scoring runs of 7, 73, and 37 yards to establish new school single game and season rushing records. His 301 yards eclipsed Mike Glenn's 261-yard record set against Presbyterian in 1980, and his season total of 1,707 yards through nine games shattered Carl Tremble's season rushing standard of 1,555 yards set in 1992.
The
showdown between Ivory and Georgia Southern All-American fullback Adrian Peterson
did not materialize as Peterson did not play due to elbow injury sustained in
the Eagles' win East Tennessee State last week. It was the first missed start
in 39 career games at Georgia Southern.
The victory was Furman's first over a top-ranked team, and it represented Georgia Southern's most decisive conference loss in the Eagles' eight-year league history, and biggest overall defeat since 1996.
"It was a complete game on our part, and it came at a great time," said Furman head coach Bobby Johnson. "Of course Louis Ivory was great. That was what we wanted Louis to do in a big game, because he is our big weapon. We went to the well often with him today, and he responded and made the plays behind a great peformance by our offensive line."
Furman totaled 523 yards in offense to Georgia Southern's 250 and outrushed the Eagles 404 to 114. Georgia Southern came into the game averaging a conference leading 359.2 rushing yards per game. Senior free safety Josh Cooper headlined Furmanís defensive effort with 10 tackles, and the Paladins sacked Eagle quarterback J.R. Revere four times and intercepted two passes in the contest.
"It was a pretty good whipping. It's one of the worst losses I've ever experienced, not only at Georgia Southern but as a coach anywhere," said Georgia Southern head coach Paul Johnson. "We couldn't possess the ball, we couldn't run it, and we couldn't get any first downs. We couldn't get the fullback going at all. They just kind of mashed us."
Holding a slim 10-7 halftime lead, Furman seized momentum in the first minute of the second half when cornerback Richie Jackson intercepted a J.R. Revere pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown at the 14:07 mark to put the Paladins ahead 17-7.
A 73-yard return by the Eagles' Andre Weathers on the ensuing kickoff set up a 41-yard field goal by Rob Bironas that cut the lead to 17-10, but from that point it was all Furman as the Paladins scored touchdowns on their next four possessions.
A 37-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Justin Hill to Bear Rinehart made it 24-10 and, a little over four minutes later, Ivory bounced outside and outran Georgia Southern's defense on a 73-yard touchdown sprint that gave him Furman's single season rushing record.
Fullback Derek Russell's 20-yard touchdown run with 1:43 left in the third period closed out Furmanís 28-point third quarter and gave the Paladins a 38-10 advantage.
Ivory finished off his top career rushing performance with a 37-yard scoring run at the 9:21 juncture of the fourth quarter.
Furman quarterback Justin Hill threw for 119 yards and a touchdown in his first game back from injury. Hill, a senior, did not play in the Paladins' 23-21 loss to East Tennessee State two weeks ago after sustaining a strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder in a win over The Citadel on Oct. 14.
Furman returns to action next Saturday when it takes on Wofford in Spartanburg in a 3:30 p.m. game. Georgia Southern closes out its regular season at home against Elon with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
Quick Notes:
** The 15,127 fans in attendance represented the biggest crowd since the 1994 season (15,673 vs. South Carolina State)
** Furman's 28-point third quarter was its most prolific quarter since the Paladins rolled up 28 in the second quarter of a 33-3 win over Wofford in 1996.
** With two interceptions against Georgia Southern, Furman now has 17 pickoffs on the season -- the most by a Paladin squad since 1990, when Furman garnered 22 interceptions.
** Furman's four sacks against Georgia Southern gives them 20 takedowns on the season. Last year, the Paladins totaled 14 sacks in 12 games.
** Junior cornerback Richie Jackson's interception was the 12th of his career (and first touchdown).