When MACtion meets the Fun Belt in a bowl game, chances are points will come in bunches, right? Well, not in the case of the Camellia Bowl between Georgia Southern and Eastern Michigan as the two sets of Eagles played a somewhat low-scoring first half that featured plenty of fun plays but surprisingly few scoring drives to put GS up 17-7.
Part of the reason why was the Sun Belt squad’s option offense turning in one of the drives of the season, covering a whopping 95 yards over 15 plays before Shai Werts found the end zone -- taking off a robust nine minutes and one second off the clock in the process. That was the first of two scores for the quarterback, who put on a masterclass in pitching, catching and converting on third down for the Eagles.
The offense finished the first half with 230 yards rushing and are hoping to keep their perfect bowl record going in just the program’s second-ever postseason appearance at the FBS level. Tyler Bass also added a 50-yard field goal in the rain just as the clock hit zeros too.
Eastern Michigan, relative bowl novices themselves, made their fair share of plays in all three phases to keep things close for the most part. That included a blocked punt in the second quarter to put them at midfield and set up a fairly brisk six-play scoring drive that saw Mike Glass (7/8, 53 yards passing) hit Tyler Lyle from a yard out to find pay dirt.
Word to the wise though, don’t count out the Eagles from the North in this one even with the Eagles from the South taking that lead into the break. Few programs have a knack for playing in close, one-score games quite like Chris Creighton’s group does and they’ll need yet another rally to get that job done in this fun bowl matchup.