Week One Wrap Up: Fresno State
The Georgia Southern Eagles kicked off their 2025 campaign against the Fresno State Bulldogs with a 9:40 PM EST kickoff. It was the Eagles first trip to California in program history.
Georgia Southern won the coin toss and deferred to the second half so Fresno State received the ball first. Bulldogs QB EJ Warner started the game with an incompletion but found a groove and led the Bulldogs on a drive that ended with a Dylan Lynch field goal to put Fresno State up 3-0.
Georgia Southern’s first drive looked to be off to a promising start after a 10-yard run, but it was called back for holding and the Eagles found themselves in a 1st and 20 situation. After three plays, the Eagles punted the ball away and gave up a 55-yard punt return to give the Bulldogs great field position. Just a few plays later, Fresno State RB Rayshon Luke scored a 17-yard touchdown to make the score 10-0.
The Eagles second drive started with a 17-yard completion to Auburn transfer, WR Camden Brown, which was his first one as an Eagle. A couple plays later, the Eagles converted another long third down as WR Marcus Sanders, Jr. hauled in an 18-yard pass from QB JC French IV. The Eagles then kept the ball on the ground three plays in a row with a QB keeper by French going for 9 yards and two OJ Arnold carries went for 14 yards combined. On 2nd and 7 from the 18-yard line, French connected with Brown for the first Eagles touchdown of the season and the first of his career at Georgia Southern. K Tripp Bryant made the PAT to make the score 10-7 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Fresno State’s third possession of the game ended after three plays when QB EJ Warner was intercepted by Elon transfer, LB Brandon Tyson, at the Eagles 43-yard line. The Eagles took over there and completed a nine play drive with a short touchdown pass from JC French to Western Kentucky transfer, TE River Helms, for his first reception and touchdown as an Eagle. True Freshman QB, Weston Bryan, also made his collegiate debut on the touchdown drive as he took a QB keeper for three yards deep in the red zone. Bryant made the PAT to put the Eagles up 14-10.
Fresno State got the ball back after the Eagles touchdown and proceeded to march down the field but LB MJ Stroud forced a fumble that was recovered by Georgia Southern inside the 5-yard line for their second takeaway of the first half. The Eagles took over and were careful not to make any mistakes deep in their own territory and went three-and-out before P Alex Smith booted it away to Fresno State who took over around midfield.
On the third play of the ensuing drive, QB EJ Warner attempted a pass into 1-on-1 coverage and was intercepted by CB Chance Gamble for the Eagles third takeaway of the first half. Georgia Southern again took over inside their own 5-yard line. After a couple of first downs, JC French attempted a pass to Marcus Sanders, Jr. that was popped up by a Fresno State defensive back and intercepted by S Ryan Wilson and the Bulldogs once again took over around midfield.
On the final drive of the first half, Fresno State capped off a nine play, 45-yard drive with a Dylan Lynch field goal to make the score 14-13 in favor of Georgia Southern heading into halftime.
After deferring to the second half, the Eagles received the kickoff to start the second half. After a 12-yard run to start the drive, Georgia Southern gained just 3 yards on the next three plays before a poor Alex Smith punt gave the Bulldogs great field position near midfield again. The Bulldogs marched 55 yards on 8 plays that ended with an 8-yard touchdown by RB Bryson Donelson. The Bulldogs opted to go for two and were successful on an end-around that put them up 21-14 with 8:36 left in the 3rd Quarter.
Georgia Southern got the ball back after the score but were unable to get anything going, and after gaining just five yards were forced to punt again. Fresno State, once again, took possession near midfield. The Bulldogs proceeded to go 56 yards in 9 plays on the drive which was capped off by RB Rayshon Luke’s 12-yard touchdown run. Drew Lynch converted the extra point and Fresno Stare took a 28-14 lead.
After one first down, Georgia Southern failed to gain another yard and once again sent Alex Smith out to punt. Fresno State took over at their own 10-yard line. The Bulldogs offense went 90 yards in just 8 plays and RB Brandon Ramirez punched it into the end zone from 3 yards out. Drew Lynch made the extra point to take a 35-14 lead with 10:02 left in the game.
After a three-and-out the Eagles once again trotted out Alex Smith to punt the ball away. The Bulldogs started their drive at their own 29-yard line. That drive started with a 32 yard completion from Warner to Ramirez and ended with a 29-yard touchdown run by Rayshon Luke. The Bulldogs converted the extra point to go up 42-14 with 6:21 left in the game.
The ensuing Georgia Southern drive looked much like the previous ones as they went three-and-out and sent Alex Smith out to punt the ball away. Fresno State took over at their own 29-yard line. At this point, the Bulldogs pulled their starters and still managed to drive the ball down the field. They ran the clock out and finished the game in victory formation capping of a 29-0 second half. The final score was 42-14 in favor of Fresno State.
Georgia Southern’s defense surrendered 527 yards of offense including more than 350 rushing yards in this game. The front seven was absolutely dominated by Fresno State. There were three bright spots for the defense as they intercepted two EJ Warner passes and forced a fumble on the goal line for three turnovers in the game but the offense was only able to turn those into 7 points.
The offense only managed 75 total yards in the second half of the game and ended all five of their drives with Alex Smith punts. Josh Dallas and Camden Brown both played fairly well, but they were really the only bright spots of the offense. TE River Helms caught a short touchdown pass in the first half but left the game late with what appeared to be a stinger after taking a shot on a seam route late in the fourth quarter.
On Special Teams, the Eagles played one of the worst games in recent memory. They gave up a 55-yard punt return early in the game, made bad decisions in the return game, and Alex Smith averaged just 39.4 yards per punt on a night that saw him punt the ball seven times.
Fresno State dominated this game from start to finish aside from the two touchdown drives. The Eagles will spend next week in Oxnard, California at the Dallas Cowboys Training Camp facility before taking on the USC Trojans in Los Angeles next Saturday. There is a TON of improvement needed for this team to be competitive in that game or any remaining game on the schedule in 2025.
