Box Score STATESBORO, Ga. - Daniel Braverman tied a career-high with 13 catches for 122 yards and
Jarvion Franklin totaled over 100 yards of offense, but the Western Michigan football team was unable to slow the potent rushing attack of Georgia Southern in falling 43-17 to the Eagles at Paulson Stadium on Saturday. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 0-2 on the season.
Braverman was the biggest offensive bright spot for WMU, hauling in a baker's dozen in receptions for the second straight game in totaling 122 yards and a touchdown. Franklin added 101 yards of total offense, rushing for 58 yards on 17 carries and recording 43 receiving yards on four catches. Quarterback Zach Terrell completed 24 of 36 passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions, including a fluke play where a pass deflected off an umpire directly to a Georgia Southern player.
Defensively, Asantay Brown tied his career-high with his second straight game of 10 tackles, including one tackle for loss. Robert Spillane added nine tackles and a tackle for loss, and Caleb Bailey set a new career high with nine stops and a TFL of his own.
The Broncos opened the game with a 13-play, 74-yard scoring drive, moving the ball from under the shadow of their own goalposts deep into Eagle territory. Carrington Thompson gave the Broncos a burst of life when he caught a pass from Terrell on 3rd-and-11 from his own 8-yard-line and extended past the sticks to move the chains and keep the Bronco drive alive. Franklin toted the ball six times for 30 yards on the opening drive, and Jamauri Bogan pushed into the red zone with a pair of hard runs into the line at the GSU 17. Andrew Haldeman capped the drive with a 34-yard boot through the goalposts to make it 3-0 with 7:40 remaining.
The Eagles took the lead soon thereafter on a four-play, 81-yard drive. Matt Breida punched it in through the middle to make it 7-3 with 3:21 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles went ahead 9-3 after an errant long snap at the 11:10 mark of the second quarter, with punter J. Schroeder minimizing the damage by batting the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety. GSU capitalized once getting the ball back, with Breida scoring his second touchdown of the day from four yards out to make it 16-3.
The Broncos cut back into the Eagle lead with a dominant offensive drive, with Braverman making six catches for 68 yards as the Broncos drove 75 yards for the score. After Franklin pushed the pile on 3rd-and-1 to give WMU a fresh set of downs at the Georgia Southern 42, Braverman hauled in an 11-yard completion on the left sideline to put the Broncos on the 31-yard-line. Braverman eluded a tackler and stepped out of bounds on a crossing route two plays later to put the Broncos on the Georgia Southern 7, and the redshirt junior found a soft spot in the end zone on the next play for his first touchdown of the season. The extra point was missed, though, and the Broncos entered the locker room trailing 23-9.
The Eagles opened the second half with 10 unanswered points, scoring on a 70-yard run by Brieda to open the half and notching a 22-yard Alex Hanks field goal with 9:31 remaining in the period. The Broncos got something going early in the fourth quarter, scoring on an eight-play, 55-yard drive with 10:51 to go in the game. Facing 3rd-and-8 at the Georgia Southern 13, the Broncos perfectly picked up an Eagle blitz, buying Terrell enough time to hit Carrington Thompson for his first career touchdown reception. Terrell found Jeremiah Mullinax on the ensuing two-point conversion to cut the Georgia Southern lead to 33-17.
LA Ramsby tacked on for the Eagles with 6:32 left, scoring from one yard out to make it 40-17 and adding another field goal to boost the lead to its final mark of 26 points.
