Oct. 25, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats |   

Notes:

SKIDS CONTINUE: Western Carolina had its Southern Conference losing skid extended to 20-straight games with Saturday's overtime loss to Georgia Southern. The Catamounts have also lost 14-consecutive games to Georgia Southern, including seven-straight in Cullowhee.

OVERTIME GAME: Western Carolina played its first overtime game since 2006 against Georgia Southern on Saturday, falling 38-31 ... the Catamounts lost that game in `06, falling at The Citadel 30-27.

TALE OF TWO HALVES: Georgia Southern soared back in the second half after trailing 24-0 at the break ... Western Carolina was outscored 31-7 in the second half and a total of 38-7 counting the overtime ... Offensively, GSU racked up 503 yards of total offense, including a staggering 367 in the second half alone ... the Eagles outgained Western, 367-to-48 in the second half.

TWO, FIRST-TIME INTS: Junior linebacker Adrain McLeod collected his first career interception when he stepped in front of Georgia Southern quarterback Antonio Henton's pass midway through the second quarter. Not to be outdone, senior linebacker Michael Shaw also hauled in his first career interception, taking away a pass by Georgia Southern's Lee Chapple that was batted into the air by classmate Kurt Clouden on the WCU five yard line, halting a would-be Eagle scoring drive attempt.

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: Sophomore defensive back Mitchell Bell recorded his second interception of the season and also logged in the first return yards, gaining 32 yards after making the interception.

LONG TD FOR JAYNES: Redshirt freshman quarterback launched his longest touchdown pass of the season when he connected with Andrerius Thomas for a 40-yard TD strike. It was also Thomas' longest catch of the season and career.

TURNING INTERCEPTION TO TD: Junior DL Gene Singletary intercepted a Georgia Southern pass and returned it 31 yards for a Catamount touchdown early in the fourth quarter, giving WCU a 28-point cushion. It is the first time a Western Carolina player has converted an INT to a touchdown since Angelo Brown returned an interception at The Citadel on October 21, 2006 - ironically enough, that game went into OT with WCU faltering. It is the second time this season that Georgia Southern had an interception returned for a touchdown..

FOUR INTERCEPTIONS/THREE FUMBLES: Western Carolina won the turnover battle on Saturday with a total of SEVEN take-aways against Georgia Southern - the Catamounts had a season-high four interceptions and forced a trio of fumbles ... junior Chris Collins recorded his fourth forced fumble of the season, a mark that leads the SoCon barring additional games Saturday.

ON-SIDE KICK BY GEORGIA SOUTHERN: The Eagles on-side kick against Western Carolina with 6:39 left in the game was the first attempt by Georgia Southern this year and the first attempted against WCU. The attempt was successful giving GSU the ball back after a touchdown to make the score 31-17. The Eagles converted the on-side kick to a touchdown to pull within seven, 31-24.