The message was clear as day a week ago.
“If you can’t stop the run and you can’t run the football, it’s really hard to win football games,” Arkansas State Coach Butch Jones said after last Saturday’s loss at Tulsa.
If his Red Wolves didn’t get it then, perhaps it crystallized Saturday in Statesboro.
Georgia Southern trounced ASU 59-33 at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, dominating on the ground with a triple-option offense that outgained the Red Wolves 503-91. The Eagles busted touchdown runs of 59, 23, 41, 59 and 47 yards while repeatedly gashed an ASU defense that has now surrendered 50-plus points in three of five games.