2018 CAMELLIA BOWL GAME NOTES Posted December 16, 2018 Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018 CAMELLIA BOWL GAME NOTES: Georgia Southern defeated Eastern Michigan 23-21 in the fifth annual Camellia Bowl The five Camellia Bowl games have been decided by 17 total points The Georgia Southern-Eastern Michigan game was the lowest scoring game in bowl history The two-point margin tied the closest margin in bowl history Appalachian State defeated Ohio 31-29 (last second FG) in 2015 Georgia Southern redshirt junior place kicker Tyler Bass hit the game-winning 40-yard FG as time expired It was the second game-winning FG in Camellia Bowl history Appalachian State’s Zach Matics 23-yard FG in the final play gave ASU 31-29 win over Ohio in 2015 Bass accounted for 11 of the Eagles 23 points in the win over Eastern Michigan He set the Camellia Bowl record with three made field goals Bass also set the Camellia Bowl record with a 50-yard FG in the final play of the first half CAMELLIA BOWL MVP: Georgia Southern QB Shai Werts was named the Bart Starr Most Valuable Player Werts accounted for 112 total yards and two TDs in the win over Eastern Michigan He ran the ball 16 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns Werts had a 26-yard TD run in the second quarter that capped a 15-play, 95-yard scoring drive He added a 2-yard TD run later in the quarter as GS regained the lead, 14-7 Werts added a 29-run on fourth-and-10 in the final minute that led to game-winning FG Werts completed 4-of-7 passes for 33 yards He completed a 13-yard pass to Malik Murray on third-and-12 to extend first scoring drive CAMELLIA BOWL MILESTONES: Georgia Southern set the Camellia Bowl record with 58 rushing attempts Georgia Southern 301 rushing yards are second-most in bowl history Georgia Southern PK Tyler Bass set Camellia Bowl record for kickers with 11 points Georgia Southern RB Wesley Fields had 23 rushing attempts for 107 yards in the win over EMU Fields 23 rushing attempts are the second most in bowl history Georgia Southern QB Shai Werts had 16 rushing attempts for 79 yards and two TDs He tied the Camellia Bowl record with two rushing TDs (26 yard TD; 5 yard TD) Eastern Michigan QB Mike Glass completed 17-of-25 passes for 204 yards and three TDs He tied the Camellia Bowl record with three TD passes Glass completed a 75-yard TD pass to Arthur Jackson in the first play of the third quarter It was the second-longest TD pass in Camellia Bowl history Bowling Green (James Knapke to Roger Lewis) holds the record with a 78-yard TD pass in the inaugural game in 2014 It was the third-longest scoring play in Camellia Bowl history Appalachian State (Darryton Evans) had a 94-yard kickoff return in 2016 EASTERN MICHIGAN NOTES: Eastern Michigan finished the season with 7-6 record EMU is now 1-2 all-time in bowl games The Eagles only bowl win was a 30-27 win over San Jose State in the 1987 California Bowl EMU receiver Arthur Jackson caught three passes for 86 yards and two TDs in the loss Jackson hauled in a 75-yard TD reception on the first play of the third quarter He pulled down the go-ahead 5-yard TD reception on fourth down late in the game Eastern Michigan finished with 301 total yards; third-lowest total of the season The Eagles had 235 vs. Army and 242 yards vs. Northern Illinois (EMU lost all three games) Eastern Michigan had a season-high 26 pass attempts in the loss to Georgia Southern GEORGIA SOUTHERN NOTES: Georgia Southern closes out the season with a 10-3 record It’s the first 10-win season since the school moved to FBS in 2014 Georgia Southern had an 8-game improvement from last season The Eagles posted a 2-10 record in 2016 Georgia Southern did not thrown an interception in 117 attempts this season GS is believed to be the first team in FBS history to complete a season without an interception Temple (1977) and Alabama (1981) threw only interception to hold the previous record in a season Georgia Southern improved to 2-0 all-time in bowl games GS defeated Bowling Green 58-27 in the 2015 GoDaddy.com Bowl Georgia Southern had 58 rushing attempts for 301 yards (5.7 yards per carry) The 58 rushing attempts set a Camellia Bowl record GS recorded its sixth 300-yard rushing game of the season CAMELLIA BOWL PREGAME NOTES: The official kickoff time was 4:40 p.m. (CT) The game time temperature was 55 degrees with rain (first rain in Camellia Bowl history) Eastern Michigan won the toss and deferred to the second half CAMELLIA BOWL FIRST QUARTER NOTES: Georgia Southern outgained Eastern Michigan 102-30 in the first quarter The teams combined for 22 running plays in the first quarter Georgia Southern had 17 running plays and one pass in the first quarter Georgia Southern opened the game with 14 straight running plays The lone pass attempt was a 13-yard completion (Shai Werts to Malik Murray) on third-and-12 Eastern Michigan had five running plays and two pass attempts The first touchdown drive by Georgia Southern was the longest in bowl history in terms of plays and time The Eagles used a 15-play, 95-yard drive that took 9:01 of the clock GS quarterback Shai Watts capped the drive with a 26-yard TD run on third-and-one The 95-yard drive was the second longest in bowl history; fourth TD drive of 90+ yards It was Georgia Southern’s longest drive (plays, yards and time) of the 2018 season CAMELLIA BOWL SECOND QUARTER NOTES: Georgia Southern outgained EMU 128-60 in the second quarter GS outgained EMU 230-90 in the first half GS had the ball for over 20 minutes in the first half (20:29) Eastern Michigan Matthew Sexton blocked a punt on the opening possession of the second quarter It was the first blocked kick of any kind in Camellia Bowl history The blocked punt gave the EMU a first down at midfield and led to first TD of the game The offense responded with a 6-play, 50-yard drive to tie the game at 7-7 EMU quarterback Mike Glass completed his first seven passes (53 yards; TD) His first incompletion came with 2:54 left in the first half Georgia Southern place kicker Tyler Bass made a 50-yard FG on the final play of the second quarter The 50-yard FG was the longest in Camellia Bowl history CAMELLIA BOWL THIRD QUARTER NOTES: Eastern Michigan outgained Georgia Southern 128-39 in the third quarter Eastern Michigan scored on the first play of the second half Glass threw a 75-yard TD pass to Arthur Jackson as EMU cut the lead to 17-14 The 75-yard TD pass was the second-longest TD pass in Camellia Bowl history Bowling Green (James Knapke to Roger Lewis) holds the record with a 78-yard TD pass in the inaugural game in 2014 EMU’s 75-yard TD pass was the third-longest scoring play in Camellia Bowl history Appalachian State (Darryton Evans) had a 94-yard kickoff return in 2016 CAMELLIA BOWL FOURTH QUARTER NOTES: The lead changed hands twice in the final four minutes Eastern Michigan took its only lead of the game with 3:33 left on the clock Glass fired a 5-yard TD pass to Jackson to cap a 16-play, 75-yard drive The TD pass came on fourth-and-four from the GS 5-yard line and gave EMU a 21-20 lead Georgia Southern answered with a game-winning drive, capped by Bass’ 40-yard FG as time expired The Eagles drove 52 yards in nine plays for the winning score Werts converted a fourth-and-10 form the GS 41 yard line to set up game-winning FG