There were several moments that old-school Georgia Southern fans must’ve smiled Saturday when Willie Fritz’s Georgia Southern Eagles played North Carolina State.
More than a couple times, quarterback Kevin Ellison pulled the ball out of the mesh, ran to the outside with a pitch man nearby and took off through a huge hole created by a confused defender.
Most of the running plays Saturday were designed handoffs and zone-read option plays, but plenty of times, even though the play never led to a pitch, there it was — the triple option.
Plenty of Ellison’s game-high 116 rushing yards came off the play.
“It’s truly the triple, and you’ve got to play assignment football defensively,” GSU offensive coordinator Doug Ruse said. “We caught them a couple times with one guy just slightly out of position, and we had enough speed to get it to the outside and beat them.”
Sounds familiar.

Injury update
Valdon Cooper was penciled in as a starter at cornerback throughout fall camp, but sprained his ankle the Wednesday before the N.C. State game and didn’t play.
His status for Saturday’s game against Savannah State wasn’t certain Wednesday.
“Hopefully, he’s going to be playing this weekend,” Fritz said.