STATESBORO — Tired? Georgia Southern quarterback Jerick McKinnon never thought about it Saturday afternoon.
But he carried 34 times and carried the fifth-seeded Eagles into the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The 5-foot-9 junior ran for 316 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another score as Southern defeated Central Arkansas 24-16 at Paulson Stadium.
It was the most rushing yards ever by a GSU quarterback, breaking Jayson Foster’s record of 279 yards against Wofford on Nov. 3, 2007.
McKinnon came within 17 yards of Adrian Peterson’s school-record 333 rushing yards against Massachusetts on Dec. 4, 1999.
“Those stats might be under my name, but the other 10 guys out there did a great job,” said McKinnon, who smiled about the notion of being tired.
A crowd of only 8,888 — the smallest in coach Jeff Monken’s era — watched the Eagles (9-3) advance on the 72-degree day to play either Friday night or Saturday on the road in Norfolk, Va., against Old Dominion, a 63-35 winner over Coastal Carolina.
It will be a rematch of last year’s wild, second-round offensive battle won by Georgia Southern, 55-48.
Saturday, McKinnon and the Eagles scored on four straight possessions in a 22-minute span of the first and second quarters to provide all Georgia Southern’s points.
But Central Arkansas (9-3) tightened up its defense and fought back. The Bears had their chances, but Dominique Croom dropped a potential touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter.
Tight end Thomas Hart dropped a sure touchdown pass in the second quarter.
“At the end of the day, you’re only going to have so many opportunities and you have to rise and take advantage,” UCA coach Clint Conque said.
Southern took advantage of its early chances. McKinnon broke a 57-yard touchdown run on the Eagles’ seventh play of the game.
He added a 32-yard touchdown pass to Darreion Robinson on the next possession and had a 6-yard touchdown run three plays into the second quarter.
Between GSU scores, Bears sophomore kicker Eddie Camara booted field goals of 34 and 42 yards.
Touchdowns for field goals were a fair trade for the Eagles.
“You get your back to the wall, there’s only one direction to go,” GSU defensive tackle Brent Russell said. “You have to fight. I think that’s what happened. You get close to our end zone, we’re going to step up and be tough.”
The Eagles didn’t allow a touchdown until 8:54 of the third quarter when Jackie Hinton bolted 19 yards for a score to complete a seven-play, 59-yard drive to make it 24-16.
The Bears’ last chance to tie was thwarted when cornerback Nic Wright forced wide receiver Dezmin Lewis to fumble at the UCA 36.
At first, officials ruled the ground caused the fumble, but after a review of the play — instituted only in the FCS playoffs — the play was called a fumble.
“When one side (of the team) needed a stop, we got it. When we needed a first down to keep going, we got it,” Monken said. “It was just a tremendous effort by our team.
“I thought our kids did a great job of fighting. … We’re not more talented or bigger or more athletic or draw up all these better schemes than other people. I think we win because we have guys who care about each other and are willing to lay it on the line.”
Central Arkansas, the co-champion from the Southland Conference, had its six-game winning streak snapped.
Bears quarterback Wynrick Smothers, one of the 20 players on the Walter Payton Watch list, threw for 251 yards and ran for 79 yards. But UCA had only one touchdown in four chances in the red zone.
GSU’s goalline stand in the second quarter was particularly demoralizing for the Bears, who had a touchdown pass dropped before running out of downs at the 2.
Southern then marched back down the field and got a 40-yard field goal from Alex Hanks.
“It was a big momentum swing,” Smothers acknowledged. “We just didn’t execute.”
Cent. Arkansas 6 3 7 0 — 16
Georgia Southern 14 10 0 0 — 24
First Quarter
GaSo_McKinnon 57 run (Hanks kick), 9:32.
CeAr_FG Camara 34, 7:30.
GaSo_Robinson 32 pass from McKinnon (Hanks kick), 4:37.
CeAr_FG Camara 42, 1:13.
Second Quarter
GaSo_McKinnon 6 run (Hanks kick), 13:52.
GaSo_FG Hanks 40, 2:31.
CeAr_FG Camara 30, :00.
Third Quarter
CeAr_Hinton 19 run (Camara kick), 8:54.
A_8,888.
CeAr GaSo
First downs 20 20
Rushes-yards 23-143 65-404
Passing 251 79
Comp-Att-Int 16-42-0 2-7-1
Return Yards 36 5
Punts-Avg. 5-36.6 4-36.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 6-40 8-70
Time of Possession 22:00 38:00
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING_Cent. Arkansas, Smothers 12-79, Hinton 8-53, Bobo 2-8,
Matthews 1-3. Georgia Southern, McKinnon 34-316, Swope 17-64,
Robinson 5-21, Banks 3-12, Bryant 1-6, Butler 1-0, Scott 1-0,
Team 3-(minus 15).
PASSING_Cent. Arkansas, Smothers 16-41-0-251, Team 0-1-0-0.
Georgia Southern, McKinnon 2-7-1-79.
RECEIVING_Cent. Arkansas, Grandy 5-53, Lewis 4-90, Hinton 4-36,
Croom 2-70, Bobo 1-2. Georgia Southern, Walker 1-47, Robinson 1-32.