Georgia Southern started slowly Saturday night. Savannah State never seemed to get started.
The Eagles scored touchdowns on seven consecutive full possessions from the first to third quarters and rolled to a 77-9 victory over the Tigers before 16,528 fans at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.
Southern, a semifinalist in the FCS playoffs last season, established offensive firepower after missing field-goal tries to end its first two possessions.
The 77 points and the 68-point margin of victory were the largest in Southern’s Jeff Monken’s head coaching career and ruined the coaching debut of Savannah State coach Earnest Wilson.
It was the second most points scored in school history. The Eagles set a scoring mark with 84 points against Johnson C. Smith in 2004.
The Eagles finished with 651 total yards, 576 on the ground.
— SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS
Point University 57, Bluefield College 28: Rufus Mason rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Skyhawks to a season-opening victory in Valley, Ala.
Mason, who transferred from Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, had scoring runs of 89, 16 and 3 yards and averaged 8.7 yards on 26 carries.
The Skyhawks rushed for 313 yards and accumulated 487 yards of offense to win the debut of new coach David Rocker.
Rocker, a former Fulton High star and All-American defensive tackle at Auburn, last month replaced Kevin Porter, another former Auburn player, who was hired as the assistant head coach/defensive backs at West Georgia.
Quarterback Kier Houston was 9-of-18 for 153 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 5-yard run to help Point build a 35-0 first-half lead.
Leroy Perry scored the final touchdown on a 30-yard punt return.
Point will host Edward Waters College at noon Saturday.
— ANDY JOHNSTON, FOR THE AJC
Georgia Military College 35, Snow College 17: Jovon Robinson rushed for 313 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a victory over No. 2 Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.
Robinson, a former Auburn signee, scored on runs of 57 and 26 yards and averaged 16.5 yards on 19 carries for the Bulldogs (2-0). He has 427 yards and four touchdowns on 43 carries in two games.
Ty Flournoy-Smith, a former Georgia tight end, caught touchdown passes of 3 and 63 yards from Pat Thomas, who also scored on a 7-yard run. Thomas finished with 120 yards passing.
Snow College (1-1) had 514 yards of offense and 35 first downs, but the Bulldogs picked off three passes and recovered a fumble.
GMC will host Atlanta Sports Academy at 1 p.m. Saturday.
— ANDY JOHNSTON, FOR THE AJC
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