Georgia Southern remains grounded

Kennesaw State at Duquesne, 1 p.m.

Reinhardt at Pikeville, 1:30 p.m.

Berry at Rhodes, 2 p.m.

Delta State at West Georgia, 2 p.m.

Morehouse at Elizabeth City State, 4 p.m.

Tennessee Tech at Mercer, 4 p.m.

Clark Atlanta at Fort Valley State, 6 p.m.

La.-Monroe at Georgia Southern, 6 p.m.

Albany State at Southeastern, 7 p.m.

Florida Tech at Shorter, 7 p.m.

Valdosta State at North Alabama, 7 p.m.

Andy Johnston

For the AJC

Favian Upshaw began naming Georgia Southern’s top running backs as a way to explain why the Eagles lead the FBS in rushing before he was reminded that he leads the team through two games.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t even know that,” he said.

When a team runs as often and as successfully as Georgia Southern, it’s easy to lose track of the carries and yards.

First-year coach Tyson Summers said he would build “off the offense that is in place” when he was hired last December, which is evidenced by the numbers through two games.

The Eagles (2-0), who led the FBS with 363 rushing yards a game in 2015, are second this season with 362 heading into Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe.

“We’ll always be a run-the-ball-first team here, and obviously, that’s what our history says, that’s what our tradition says,” Summers said. “That’s what our players believe in. That’s what we’ve recruited to and that’s what we’ll continue to be.”

Upshaw, who rotates series at quarterback with Kevin Ellison (Habersham Central), is one of five Georgia Southern players with more than 100 yards rushing this season.

He has 161 yards, followed by Ellison, who has 143. Running backs Wesley Fields (Americus-Sumter) has 133 yards, Demarcus Godfrey (East Coweta) has 124 and Matt Breida, who has averaged 1,546.5 yards the past two seasons, has 122 this year.

Georgia Southern is averaging 5.5 yards a carry and has scored nine rushing touchdowns.

Summers, who has a defensive background, is involved in the offensive game plan and stressed improving his quarterbacks’ passing efficiency after a season in which they completed 43.1 percent of their attempts and threw 10 interceptions.

Upshaw, who completed only 39.6 percent of his passes in 2015, is 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) and Ellison, who completed 44.9 percent last season, has been perfect on all six of his attempts.

“They’re both talented guys and both have the ability to run,” Summers said. “We’re trying to add in the dimension of being able to throw the ball as well. I certainly think that through the first two games they’ve been able to do that. They’ve handled that part of it well.”