Georgia Southern stuns Florida without completing a pass

The NFL Channel aired a terrific documentary this week commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the forward pass.

Georgia Southern didn’t watch it.

In a game that would have made Darrell Royal and Woody Hayes proud, Georgia Southern of the lower-level Football Championship Subdivision not only shocked Florida, 26-20, it did it without completing a pass.

The Eagles (7-4) handed SEC-power program Florida arguably its most embarrassing loss in history.

It was at home, in Gainesville, and it was gory-Gator awful.

Florida was eliminated from bowl consideration after falling to 4-7 against a team from the FCS Southern Conference.

The Gators had made 22 straight bowl appearances.

Georgia Southern is a pure run-option team, but it’s still remarkable the Eagles could defeat an SEC team with quarterback Kevin Ellison failing to complete a pass in three attempts.

Ellison did rush for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

The forward pass was legal before 1913, but it was considered officially popularized by Notre Dame in a win over Army that featured the pass-catch combo of Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne.

Woody Hayes, when he was coaching Ohio State, often said three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad.

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