STATESBORO, Ga. – The University of Maine football team has worked an entire year to get back to the NCAA Division I-AA national quarterfinals.

Today, coach Jack Cosgrove’s Black Bears look to take an unprecedented step forward when they battle Southern Conference champion and perennial national power Georgia Southern.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Allen Paulson Stadium. The game is on WABI-TV (Channel 5) in Bangor and on WZON (AM 610) radio.

Today’s task is a monumental one for fifth-ranked UMaine, which takes an 11-2 record into the contest. The Bears, on the road for the second straight week, must try to knock off a No. 2 Georgia Southern squad (10-2) that boasts a sparkling 28-1 postseason record on its home field.

The Eagles are an amazing 125-13 (.906) all-time at Paulson.

UMaine and GSU have met once, with the Eagles winning 31-28 in overtime in a 1987 NCAA first-round playoff game at Statesboro.

UMaine is 7-1 outside Orono this season, including a perfect 6-0 mark when flying to their opponents’ home fields. But this is a tremendous challenge.

“We’ve got some ghosts out there that have made some good plays for us,” joked Eagles first-year coach Mike Sewak. “It’s just been a case that the kids have always believed its their house and they’ve done a good job playing [here].”

In Georgia Southern, the Bears encounter the most potent rushing offense in all of Division I football. The Eagles are averaging 397 yards per game on the ground with its triple option attack that features quarterback Chaz Williams (108 yards per game), fullback Jermaine Austin (95 ypg) and slotbacks Zzream Walden and Mark Meyers.

One key for the UMaine defense is discipline.

“As long as everybody does their job, we’ll be successful,” said UMaine defensive coordinator Rich Nagy, whose unit ranks seventh in the nation in total defense (253 ypg) and eighth in scoring defense (14.2 ppg).

“They have to be disciplined, but there’s also a big trust factor involved with each player on the defense,” Nagy added.

Senior linebacker Stephen Cooper (110 tackles, 9.5 sacks), sophomore strong safety Brandon McGowan, senior linebacker Rob Kierstead of South Portland and senior safety Dave Cusano are among the Bears’ defensive mainstays.

“They’ve got all sorts of ways to hurt you with that option,” Cosgrove said. “I think they do a good job of being unpredictable.”

The Eagles also pick good spots to throw the play-action pass, and have averaged 22 yards per completion this season.

On offense, UMaine is looking to put together a more consistent effort against a defense that is quite similar to that of Appalachian State.

The Bears have built some confidence the last two weeks behind sophomore quarterback Jon Meczywor, who has been solid in place of starter Jake Eaton (knee) and backup Chris Legree (shoulder).

UMaine wants to confuse Georgia Southern’s speedy defense by throwing the ball more, running it effectively, and giving the Eagles a lot to think about.

“They line up in a base 4-3 defense, play base coverage and just say to you, ‘we’re going to line up and beat you no matter what you do,’ ” said UMaine offensive coordinator Bobby Wilder. “We’ll show every motion, movement and preshift at them to get them off their toes and get them back on their heels before the ball’s snapped.”

UMaine hopes to lean again on its powerful front line to enable the Bears to spring sophomore tailback Marcus Williams (99.5 ypg), who netted 157 yards last week at ASU. However, in order to control the football and keep the defense off the field, the Bears must throw the ball more effectively.

“We have to challenge them early in the game and let them know that for 60 minutes they’re going to be in a physical battle,” Wilder said.

Redshirt freshman Ryan Waller heads up the receiver corps with 36 catches for 572 yards, but sophomore Christian Pereira (40-391) and frosh Kevin McMahan (20-309) also are big-play threats.

“This week we need to have more sustained drives,” Wilder said. “We have to be successful throwing the ball and we need another productive performance from our run game.”

GSU ranks fifth in the country in scoring defense (12.7 ppg) and has allowed 293 ypg overall. The mainstays include linebackers Joe Scott (102 tackles), Joe Burchett (76), and tackle Freddy Pesqueira (71, 15 for a loss).

“We like to bring some pressure,” Sewak said.

UMaine, which has won 11 of its last 15 games away from Alfond Stadium, also will have to contain Eagles kick return specialist who averages 29 yards on kickoff returns and 11 yards on punt returns.