FINAL STATS (PDF)

AUBURN, Ala. - If Georgia Southern had returned home with a win Saturday night, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn would have two noises seared into his memory: a doink of the field goal post and the collective gasp of nearly 90,000 fans.
 
Instead, the Tigers emerged victorious. So the sound of Daniel Carlson's two missed field goals and Tomarcio Reese's fumble recovery for a touchdown now ring hollow in the air above Jordan-Hare Stadium.
 
But before Auburn rattled off 31 consecutive points to seal a 41-7 season opening win against Georgia Southern, Tyson Summers had his squad nipping at the heels of the No. 12 ranked Tigers.
 
"Our defense, I thought played really well early," the second-year head coach said following the loss. "I thought they kept us in the game. They gave us some chances."
 
Three big chances, in fact. The Eagles finished the night with three takeaways — all three coming in the first half — compared to the Tigers' one, which came on the final play of the game. However, Georgia Southern had just seven points to show as a result of those turnovers.
 
Reese capitalized immediately by returning a fumble 22 yards for the score to make it a 10-7 affair. But the Eagles couldn't score after Jay Bowdry nabbed an athletic interception late in the first quarter. And they couldn't score after Chris DeLaRosa secured a fumble forced out by teammate Deshon Cooper late in the second quarter.
 
"We have the one touchdown but the one touchdown is obviously defensively," Summers said. "The other two you got opportunities with drives, whether they're in the middle of the field or not."
 
The Georgia Southern defense bent by allowing a field goal on Auburn's first drive, which was followed by a 60-yard scoring run by Kerryon Johnson two drives later. But it didn't break.
 
Lorenzo Costantini's defense held strong and made it a three-point game after Reese's scoop and score. But Summers said he needed his new-look offense to step up to give the Eagles a chance. Unfortunately for Georgia Southern, it was facing one of the nation's top defenses in Auburn.
 
The Eagles totaled just 78 yards of offense Saturday night — 70 of those coming on the ground. Senior L.A. Ramsby led the rushing attack with 33 yards on 11 carries while battery mate Wesley Fields had 21 yards, also on 11 carries.
 
As for the passing game, redshirt freshman Shai Werts didn't drop back on too many reps — as expected. He finished with 8 yards on 4-for-8 passing with one interception.
 
"Obviously (the Tigers) played really well defensively tonight," Summers said. "You got to give them a lot of credit for that … They played like a top-five defense tonight and they certainly proved that."
 
Last season, Auburn finished in the top-10 in points allowed per game. The Tigers are well on their way to another stout defensive campaign after shutting out the Eagles. It was Malzahn's front seven on defense that proved most effective as they picked up five sacks against Georgia Southern.
 
But Werts took the hits in stride. He played every snap at quarterback and ran the ball 23 times for a total of 16 yards. The underclassman showed up for his first post-game press conference with a bloody lip, but maintained his poise and composure.
 
"We can't let this loss define our season," Werts said. "I'm still the same guy. You know what I'm saying? Like things in a football game, they're not always going to go how you want them to … You just have to stay level-headed and stay focused. And that's all about being a quarterback."
 
Despite the lack of flashy numbers, Summers said he saw some promise in Werts, which is why he's sticking with the 5-foot-11 redshirt freshman at quarterback.
 
"Shai Werts is our quarterback," Summers said when asked why he didn't bring in a reserve later in the game. "And we're going to try and get better. You can look at those things one of two ways … either we wanted to sit there and continue to give him reps and to continue to try and get better at what we were doing or do you bring somebody in cause you're worried about injuries. Ultimately, we made the decision to be able to keep him in."
 
On the other side of the ball, Bowdry stole the show with a team-leading and career-high 12 tackles — eight of which were solo. The redshirt sophomore also had the team's first takeaway with the interception over the middle of the field.
 
Other stars on the defense included Todd Bradley and Traver Vliem, each of whom recorded one sack. But the one defender who could celebrate without reprieve was Reese.
 
The JUCO transfer's fumble recovery for a touchdown was the team's first scoop and score since Oct. 27.  For an opening act with the Eagles, it was hard to top.
 
"That felt real good," Reese said. "It was like slow-motion really. As long as I'm helping the team though."
 
GAME NOTES
• Captains: #1 L.A. Ramsby, #6 Myles Campbell, #34 Chris DeLaRosa, #55 Matt Flynn

• Uniforms: Traditional road whites (white pants, white jerseys, blue helmets)

• Georgia Southern won the toss and deferred. It was the 10th time in 13  games under Tyson Summers GS won the coin toss.

• Saturday's game marks the ninth game all-time against ranked FBS opponents but Auburn is the first ranked opponent GS has taken on as a member of the FBS, which it joined in 2014. Prior to Saturday, all eight times the Eagles took on a ranked FBS opponent, the team was ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll. Auburn is ranked 12th in the preseason poll.

• Georgia Southern dressed 11 true freshmen and 10 redshirt freshmen for Saturday's game.

• The Eagles have only eight seniors on their roster, the fewest in the FBS. In the game, four true freshmen played while six redshirt freshmen played.

• Jay Bowdry recorded his first interception of the year in the first quarter. It was his second career interception.

• JUCO transfer Tomarcio Reese scored the first Eagle touchdown of the season when he picked up a fumble and returned it 22 yards for a score. It was his first career fumble recovery and touchdown. It was the first fumble recovery returned for a touchdown since last year when Ukeme Eligwe returned a fumble 90 yards for a score against Appalachian State.

• The attendance of 87,451 marks the sixth largest crowd that Georgia Southern has ever played in front of.

• Georgia Southern resurrected its football program in the early 1980s under Erk Russell, who went on to lead the Eagles three national titles. Russell was the last four-sport letterwinner at Auburn. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, he earned 10 varsity letters at Auburn from 1946-49, starring as a two-way end on the football team for four years, while also competing for the basketball, baseball and tennis teams. He holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from Auburn. Russell returned to Auburn to serve as an assistant football coach from 1958-62. He later rose to prominence during his 17-year stint as defensive coordinator at Georgia from 1964-80, helping lead the Bulldogs to the 1980 National Championship. In 1981, Russell was hired as the head coach at Georgia Southern, where he compiled a record of 83-22-1 in eight seasons as the Eagles coach and won Division I-AA championships in 1985, '86 and '89. He was a three-time I-AA National Coach of the Year and his final team went 15-0.

• Up Next: Saturday, Sept. 9 at home against New Hampshire