No. 1 ranked Georgia Southern suffered their first loss of the year to No. 5 ranked Appalachian State, 24-17. Georgia Southern had issues moving the ball on offense, with quarterback Jacob Shaw completing 6-of-10 passes for 66 yards and the rushing game as a team averaging only 2.6 yards per carry with 135 yards on the afternoon. The offense was aided by the return game though, which set up good field position for Georgia Southern.
Laron Scott had a 78-yard return, which set up a field goal to put Georgia Southern up 10-0, and ended the day with 152 return yards on only four attempts. There also was Darreion Robinson, who scored on a 48-yard punt return, which tied the game in the fourth quarter at 17 apiece, but it was not enough.
Appalachian State was led by quarterback Jamal Jackson, who passed for 222 yards and scored all three touchdowns through the air and rushed for 54 yards. Wide receiver Brian Quick was the recipient for just over half of those yards, with 119 and scored two touchdowns on the day.
The loss puts Georgia Southern at 7-1 on the year and will knock them from the top spot once the new rankings come out, and makes a three-way tie atop the SoCon with Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Wofford, who all have one conference loss on the year.