For all that the Georgia Southern Eagles accomplished on the football field in 2018, coaches and players alike agreed that a bowl game victory to cap the season was what it would take to truly make the season special.
The Eagles trailed Eastern Michigan in the dying moments of Saturday’s Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., but they had three seconds and the big right leg of Tyler Bass.
The redshirt junior ripped his third field goal of the night through the cool and muggy air to clinch a 23-21 victory for Georgia Southern, delivering a 10-3 season record a year after the team had sunk to 2-10.
Georgia Southern led throughout the game, but Eastern Michigan (7-6) embarked on a marathon drive to wrestle the lead away in the closing minutes.
Freshman EMU quarterback Mike Glass found Arthur Jackson for a 5-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-4 with 3:33 to play. Chad Ryland nailed the ensuing extra point to give the Eagles from Ypsilanti their first lead of the night at 21-20.
But that proved to be too much time left on the clock.
Shai Werts - who won MVP honors after accounting for 113 total yards and a pair of touchdowns - guided Georgia Southern down the field one more time to set up Bass for the game-winning kick.
Georgia Southern was down to its last breath on a 4th-and-10 from its own 41, but Werts scrambled away from pressure for 29 yards. Two more runs by Wesley Fields inched the ball closer and Bass came on to seize the late dramatics.
“It’s something we practice all the time,” Bass said. “I wasn’t worried about (Eastern Michigan) calling timeout or anything. I was just focused on the kick I had to make.”
Bass barely had to look up at his handiwork before he knew that the game was won. Seconds later, his teammates and a slew of Eagle fans had run him down in the opposite end zone, with hundreds storming the field for the ensuing trophy celebration.
During a postgame interview aired live on ESPN, Lunsford stuck with a script that has often gone viral on social media following Georgia Southern victories.
“We like good kids,” Lunsford said. “We like good students. But we love to win.”
Werts got the scoring started with a 26-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Eastern Michigan tied it up at 7-7 with a 1-yard pass from Glass to Tyler Lyle, but Werts struck again with a 5-yard scoring run.
Setting the stage for the drama to come later, Bass crushed a 50-yard field goal just before halftime to send Georgia Southern into the locker room up 17-7.
That kick proved vital as Eastern Michigan struck on its first play of the second half. Glass found Jackson on a quick pass and some shifty running by Jackson allowed him to break loose for a 75-yard touchdown.
“We slipped up a little at the beginning of the second half and they got a big play,” Lunsford said. “As proud as I am of our guys, I’ve got to give Eastern Michigan a lot of credit. They kept fighting and they pushed us all the way.”
Werts and the GS offense weren’t nearly as effective in the second half, with only another Bass field goal making a dent in the scoreboard.
But when it mattered most, Werts was there to make one final play and everyone was confident in Bass’ ability to bring home the win.
“I think he actually missed that one the last time we practiced,” Werts joked of Bass. “But we knew we could count on him. We all trust each other and he got the job done.”
With the win, the Eagles become just the fifth team in Division I history to go from 10 or more losses in one season to 10 or more wins in the next season. The Eagles now move into the offseason, hitting the recruiting trail, film study and weight room before returning to the field to kick off the 2019 season on Aug. 31 at LSU.
