Despite the fact that the Georgia Southern Eagles lost, 31-28, to Appalachian State Saturday at Paulson Stadium, they didn’t end the day empty handed.

Wofford lost to Samford Saturday, 24-17 in overtime, meaning the Eagles (7-2, 6-2 Southern Conference) will be tied for at least a share of the SoCon crown.

Wofford, Georgia Southern, ASU and Chattanooga each currently lead the SoCon with two losses.

"I’m proud of our team for winning six games in a row and putting ourselves in this position, to have a chance to play for a conference championship," said GSU coach Jeff Monken. "We didn’t get it done. There’s nothing more we can do in the league. Our conference games are over."

Bumps and bruises

Dominique Swope, Georgia Southern’s leading rusher, did not play for the second-straight week.

Swope and Robert Brown are out with concussions.

Monken does not know if Sope will play Saturday at GSU’s homecoming game against Howard.

"I hope so," Monken said. "He’s battling a concussion. It’s his second one of the year, and with protocol, he had to sit out two weeks."

Robert Brown is out for the season with his third concussion, Monken said.

Tough luck

One of Appalachian State’s touchdowns Saturday, a 56-yard strike from Jamal Jackson to Sean Price, came after replays showed the receiver clearly stepped out of bounds.

The Football Championship Subdivision does not institute instant replay for officials.

Monken didn’t comment on the call, and said he can’t worry about anything other than the way the Eagles play.

"The bottom line is, you can’t leave anything to chance," he said. "You’ve got to win the game in a fashion that other factors — whether they’re right or wrong — be it the other team, or the officials, or whatever it is, they don’t come into play. That’s hard to do, to play every game like that. But you can’t leave it up to the other team and just hope they don’t score, you can’t leave it up to the officials and hope they make the right call. You’ve got to play and win the game handily enough that you don’t have to concern yourself with anything else."