For he first time in program history, the Georgia Southern Eagles (3-0, 2-0 Southern Conference) were led onto the field by a player carrying a black flag.

            If a white flag symbolizes surrender, the black flag is the opposite.

            "For centuries pirates and armies and battalions have carried a black flag to signify that there would be no quarter given and no quarter taken," said GSU coach Jeff Monken. "They know when they see the black flag coming, they;re going to have a fight to the finish."

            That mentality was no more evident than in the third quarter when starting quarterback Jaybo Shaw (17 rushes, 72 yards) left the game with an injury to his right knee.

            Jerick McKinnon threw for 39 yards and rushed for 114 on 10 carries, and third-string quarterback Ezayi Youyoute completed his first-career pass and rushed for 119 yards on only four carries.

            The quarterbacks joined J.J. Wilcox (6-115) as the team's three100-yard rushers in the game. Robert Brown fell just short with 99 yards.

            "That' unheard of," McKinnon said about the team's rushing performance.

            As for the flag, it was carried onto the field for the first time by safety Boyd Sasser.

            "We have a leadership council on our team, there's 13 members, and they get to choose," said Monken. "We'll have a different guy carry it out every weekend."

            Shaw's injury isn't expected to be serious, and will be evaluated today.

            "The first drive [of the third quarter] he got tackled and it was painful," said Monken. "We took him over to the sideline and just made the decision that we were going to pull him so we wouldn't injure him any more if it was injured. We're going to get a better assessment in the training room and [Sunday] when the doctors come in and see him. At least at halftime, there was nothing major wrong with it. Hopefully that's the case."