Well. That was a tough one.

Georgia Southern showed its "never say die" determination in clawing and scratching to take a fourth quarter lead after trailing all night against Wofford, but couldn’t quite hold on as the Terriers battled back for the win.

For the 21,000-plus fans packed into Paulson Stadium and many more Eagle Faithful listening over the airwaves, Saturday’s game had to be as frustrating as it was inspiring.

As close as the Eagles came to pulling out the victory, a few trends seemed to pop up again and again during the game that hurt their chances at winning.

First were the opening minutes of the game.

For the third time in four games, the Eagles fell behind in the opening minutes. Two efficient Terrier drives were capped by big scoring plays to put GSU in a 14-0 hole before all of the fans had even arrived. The defense clamped down as the game wore on, and the offense eventually found a groove, but playing from behind had the Eagles looking like the far more stressed team on the field.

Then there were some missed opportunities.

Three times, GSU had Wofford pinned in a 3rd down situation with more than 10 yards to go, only to let it escape with a fresh set of downs. The most damaging was a 3rd-and-16 conversion for the Terriers from their own 6 yard line on their second scoring drive of the game.

But perhaps the biggest miscue was the Eagles’ inability to take charge after the biggest momentum shift of the night.

Fresh off of a defensive score and a surprise onside kick, GSU couldn’t move the chains. Even after they were given new life by a penalty, the Eagles fumbled the ball away and allowed Wofford to regain control of a game that was quickly slipping away from it.

As for the biggest positive for the night, the attempted comeback was nice, but be sure not to overlook the biggest reason for it.

While the Eagle offense was hit-or-miss for much of the evening, GSU’s special teams turned in as good a performance as you’ll ever see.

That onside kick was executed perfectly and the punting unit twice pinned Wofford on its own 1 — directly resulting in nine GSU points — drew two penalties, and ran a perfect fake to keep a touchdown drive alive. The punting unit is often overlooked, but would have been the biggest reason for the win if the Eagles had pulled it out.

But enough about what might have been. This midseason loss also offers a great opportunity to look at what has gone right.

Despite the disappointment of a Southern Conference loss, there aren’t many people out there — Eagle Nation included — that would have foreseen how quickly GSU has gotten back on its feet.

There is still a lot of room for improvement, but GSU has proven that it will come to fight every week and — as Wofford found out — only 60 minutes of well-played football will be enough to beat the Eagles, even when they might not have their A-game.

Some people might not want to look for moral victories or silver linings after a tough loss, but the frustration that I saw — both on the field and in the stands — over coming up short to a very talented Terrier squad just goes to show that the worries about the struggles of the past few years are becoming a distant second to the desire and belief that GSU is here to win right now.