BATON ROUGE, LA- The Georgia Southern football team fell to LSU 55-3 in Baton Rouge on Saturday.

While the loss may be disheartening to many fans, Head Coach Chad Lunsford seemed confident about the state of the team after the game.

When asked if the team simply folded under the spotlight of the big stage, Lunsford brushed away the thought.

“I don’t worry about our guys in the environment,” he said. “They’re trained to control what they can control.They do a good job of getting their minds right…I think we played a really good football team and we’re going to have to go learn from this. I don’t think the moment was too big for them at all.”

Without junior running back Wesley Kennedy III, the team heavily relied on redshirt-sophomore running back Matt LaRoche. Lunsford has confidence in the remaining three backs, and plans to work on an appeal that would see Kennedy’s suspension be shortened. 

Redshirt-sophomore running back Logan Wright led the team with 37 all-purpose yards. He feels that he is a valuable asset to the team and will continue to move forward.

“I’ve got plenty of trust in our running backs,” Lunsford said. “I think we’ve got warriors in there…Do we miss Wesley Kennedy [III]? No doubt.”

When redshirt-junior quarterback Shai Werts went down in the second quarter, redshirt-freshman Justin Tomlin was given the daunting task of trying to lead a historic comeback. In his efforts, Tomlin went 3-8 and had 24 yards through the air.

“Also, I thought it was very valuable to get JT in there and get some reps,” he said. “He really only got one snap last year. So for him to go out and play the second half, I think is valuable for us.”

Redshirt-junior Shai Werts is expected to make a full recovery after Lunsford explained that holding him from playing in the second half was strictly out of precaution. While being sacked by a Tiger defender, the quarterback suffered what seemed to be a right wrist injury. 

After making one more appearance, he wouldn’t come back for the rest of the game. Before his injury, Werts had zero passing yards, 10 rushing yards and fumbled once.

The team will be back in action on Sep.7 at home in Paulson Stadium against a strong Maine team.

“There will be total respect for Maine and their football team,” he said. “We know that Maine will bring their best game to us and we’ve gotta be ready to go.”

Amanda Arnold, The George-Anne Sports Editor, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu