Auburn football players haven't had much practice losing, but coach Tommy Tuberville liked the way they responded after a 23-14 loss to Georgia Tech at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night.

"It was good to see the seniors stand up and say a few words after the game," Tuberville said on his Sunday teleconference. "They didn't have their heads down.

"We had a lot of opportunities and didn't take advantage of them. It's good to know the players recognized that as soon as the game was over. They didn't need to see the tape."

Auburn, which finished 13-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country last season, hadn't lost since Nov. 11, 2003. Its 15-game winning streak ended in a blaze of turnovers.

First-year starting quarterback Brandon Cox threw four interceptions and lost a fumble.

"I'm not proud of the situation where we turned the ball over," Tuberville said. "But Brandon showed a lot of promise.

"As many as times as we threw the football, he was pretty impressive. That's not the scenario you would like in your first game as a starter, having to pull your team from behind. He's got a very strong base to build on."

Cox completed 22 of 44 passes for 342 yards. But Auburn couldn't manage a complementary ground game to take the pressure off its sophomore quarterback, who replaced first-round NFL draft pick Jason Campbell. Auburn rushed for only 50 yards, compared to 139 for Georgia Tech.

"We weren't able to run the ball in the first half as effectively as we had hoped," Tuberville said. "We've got to be a more balanced team and we've got to be more physical."

A veteran offensive line, led by preseason All-American Marcus McNeill, was expected to be the strength of the Auburn offense. But it struggled against Georgia Tech's aggressive, blitzing defense.

Trailing 17-14, the Tigers failed to capitalize on two long scoring drives in the third quarter. Georgia Tech clinched the victory with two fourth-quarter field goals, including one with 1:32 to play, from Travis Bell.