Recapping Georgia State’s 45-3 loss to Alabama:

What did I learn from this game? Not much about the Panthers, other than “execution” continues to be used as a reason why Georgia State doesn’t play consistently well. Alabama really didn’t do anything complicated on offense: power running up the middle, play-action with bootlegs, down-the-line throws to wide receivers. But the Panthers, to no one’s surprise, couldn’t stop them in the first half.

Yes, they did a better job in the second half, but I’m not sure of Alabama’s intent in those last two quarters, so I’m not sure how much credit Georgia State should receive.

Back to “execution”….two weeks of preparation yielded three illegal substitution penalties, among some other errors. To be fair, I think Rucker’s injury happened earlier this week, which mean the coaches didn’t have a lot of time to prepare the offensive set, featuring a tackle playing tight end, that resulted in most of the personnel group confusion that caused at least two of the penalties (one of them happened on defense).

Running game woes continue. The Panthers rushed for the worst mark in school history (15 yards). But really, what else should anyone have expected? Alabama is built to stop the run. The Panthers aren’t yet built to run. Plus, when you fall behind as quickly as Georgia State did, the running game gets dusty pretty quickly. (Note: I’m going to try to put together a graphic that illustrates just how inconsistently the Panthers are running the ball this year. If you eliminate the outlier that is Travis Evans’ 65-yard run against West Virginia, the Panthers are averaging 2.45 yards per carry).

 So now, I turn to you for this question…

I was thinking about this standing on the field on Saturday toward the end of the game: what is the first thing Georgia State has to fix to become competitive?

Some of you may point to quarterback, and I understand that. Neither Ronnie Bell nor Ben McLane have shown enough to be pencilled in as automatic starters. Bell is completing less than 50 percent of his attempts. McLane hasn't gotten enough playing time to make a full judgment. I'm not sure what the future holds for Clay Chastain, who is redshirting this year.

I’m going to go with the offensive line. A good offensive line makes everyone look better. The Panthers’ line continues to struggle in the running game (as noted) and the passing game (as noted). Ronnie Bell wasn’t sacked by Alabama, but he rarely had a lot of time to throw and often was forced to leave the pocket.

The team will lose two seniors in Grant King and Ulrick John and will return Tim Wynn, Brandon Pertile and A.J. Kaplan, the latter two playing for the Panthers for the first time. There are a few more players waiting in the wings to push for playing time and I would bet that Miles tries to find at least one junior college player as he tries to make the group more competitive.