Georgia State ‘stung’ Vandy in 2024. Can the Panthers limit QB Pavia this time?
Georgia State’s defensive front has acquitted itself well against some difficult circumstances, and last week showed how it could do while competing in its own weight class.
The Panthers shut down the run against Murray State to help pave the way for their first win of the season. Now it’s time to see if that progress can carry over when GSU travels to play Vanderbilt, its second SEC opponent of the season and one still stinging from last year’s last-minute loss to the Panthers.
Vanderbilt (3-0) entered The Associated Press rankings this week at No. 20 after the Commodores blew away No. 11 South Carolina 31-7. Vandy, which features quarterback Diego Pavia, has the offense that will challenge any progress made by the GSU defense.
Kickoff for Saturday’s game in Nashville is 7:30 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPNU and heard locally on WRAS-FM 88.5 or the GSU Sports app.
“I thought our defense played extremely hard after that first long drive. They did a lot of good things and we’ve got to take another step forward this week against a very challenging opponent that’s doing well and playing very efficient offensively,” Georgia State coach Dell McGee said. “You’ve got to stop the run against these guys and Pavia is the catalyst to that unit. He’s a very tough matchup.”
A year ago Pavia threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers, but was limited to 40 yards on 15 carries with a long run of 12. The quarterback’s ability to keep plays alive enabled the Commodores to overcome a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter. But Georgia State was able to hurry down the field and secure a 36-32 win — its second all-time against a Power Four team — when Christian Veilleux threw a 25-yard touchdown to Ted Hurst with 15 seconds remaining.
“This is a game that stung us last year, so a lot to learn from that,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “They’re disruptive on defense. They have really good play through their interior of their line of scrimmage, disruptive edge play. This is a group that has accumulated a lot of snaps and it can be disruptive.”
On Monday, McGee cited the play of defensive linemen Henry Bryant III, Fuches Lewis II, Ian Matthews, Jartavius Flounoy and Bishop Thomas, along with outside linebacker Marlin Dean for creating havoc and pressure on the quarterback. That will be a bigger challenge this week against the elusive Pavia, who has thrown for 615 yards and seven touchdowns and run for 129 yards in the first three games.
Georgia State has only five sacks this season, but statistics don’t encapsulate the effect the front has had on the opposition. For example, Bryant may have been the most impactful player on the field against Memphis and wound up with no recorded tackles or other defensive statistics.
“The biggest thing is we’ve just got to be stouter in the run game,” McGee said. “We just let a couple too many explosive plays, and we’ve got to do a better job in the secondary of not taking bad angles to the football and covering up some of those mistakes on the second level.”
Last year the Panthers limited Murray State to 123 yards on 42 attempts, a 2.9-yard average and below the team’s goal of 3.0.
“Every game I just try to go out there and do my best,” said Bryant, a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection. “We always go over the good and then we go over the bad, and then we go over the ugly. Each person, we go over what we messed up and what we can work on.”
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
