Georgia State’s run defense, troubled all season, will face arguably its biggest challenge Saturday in Western Kentucky’s Antonio Andrews.
Andrews leads the FBS in all-purpose yards per game (237) and rushing yards (1,180).
“He’s a legitimate weapon,” Georgia State coach Trent Miles said.
And the Panthers have fired blanks this season when it comes to stopping the run. They have allowed 227.9 rushing yards per game. Every opponent has rushed for at least 105 yards. Five have rushed for at least 225 yards. One has rushed for more than 400 yards.
Hello, Mr. Andrews.
“We aren’t getting it done,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. On a scale of 1-10, he said his frustration level with the defense was 10. He later said it could be 15.
The problems are numerous, only one of which can be “fixed” by Saturday.
For starters, the group is small. Andrews is 6-feet and weighs 219 pounds. He is as big as most of Georgia State’s linebackers, who are led size-wise by freshman Mackendy Cheridor, who is 6-4, 235.
“Certain guys are going to have a hard time tackling him one on one,” Minter said.
A lack of size has hurt the team’s ability to limit big plays. In last week’s loss at Louisiana-Monroe, three tacklers met the running back at the point at attack. All three failed to make the tackle. The result was a 69-yard run that Minter said was an example of the mixture of size and strength the team doesn’t have.
The Panthers can’t solve that problem overnight, so Miles and Minter said they will have to gang tackle Andrews and play the most physical game they’ve played all season.
“We get overmatched physically in a lot of games,” Miles said.
Next, the group will sometimes not execute its assignments, which can be fixed. Minter estimated 140 of the Warhawks’ 225 yards rushing came on four plays. In the previous week’s loss at Texas State, five runs accounted for 167 of the Bobcats’ 296 rushing yards.
Some of that has to do with the team’s inexperience: Four of the top defensive linemen are freshmen and two of the three linebackers are sophomores or younger.
“You can say it’s four to five plays a game, which it kind of is,” Minter said. “It’s frustrating when you do it right and do it right.”
Andrews will not just be a problem as a running back, where he has rushed for 11 touchdowns this season. He also returns punts (7.7 average) and kicks (20.7 average), more examples of his athletic ability. In his 21 starts, he has yet to produce less than 100 all-purpose yards and has 15 games with at least 150 all-purpose yards.
“He’s an (NFL-caliber) back,” Minter said.
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