New coach, new uniforms and a new conference didn’t produce new results for Georgia State’s football team.
Instead the Panthers, wearing new black and blue uniforms and with new coach Trent Miles on the sidelines leading the team in its first season on the FBS level, lost to FCS-foe Samford 31-21 on Friday at the Georgia Dome.
Georgia State was undone mostly by its own mistakes, something that fans saw a lot of last year in a 1-10 season, and in the 3-8 season in 2011.
- The Panthers' opponent returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
- A Ronnie Bell interception was returned for a touchdown.
- Lastly, Bell threw another interception in the fourth quarter that led to a 48-yard field goal.
Three mistakes: 17 points. Despite outgaining the Bulldogs in yards 463-298, holding them to 4 of 14 on third down, and winning the time of possession, the Panthers lost.
“It was a tough start,” Miles said. “You cannot throw a pick for a touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown and another interception and expect to win a college football game.
“But I’m very proud of the way my young men competed. We have to teach them how to win. That was a major part at points in the game.”
It wasn’t all bad for Bell, who threw three touchdown passes, two to Kelton Hill for 21 and 17 yards in the first half and a 40-yard pass to Albert Wilson in the fourth quarter. He completed 28 of 51 passes, which Miles said was more than they wanted and noted was almost as many as Bell threw all of last year (67). He finished with 391 yards.
“There were times he played extremely well and times he made a few bad choices and when you make bad choices on this level, it comes back to burn you,” Miles said.
But the special teams were horrid with the 100-yard kickoff return for the score in which Miles said three players on the return team ran out of their lanes. There was also a blocked punt, two shanked punts and a 46-yard punt-return allowed.
The defense, after playing well in a first half that included a goal-line stand, couldn’t hold off the Bulldogs in the second half. Still, the defense gave up just 14 points.
“If you average giving up 14 points a game you will be top-five in the nation,” Miles said.
They weren’t helped because the Panthers’ offense couldn’t consistently run the ball throughout the game — they finished with 72 yards— the wide receivers dropped at least five passes and the team subsequently lost field position.
“The fact of the matter is you have to step up and perform…of course you never want to be in those positions, it’s a strain on us, but it comes with the game,” defensive lineman Theo Agnew said.
Things at one time looked good for Georgia State, which had a 14-7 lead at halftime. But a disastrous third quarter derailed the chances at victory.
“We just didn’t finish in the second half,” Bell said.
After living dangerously with several throws that should have been intercepted, Bell finally threw one, putting too much air on a pass. Jaquiski Tartt picked it off, returning it 33 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 14.
“That changed the momentum right there,” Miles said.
Samford took a 21-14 lead on its next possession on a 1-yard run by Fabian Truss and added another on its next possession on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Andy Summerlin to Karel Hamilton, who got behind Georgia State’s coverage. It was the Bulldogs’ third touchdown in less than nine minutes.
Things didn’t start well for the Panthers, either.
Truss returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. He caught it along the right side, cut across to the left and beat all the Panthers to the corner.
Agnew said the team didn’t think, “Here we go again.”
“In my mind, I was like ‘That’s good for yall because that’s all yall are going to get from us,’ ” Agnew said. “We went out there and played good, hard physical defense for most of the game.”
Georgia State shook off the bad start and tied the score on a 21-yard pass from Bell to Hill. Bell rifled the pass between two defenders to the leaping Hill, who fell backward into the end zone.Hill said he and Bell read the same defense, with Bell giving him a head nod after they lined up.
It was the first touchdown reception for Hill, a senior who has touchdowns passing and rushing for his time as a quarterback as a freshman and sophomore.
The play was set up by a pair of 15-yard passes to freshman wide receiver Robert Davis and a 23-yard reverse to Hill.
Bell found Hill again, this time for 17 yards, to give Georgia State a 14-7 lead with 12:48 left until halftime. Bell, under pressure, once again put the perfect amount of touch on the pass, putting it over two defenders and to Hill in the corner of the end zone. Bell and Hill connected four times on the drive for 35 yards. Bell also hit Wilson three times for 47 yards.
After a solid first quarter, Georgia State’s defense made three consecutive big plays of its own in a goal-line stand. On the first, Terrance Woodard stopped Fabian Truss for no gain on third and goal from the 1-yard line. On fourth down, Allen McKay grabbed Truss’ ankle and wouldn’t let go, stopping him just short of scoring. But the officials ruled that Georgia State lined up offside, giving Samford another crack. On the next attempt, Summerlin took the snap and turned left, but all three of his running backs ran right. He was dropped by Tarris Batiste for a 3-yard loss.
Miles was far from discouraged after the loss, saying he watched a lot of film of last year’s team and he said he never saw them compete like they did Friday.
“Im thrilled with what I have,” Miles said. “It was a big question mark of going into the game with ‘what would we have?’ and ‘would they fight?’ They showed me a lot tonight. We can’t wait to go to work tomorrow, look at our film and get ready to play UT-Chattanooga next week.”
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