Five games into the season, Troy has the best offense in the Sun Belt.
Until last week, scoring had not been one of Georgia State’s strong points.
Georgia State (1-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) exploded for 41 points against Texas State (2-3, 0-1) to come away with its first victory of the season. The Panthers' 24 points in the second quarter were more than they had scored in any game this season.
Saturday, GSU will need a similar scoring output when it goes to Troy, Alabama to take on the Trojans (4-1, 2-0) and their high-powered offense.
“They’re a well coached team that’s very talented,” coach Trent Miles said. “You’re walking into a hostile environment with a team that’s very athletic, very talented and very well coached. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
In two games at home this season, Troy has scored 57 points and 52 points in blowout wins. The fewest points the Trojans have scored in any contest so far was 24 in Death Valley against No. 3 Clemson (6-0, 3-0 ACC). Their 40.8 points per game is more than nine points better than the next best team in the conference.
But as if matching Troy’s offense was not already a difficult enough task, the Panthers will need to crack the stingiest defense in the Sun Belt on Saturday as well. The Trojans are the only team in the conference surrendering less than 20 points per game and only two times this season has team scored more than 20 points on them. At home, they have only allowed 23 points so far this season, which is not a good sign for a GSU offense that has only scored more than 20 points twice this season and only has 34 points in three road games.
Still, coming off last week’s breakout performance, the Panthers are optimistic.
“I have faith in our defense, too that they are going to play well,” quarterback Conner Manning said. “And I know they trust us in taking care of the ball and putting up points.”
Led by Manning and his 340 passing yards, GSU showed not only how dynamic its passing attack can be when clicking, but also how much its rushing attack can dictate a game. The Panthers’ 196 rushing yards were by far the most they had in any game this season, and that same type of production may be necessary to keep the Trojan offense off the field this week.
While the run game was functioning at a level not yet seen this year, wide receiver Robert Davis was doing exactly what was expected of GSU’s career leader in receptions. His nine catches and 149 yards set the tone for a big day through the air for the Panthers.
Last year against Troy, it was tight end Keith Rucker — whose status is uncertain for this week due to a rib injury — who paced the passing attack. His 10 grabs tied a GSU single-game record, and the 154 yards he contributed were a team-high in the Panthers’ win. The Trojans however, are different from the group that lost in the Georgia Dome a year ago.
As the Panthers look to put together their first win streak of the season, they said they know this is a much improved Troy team and they are looking forward to the opportunity to take on arguably the best team in the Sun Belt.
“They say that Troy is one of the best in the conference, and as a competitor, in order to be the best, you got to beat the best,” Davis said.
