Khadrice Rollins
krollins@ajc.com
“Balanced” was not a word to describe the Georgia State offense the first four games of the season.
Although the Panthers (1-4. 1-1 Sun Belt) ran the ball at least 24 times in three of their first four games, they failed to gain more than 88 yards in any of those contests. Without a reason to fear GSU on the ground, opponents were able to focus even more on the pass. Last week, that was not the case.
For the first time all year the Panthers eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the ground as they totaled 196 yards on 37 carries their 41-21 win over Texas State (2-3, 0-1). The leader of the rushing effort was running back Kyler Neal, who had 91 yards on 13 carries. But Neal said his performance was less about what he did with the ball in his hands and more about what happened at the line of scrimmage.
“I played pretty well, but that just speaks volume on our offensive line,” Neal said. “Our offensive line went out there and performed great, opened up some good holes and were real physical out there and moved the line of scrimmage. That’s what we got to have to be successful, so hopefully we can keep that going with our offensive line.”
The GSU offensive line had become accustomed to protecting the passer and had been able to keep quarterback Conner Manning clean for much of the year. The group had only surrendered four sacks on the year even with opposing defenses knowing the Panthers were going to put the ball in the air.
Against Texas State, the unit was able to show all the work it had put in to improve as run blockers.
“We put in a lot of extra work the last few weeks, cause it all starts with us,” offensive guard Michael Ivory said. “It’s good to come out and see the stats after the game and realize we ran the ball well and we protected pretty well.”
With the big guys up front taking care of business, GSU was able to score its most points of the season in the victory. In fact, the Panthers surpassed their previous season-high in points (21) before halftime.
With the offensive line playing arguably its best game of the season, not only was Manning allowed to take advantage of a clean pocket, the offense was able to diversify its play calling.
Before last week, GSU had not run the ball more than 25 times in a game. Against Texas State, almost half of the offense’s plays were runs. This not only kept the Bobcats guessing at what was coming at them, it also made the offense much more effective.
“We’re not made to be a run team for the run to set up the pass, our passing sets up our run” coach Trent Miles said. “And the more we can have success running it and then (defenses) have a tendency to try to load the box, opens up for play-action and throwing it in the vertical game.”
