The weather was better Saturday afternoon than last year, but Georgia State once again found itself snowed under by Appalachian State, and the Panthers’ 37-3 loss represented only slight improvement against the Mountaineers.
At least they didn’t need plows to get out of the Georgia Dome.
Appalachian State whipped GSU 44-0 on Nov. 1 in the first meeting between the programs, outgaining Georgia State 567-62 in a driving snowstorm in Boone, N.C. The big picture was similar in the cozy confines of the Dome, where ASU had a 498-225 edge in total yardage, but the details were much different.
The Panthers (1-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) were ready for plows, but the run-heavy Mountaineers (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) broke out the long ball. Sophomore quarterback Taylor Lamb, who in 2011 led Calhoun High School to an upset of Buford in the Class AA championship game in the Dome, was right at home in passing for 291 yards and three touchdowns on just 24 attempts.
“We knew that they run the ball well,” Georgia State coach Trent Miles said. “But you can’t let them throw over our heads as much as they did.”
The Panthers expected the Sun Belt’s No. 2 rushing team (282.5 yards per game) and a heavy dose of running back Marcus Cox. The junior from Dacula came in leading the league and No. 17 nationally with 122.3 rushing yards each time out.
Instead, Appalachian State went to the air right away.
Lamb connected with wide receiver Malachi Jones of Central Gwinnett High for 45 yards on ASU’s first play, and by the time the Mountaineers took a 17-0 lead on Lamb’s 9-yard scoring toss to tight end Levi Duffield with 2:11 left in the first quarter, the visitors had already passed for 142 yards, completing 6 of 7 passes.
Don’t let it be said the Mountaineers won for the 10th time in 11 games — losing only at No. 6 Clemson — without balance.
ASU rushed for 207 yards as Lamb went for 53 yards on four carries, and the Mountaineers’ defense — which leads the Sun Belt in many categories — throttled Georgia State.
Panthers quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who was leading the Sun Belt and ranked No. 7 nationally with 345.8 passing yards per game, didn’t make it to half that. His vertical passing game wasn’t available while he completed 21-of-37 passes for 166 yards. ASU had three sacks, and was in Arbuckle’s face repeatedly.
“They keep everything in front of them with their (defensive backs’) eyes in the backfield, and their defensive line gets a lot of pressure,” he explained. “When their DBs are so far off and they’re getting good pressure on me it doesn’t give our receivers much time to get open.”
The Mountaineers dictated style on both sides of the ball, complementing their 207-yard rushing attack with more vertical spice than usual.
“They … have been playing more man coverage on the outside,” Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield said of Georgia State’s defense. “We were trying to isolate some matchups on the outside edge, and our guys made some plays.”
The Panthers geared to slow a team that entered the game running 69.2 percent of the time and fairly succeeded against Cox (19 carries for 76 yards), but they were ripe for picking with defensive backs repeatedly in one-on-one coverage.
“Most definitely,” GSU inside linebacker Joseph Peterson said after banking a game-high 14 tackles. “Sometimes, you get caught on the play actions and you’re trying to stop the run.”
Georgia State went 67 yards in 13 plays and settled for a 25-yard field goal by Wil Lutz as time expired in the first half.
That pulled the Panthers within 20-3, but Appalachian State opened the second half with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Lamb’s 30-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Shaedon Meadors.
“It wasn’t that we came out flat,” Miles said. “We got punched in the mouth and beat by a better football team.”
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