Georgia State’s football team could be 6-2 this season and making travel plans for its bowl.
Instead it is 2-6. If the Panthers win their next four games, starting on Saturday at Texas State, they can become bowl eligible.
But that will require all three elements – offense, defense and special teams – to play well at the same time. The reason the team isn’t 6-2 is because in all but one of the games in which none of the three played well, it seems that two out of the three will come close to meeting expectations, while the other doesn’t.
“We are still young,” coach Trent Miles said. “We’ve still got to do a really good job of putting these guys in the right situations and on the same page.”
In the past, it’s usually been the offense and specials that have played well, with the defense succumbing.
Now, the defense is starting to improve and arguably played its best game since the program started in 2010 in last week’s loss to Louisiana-Lafayette.
The loss to the Cajuns occurred because the special teams fell apart. The four miscues started with a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown, continued with two short missed field goals in the middle and ended with a botched fake punt on the end that led to the Cajuns’ game-winning field goal.
Part of the responsibility for the special teams’ errors can be traced to the inexperience of the players on those teams. Many of those on special teams don’t get a lot of snaps with the first- or second-team offenses or defenses. They are put on special teams because of their athleticism and the coaches’ desire to give them experience in live situations.
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter stresses to the players who serve on both his groups and special teams that they must focus all the time.
“You don’t’ know until after the game what the important plays were,” he said. “It’s trying to get them to understand you truly have to play the game as single-play entities.”
That doesn’t explain all of the errors made against Louisiana-Lafayette: the blocked punt occurred because an upperclassmen didn’t block one of the rushers well enough, and the fake punt was executed by a senior.
But it does illustrate the difficulty Georgia State is having in trying to get all three groups to play well at the same time.
Miles said they are closer than they have ever been. Even with the blocked punt, the missed field goals and the fake, the Panthers still had a chance to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette. The same was true despite falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter against Charlotte after a series of mistakes by the offense. The same was true against Liberty even though the defense could do nothing to slow down the Flames. The same was true against Arkansas State until the offense lost momentum with a failure to pick up a yard on critical third- and fourth-down plays.
If the Panthers could put all three phases together, they could easily be 6-2. But they aren’t. Though Miles said they are closer than ever.
“Overall, program is improving and getting better,” Miles said. “We’re not an automatic win when we show up anymore.
“We are in position to win football games. That’s much improved from where we’ve been in the past. I’m excited about how we could finish the season.”
About the Author
