Where does Georgia State go after being ripped apart by Georgia Southern 69-31 on Saturday in the Georgia Dome in the first meeting between the two schools?
Coach Trent Miles said he will do what he does after any game: evaluate.
He will evaluate himself first, his coaches second, the schemes third and then the players. Asked to describe what is evaluated, Miles said “A lot of things.
“It will obviously seem more harsh after giving up 69 points. No one will feel worse than those defensive coaches and defensive players. They know what happened. We don’t have to throw them under the bus. Any issues with our team, schematically, it’s my responsibility. “
Introspection is needed because the defense is steadily getting worse, rather than better.
Two weeks ago, Arkansas State totaled more than 600 yards in a 52-10 victory over the Panthers.
On Saturday, the Eagles rushed for a Sun Belt-record 613 yards as part of 660 yards in offense. They averaged 9.7 yards per carry. The average was past 10 yards per carry before kneel-downs at the end of the game reduced it.
Even for a team whose linebackers have been ravaged by injuries and which is playing with a rebuilt secondary, it was a shocking enough performance for Miles to repeatedly call it unacceptable.
“You’d like to think you could play good enough defense to win a game when you score 31 at home,” Miles said.
For the season, the defense is allowing the Sun Belt’s worst per-game averages in points (43.6) and yards (499.2).
What will the evaluation reveal?
The Panthers had great difficulty in getting off blocks and seemed to take horrible angles, particularly when the quarterback kept the ball or pitched it.
It’s too late in the season to change schemes – that’s what the team tried before the disastrous effort against Arkansas State – before next week’s game at Appalachian State.
The changes will have to come with either better execution during games , which doesn’t seem likely considering it has what has been said after each loss for the past two years, or with finding more and better players to give the team added depth, competition and skill.
Miles referenced recruiting as part of the solution.
“We went out and made a great effort to fix our offense and fixed it,” Miles said. “Now we need to make a great effort to fix our defense.”
Miles said he has no doubt the team will rebound and perform better before next week’s game in Boone, N.C. The team bounced back from the poor performance against the Red Wolves to almost upset South Alabama, so Miles has a reason for optimism.
“We will come back with a great plan, kids will work hard and we will go out and play best football we’ve played all season,” he said. “No doubt in my mind.”
About the Author
