If Georgia State loses in a blowout ...

Should Georgia State's score in its first game against an FBS (formerly Division I-A) team be lopsided, Maddox and another survivor of a titanic blowout predict that the Panthers players still will hold the experience dear.

"In hindsight, you realize it was one of those defining experiences," said John Arena, a guard and team captain of the 1991 Cincinnati team that lost 81-0 to Penn State. "It helps shape who you are and how you respond to things as you go forward."

That perspective was hardly immediate. Arena said it was probably the most frustration he ever felt on a football field. Maddox said the Kansas loss likely was the only game he played in his college career where his team lost its will to fight.

Said Maddox of the Jayhawks: "They seemed like giants."

Maddox's team bears similarities to Georgia State, which will complete its inaugural season against the Crimson Tide. UAB fielded its first team in 1991, playing at the Division III level. Two years later, the Blazers moved to Division I-AA (now known as FCS). In 1994, UAB traveled to Lawrence, Kan., for its first game against a Division I-A team.

Maddox's teammates gawked at the police escort the team received and then thrilled at the 35,000 people filling Kansas' Memorial Stadium.

"Our team had such a swagger. I think we believed we could beat the Dallas Cowboys," Maddox said.

After a strong start -- the Blazers took the opening drive inside the Kansas 10-yard line before fumbling, Maddox said -- the Jayhawks' size and strength advantage took their toll. Kansas led 24-0 at the half before a kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half triggered the landslide.

"Everyone was exhausted because you're competing against people that are bigger, faster, stronger," Maddox said. "Although you may have a heart as big as Texas, that skill level is going to overcome the emotion that you feel."

Maddox was repeatedly knocked off the line of scrimmage by a Kansas lineman.

"He said, ‘Son, you need to get your [expletive] in the weight room,'" Maddox said. "I said, ‘It's too late, I'm a senior.'"

Arena, now an executive at Johnson & Johnson, recalled a feeling of hopelessness against mighty Penn State, the dead silence of the postgame locker room and how the loss destroyed the confidence of some teammates. He also has memories of teammates banding together to keep fighting and how he shrank the game into a one-on-one battle with a Nittany Lions linebacker.

Said Arena, "You're fighting and battling and feel like you're actually playing well, but you're still getting pulverized on the scoreboard."

Both Arena and Maddox said the embarrassment of the blowout losses motivated their teams to never experience such defeat again. After the season-opening Penn State loss, Cincinnati finished 4-7 and nearly upset East Carolina, which went 11-1 and finished ninth in the country. UAB won the final six games of its season to finish 7-4.

Maddox confessed he knew little about Georgia State's team. In a way, though, he knows plenty.

"I imagine every one of those players is excited beyond belief they have the opportunity to play the University of Alabama," he said. "They'll never forget it."