Georgia State coach Bill Curry was emotionally choked up before Saturday’s game against Old Dominion, but ultimately he left with the familiar feeling of disappointment.
Curry, who is retiring after the season, coached his last home game. He was honored, as were the team’s 12 seniors, and got a little emotional before the game when he learned that the locker room in the team’s practice facility will bear his name.
But the players, who said they wanted to send him out with a win, couldn’t stop making the same types of mistakes in the first half that they’ve made most of a season, and they lost 53-27 to the Monarchs at the Georgia Dome.
“Even today with all of the honoring of the seniors and wonderful gestures that were made, which I deeply appreciate, we didn’t come anywhere close to playing to our potential,” he said.
“Yes, we fought back, and yes we always do, but when you are down that far to a really good football team, you’ve made it so difficult that you have to be perfect in the second half, and we certainly weren’t.”
The Panthers had four turnovers, including three in the first half that crippled the team’s chances, numerous dropped passes, ill-advised penalties and questionable decisions, to lose for the ninth time this season. The Panthers will end the season, and Curry’s coaching career, Saturday at Maine as they attempt to put two good halves together for what Curry said may be the first time this year.
It was a mostly disappointing home finale for Curry, a man who learned as a player at Georgia Tech and in the NFL that discipline and courage can guide one to great things. They are the same beliefs that he tried to teach the players he coached in previous jobs at Tech, Alabama and Kentucky before he accepted the Georgia State job in 2008 and began those lessons anew.
The Panthers on Saturday played with courage, as they have all season in never giving up even when falling behind by sizable margins. Albert Wilson returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to set a school record and cut the Monarchs’ lead to 39-14. D’Mario Gunn, one of 12 seniors honored before the game, set another record when he returned an interception, one of three by the Panthers, 73 yards for the longest interception return in school history. And Ben McLane connected with Wilson for a 93-yard scoring pass, which also set records, in the fourth quarter to cut the Monarchs’ lead to 46-21.
But they didn’t have enough discipline, particularly in the first half, to defeat Old Dominion (8-1, 5-1 Colonial Athletic Association).
Trailing 8-0, the Panthers began to make the mistakes that have plagued them all season. The first drive, which looked promising, was stopped when Wilson was dropped for a loss of 11 yards on a reverse in Old Dominion territory. The second drive was stopped when McLane was sacked and fumbled. Old Dominion recovered on the 34-yard line and scored four plays later to take a 14-0 lead on an 11-yard run by Tyree Lee.
The Panthers committed another mistake later in the quarter when McLane’s pass went through Wilson’s hands right to Devon Simmons. The Monarchs took over and scored a few plays later on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Heinicke to Larry Pinkard to take a 29-0 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the first half. Heinicke, a Collins Hill grad, threw for 351 yards and three touchdowns for the Monarchs.
