Georgia State coach Trent Miles stops an interview to ask defensive lineman Carnell Hopson if there’s any emotional hangover from Friday’s 23-20 loss to Charlotte or if the team is moving forward toward this week’s game against New Mexico State.
“Moving forward, sir,” Hopson said.
Georgia State needs to continue looking forward while at the same time learning from what wrong against the 49ers. The Panthers were undone by committing three turnovers in the first quarter. Those mistakes led to a 17-point swing and playbook and tactics had to be changed.
If Georgia State is to emerge in what can arguably be called an already must-win game at New Mexico State on Saturday, the team must reduce its mistakes. Getting off to a good start, i.e. not falling behind 13-0 before making their second first down, would be a good sign.
“We can’t turn the ball over three times in the first quarter,” Miles said.
The turnovers ranged from possibly a bad call (wide receiver Glenn Smith’s fumble may not have been a fumble), to a bad decision (Nick Arbuckle’s interception in double coverage in the end zone) to bad luck (running back Kyler Neal’s fumble when an opponent’s helmet hit the ball). The first was returned for a momentum-sucking touchdown less than two minutes the game. The second took at least three points away from Georgia State and possibly a touchdown because the Panthers were on the 14-yard line. The third was negated by an interception by Bobby Baker.
The mistakes were vexing because the team dedicated to itself to reducing turnovers after throwing 18 interceptions and losing 12 fumbles last season. Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said he didn’t think the Panthers had any turnovers in any scrimmages going back to the spring.
Miles said the only cure is to continue doing what they’ve been doing.
“We do a ball-security circuit every day, all throughout the spring, all throughout the summer, all throughout the fall,” he said. “We have to continue to work it.”
Another reason why the mistakes were so galling is the Panthers have very little margin for error in any game. One win in the past 24 games will cause that. For those mistakes to occur so early and so quickly after nine months of preparation and in one of the few games this season in which their team will be favored caused many fans to vent about Miles’ future on social media.
The mistakes don’t create optimism for Saturday’s game. The probability of defeating the Aggies seemed like a toss-up before the season. It could be another long season if the Panthers don’t play better against a New Mexico State defense that was poor last year and gouged for 61 points by Florida last week.
New Mexico State coach Doug Martin thinks the Panthers’ offense is much better than it showed against the 49ers, saying the early circumstances of the Charlotte game affected play-calling. Jagodzinski said the Panthers had to abandon the run, which is something they don’t want to do.
Georgia State will face a tough atmosphere in Las Cruces. New Mexico State has worked for months to sell out this first game. Martin said Monday that they were close to filling up the 30,343-seat Aggie Memorial Stadium.
To quiet that crowd, Georgia State either needs to successfully complete a big play, which isn’t easy, or establish a ground game to control the game’s tempo, which is theoretically easier. The odds are actually in favor of the big play. The Panthers couldn’t crack 100 rushing yards against the 49ers, deepening an issue that started last year when the team couldn’t average more than 100 yards.
The good news is the Panthers bounced back against Charlotte to finish with 392 yards and were still fighting to at least tie the game until an onside kick in the final minute bounced out of bounds. But the offense can’t continue to make the same type of mistakes if the want to start 1-0 in the Sun Belt.
“I know we are much better than we performed on offense,” Miles said.
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