Despite watching Georgia State lose its past four football games by a total of 119 points, athletic director Cheryl Levick said she sees a positive future for the football team under coach Bill Curry.
“We all are so competitive, we want to win right now. Coach Curry is. I am,” she said. “Like coach Curry, I really have to work on the patience of developing this program. We experienced success pretty quickly last year, and we are playing harder teams this year. We have to be patient on building what we know and how to do it correctly.”
The Panthers went 6-5 in their inaugural season. However, after defeating Clark Atlanta, a Division II school, to open this season, the Panthers have been blown out by foes of various levels: Old Dominion, a third-year FCS (formerly Division I-AA) program; Jacksonville State, an established FCS power; Houston of FBS (formerly Division I-A); and Murray State, a rebuilding FCS program, 48-24 on Saturday.
Attendance woes
In addition to the Panthers’ problems on the field, only 10,963 fans came to watch them play Saturday. It was the worst attendance of the Panthers’ 10 home games to date, worse than the 11,000-plus that attended the loss to Old Dominion in the season’s second week.
Georgia State even moved the kickoff from noon to 2 p.m. and asked fans to wear white T-shirts in an attempt to energize the fan base.
Levick said GSU will keep the 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. start times for the remainder of the season and try to come up with more concepts for the fans.
Issues on offensive line
Guard Joseph Gilbert was suspended for Saturday’s game for a violation of team rules.
Ulrick John started in Gilbert’s place, the third different position John has played this season.
John started at tackle in the opener against Clark Atlanta and at center in the loss to Houston two weeks ago, because Michael Davis sustained a season-ending injury during a practice. Davis was starting the game against Jacksonville State because Ben Jacoby suffered an injury in the loss to Old Dominion in Week 2. Jacoby returned to center Saturday, but left in the second half. Curry said he thought Jacoby was OK.
Curry declined to say the team’s troubles running the ball could be pinned on any of the changes. The Panthers rushed for 86 yards. “Any time you lose a regular in the offensive line, of course it affects you,” he said. “But we’ve had regulars injured, pretty much all year. If you ever use that as an excuse, then you’re in trouble.”
Stand-up act
Georgia State sometimes elected to have all three of its defensive linemen stand up instead of using a three-point stance. End Christo Bilukidi said it’s something they’ve been working on for the past two weeks.
The scheme seemed to confuse Murray State during parts of the game, but it didn’t work against the numerous screens and draw plays the Racers like to run.
Murray State rushed for 138 yards and passed for 321. The Panthers did have three sacks, but rushed for a 4.5-yard-per-carry average.
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