Inconsistent play from the quarterbacks, injuries to the line and plain old bad luck have contributed to the up-and-down play of Georgia State’s offense this season.
The Panthers have yet to improve their scoring in consecutive games this season, with their point totals seesawing like the Dow Jones for the past eight weeks. They will host St. Francis on Saturday, looking to improve upon last week’s 14-point output.
“We’ve been consistently inconsistent,” coordinator John Bond said when asked to describe his offense this year.
The 14 points scored in the overtime loss to Texas-San Antonio came after scoring 27 in an overtime win over South Alabama and continues an up-and-down trend that makes it hard to predict results.
Quarterback Kelton Hill will make his third start of the season Saturday. Drew Little, who has missed the past two games with injury, won’t play because he has been suspended for one game for violating the team’s academic rules. Little was also suspended from spring practice earlier this year and this season’s first game for violating similar team rules.
The team has had to use three different starting quarterbacks this season and even more combinations on the offensive line.
“It’s been frustrating,” coach Bill Curry said.
Because of suspensions to Little, last year’s starter, and Hill, last year’s backup, Bo Schlechter started the season opener with a 41-point performance in a win. He started the next two games in which the offense combined to score 38 points.
Little, who was very effective last season, was inserted as the starter against Houston, an FBS (formerly Division I-A) team, and the offense failed to score. They scored 24 points in a loss to Murray State in the next game with Little under center. However, because he sustained an injury against the Racers, Schlechter started the next week’s loss at South Carolina State in which the offense scored 13 points.
Hill was given a shot and performed well in the victory in the next game, against South Alabama. He completed 12 of 15 passes for more than 200 yards and provided a running threat.
However, he regressed in Saturday’s loss, completing six of 15 passes for less than 100 yards.
Hill said he doesn’t think the carousel of quarterbacks has affected the offense. He said they simply must execute.
“Its’ been a really strange evolution,” Bond said. “Last year we knew when threw the football it was Little to [Danny] Williams. It was very effective. We won some games in fourth quarter. We knew who we were.”
Confusion has been the issue this season, exemplified by wide receiver Albert Wilson getting hit in the head by a snap as he went into motion in overtime of last week’s loss. The noise was so loud in the Alamodome, the center couldn’t hear the snap count and fired the ball back prematurely. Had the snap made it to Donald Russell, Bond said he likely would have scored on a 25-yard run.
The offense has averaged 321.2 yards per game, less than the 327.5 average last season against an easier schedule. While the running game has improved by more than 20 yards per game, the aerial attack has regressed by almost 30 yards. The quarterbacks are completing 47.4 percent of their attempts and have thrown more interceptions (10) than touchdowns.
“The overall lack of consistency in the passing game has hurt us more than anything,” Bond said.
Bond noted that the offense’s goal was to find one more touchdown per game than last season, which would improve their scoring to 34.5 points per game. They wanted to have more runs of at least 12 yards and more pass plays of at least 16 yards than their opponents.
Instead, the offense has averaged 19.6 points per game, more than a touchdown less. They have won some of the explosive plays, but the inconsistency offsets that.
What makes it so frustrating for Bond and Curry is they say the team is just a few offensive plays away from being 6-2, rather than 2-6. Most of those plays have occurred during the fourth quarter, a period in which the Panthers have scored a meager 10 points this season.
“We just have to keep plugging until we can execute our offense and do what we’re supposed to,” Curry said. “I don’t think we have any excuses.”
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