Georgia State will play in its first bowl game when it takes on San Jose State in the Cure Bowl at 7 p.m. Saturday in Orlando.
With the Panthers in their sixth season of playing football, here are six moments that occurred this season that helped the team clinch a spot in the bowl game.
Arbuckle's proclamation. Athletes talk all the time about the need to improve. Some put the work in. Some don't. Following last year's season finale, a 54-31 loss to Texas State, quarterback Nick Arbuckle said he was going to dedicate his offseason to improving his decision-making, footwork, film study and techniques so that he didn't again throw 17 interceptions.
Arbuckle went to work.
This season, the senior reduced his interceptions (11) and increased his touchdowns (from 23 to 26) and also improved in almost every significant stat. He completed more passes (293 compared with 254), threw more (457 compared with 429) and for a greater completion percentage (64.1 percent compared with 60.1). His average yards per game increased from 273.7 to 346.7.
Combined with his ability to read defenses, Arbuckle was a coach on the field for the Panthers.
Signing Hart/Harden's injury. The receiver that Arbuckle connected with more than any other was freshman Penny Hart, who leads the team in receptions (70), yards (1,085) and touchdowns (8). That's not bad for a player whose only scholarship offer was from Georgia State.
It’s probably because Hart, at 5-foot-9, doesn’t look like someone to worry about when he gets off the bus.
But Hart attached himself to Arbuckle’s hip during the summer, studied film, learned the offense and developed a chemistry with the quarterback during seven-on-seven drills.
When Donovan Harden, last season’s leading receiver, suffered a broken foot during August’s practice, Hart stepped into the starting lineup and the offense rarely skipped a beat. When Harden returned, it added yet another weapon the group.
The team meeting. As well as the Panthers played during their four-game win streak to secure the invitation to the Cure Bowl, they looked just as poor during key stretches in the season's first five games.
After either a 41-33 loss to FCS-team Liberty in which the defense couldn’t get off the field (it was on the field for more than 43 of the game’s 60 minutes), or a withering 37-3 loss to Appalachian State, people who were there couldn’t remember which, coach Trent Miles gathered the team together and asked them what they were playing for.
The players took the question to heart and rededicated themselves to practice, their teammates and the program.
Slant and go against Ball State. The Panthers bounced back with a 31-19 victory over Ball State in Game 6. The Panthers were leading by five in the fourth quarter and trying unsuccessfully to run out the clock. After two poor drives that gained 40 yards and took less than five minutes off the clock, Miles decided to take a shot down field.
Anticipating that the Cardinals would try to stop the run, the Panthers called a route combination that had worked several times during the season. Arbuckle hit Harden on a slant-and-go for 68 yards. Harden went out of bounds inside the 1-yard line. Arbuckle scored two plays later to clinch the 31-19 win and give the team a boost of confidence.
The botched punt. This wasn't a positive moment, but it emphasized that the Panthers weren't going to give up on the season.
Leading Louisiana-Lafayette 21-20, the Panthers faced fourth-and-5 on its 24-yard line. Wil Lutz lined up to punt, took the snap, rolled right and, instead of punting, tried to throw a pass to Todd Boyd. However, blocker Tevin Jones catches the pass and doesn’t make the first down. Jones couldn’t see Boyd behind him. It likely wouldn’t have mattered because Boyd was yards in front of the first-down marker and quickly reaching the sideline.
The Cajuns took over, took the lead and won the game.
It would have been very easy for the Panthers to pack it in at that point with four games remaining and needing to win all four to even become eligible for a bowl. Considering the team had won only two games in its previous three seasons, losing focus wasn’t improbable.
They obviously didn’t.
Batiste's big play. Georgia State and Georgia Southern were locked in a tough game, with the scored tied 7-7 in the first half. The Panthers needed to win to clinch their sixth win and become bowl-eligible. The Eagles were driving toward the end of the second quarter for the go-ahead points and were facing second-and-11 on Georgia State's 29. Eagles quarterback Kevin Ellison saw a receiver running down the hash marks. He didn't see safety Tarris Batiste lurking just on the outside of that receiver. Batiste stepped in front of the receiver, intercepted the pass at the 5-yard line and returned it to the 39.
That would be as close as the Eagles would come to scoring the rest of the game. The Panthers won 34-7, handing their rivals their worst loss at home.
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