Georgia State’s problems getting to the quarterback resurfaced in Saturday’s 34-31 loss to New Mexico State.
The Panthers failed to sack Aggies signal-caller Tyler Rogers, who completed 25 of 44 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns. On the game-winning drive, Rogers was 6-for-9, including the 11-yard winner to Teldrick Morgan with 15 seconds left.
The few times the Panthers rushed more three or four players usually resulted in an incomplete pass. But Miles said blitzing, as the team did in the season-opening win against Abilene Christian, wasn’t a big part of this week’s game plan.
“When you blitz and it spreads you out, it puts you in man situations and you have to cover the whole field,” he said. “It wasn’t to our advantage to do that. We wanted to keep guys in front of us and control it.”
Receivers neutralized: Though the offense totaled 456 yards, Georgia State had trouble getting the ball to tight end Joel Ruiz and wide receiver LynQuez Blair, both important weapons.
Ruiz caught two passes for 17 yards, a few days after catching seven passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns in the opener.
Blair was limited to two catches for 20 yards a week after tying for the team-high with eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown.
Miles said New Mexico State put a defender on Ruiz, who ran him up the field vertically. The Aggies took Blair out by putting a safety over the defender in front of Blair.
“They poured guys inside covering underneath routes,” quarterback Nick Arbuckle said. “They forced us to throw outside.”
With those two threats mostly neutralized, Avery Sweeting led the Panthers with eight receptions for 94 yards. Robert Davis, the leading returning receiver, caught four passes for 70 yards. The Panthers had 294 yards passing.
“Overall we have five guys, maybe more, than can really contribute in the passing game, so if they can take out Joel we have other guys that can step up,” Arbuckle said.
Secondary help: Bryan Williams started at safety because Tarris Batiste was suspended for the first half after being ejected in the second half of last week's game.
Williams, who didn’t play last season because of a herniated disk in his back, played well. He recovered a fumbled lateral in the first half to set up the offense at the 28-yard line. He followed that with an interception on New Mexico State’s first drive in the second half. The ball was tipped by Shawayne Lawrence.
“I had a good game, but it was a team effort, so I can’t take too much credit for it, said Williams, who finished with eight tackles.
Chandon Sullivan also performed well in the losing effort.
Sullivan, a freshman cornerback, made an open-field tackle on a kick return, downed a punt at the 2-yard line, recovered a fumble and pinned the Aggies deep with another one-on-one tackle at the 17 on Georgia State’s last kickoff. He finished with five tackles.
“It’s tough having a good game and losing,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the day, I try to come out, do my assignment and be confident in myself.”
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