And now, the week that Georgia State and Georgia Southern have been waiting for, is at hand: the first football game between the two schools. The Panthers (1-6, 0-4 Sun Belt) will host the Eagles (5-2, 4-0) on Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
Concrete vs. country.
Start-ups vs. champions.
This game has been discussed since Georgia Southern agreed to join the Sun Belt, the conference that is the Panthers’ home, last year.
Georgia State is coming in a beat-up team and losers of six consecutive games. The Panthers have one win in the past two years and have struggled since the program’s first season in 2010.
The Eagles, the surprise of the Sun Belt, are coming in mostly healthy and rested after a bye week last week. Georgia Southern has won six national championships on the FCS level since the program restarted with its first NCAA season in 1984.
Georgia Southern seems so confident of victory – and of bringing in more fans than Georgia State to the Georgia Dome – it asking all of its fans to wear white to the game. Wearing a unifying color is a tactic usually used by the home team to fire up its fan base.
The Panthers will need their focus, especially after losing a heartbreaker to South Alabama 30-27 on Saturday in a game that perfectly illustrated the team’s season.
The offense moved the ball well in amassing more than 400 yards. The defense played better but still gave up more than 400 yards. But a few mistakes made by the team and the officials killed any chances of victory.
Officials: It appeared that South Alabama fumbled the ball late in the fourth quarter and that Georgia State recovered. The ESPN announcers were emphatic that there was a fumble. After a review, the officials ruled there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call. The Jags scored on the next play to re-take the lead.
Lastly, after South Alabama took a 30-27 lead, on the ensuing kickoff a South Alabama player decked Keith Rucker with a right cross. The attack appeared unprovoked. The officials called offsetting penalties, robbing the Panthers of a chance to start a potential game-tying drive inside South Alabama territory.
Defense: It is either a reflection of how poorly the defense has played before Saturday that giving up 447 yards, including 321 rushing, could be considered an improvement. Georgia State had two sacks (one by Trey Payne and one by Robert Dowling) and seemed to blitz more frequently than in past games. The trade-off for blitzing was when they didn't get to Brandon Bridge he was able to break containment and get down the field. He finished with 137 rushing yards. The Panthers also forced five punts. Before Saturday, the Panthers had eight sacks and had forced 22 punts.
Offense: The Panthers offense was at its best when the line started the same five players. As injuries have taken their toil with the loss to Michael Ivory the line's play has become less effective. The Jags had five sacks as the right side of Georgia State's line was consistently overwhelmed. That was just one part of the problem. On the fourth and goal play in which Nick Arbuckle was stuffed for no gain, the line got no push. Arbuckle needed to go just a few inches and instead got pushed backward. The lack of push was so obvious it seemed that the line didn't know the snap count.
Donovan Harden continued his stellar play with 10 catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Robert Davis added four catches for 108 yards and tight end Joel Ruiz had seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. If the line can come together enough to give Arbuckle time to throw, this group of receivers is arguably the best in the Sun Belt. But Arbuckle has to have time to throw.
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