From the first play, the Georgia State offense was under relentless pressure from the Appalachian State defense. Wave after wave of pushes from the inside, pressure from the outside. The Panthers tried everything, but had no long-lasting answers.
The result was a 45-16 win by Appalachian State on Saturday at Center Parc Stadium. Losing the Sun Belt Conference opener dropped Georgia State’s record to 2-4 and continued their frustration against Appalachian State. The Panthers are now 0-8 all-time against the Mountaineers.
Appalachian State recorded four sacks, 10 tackles for loss and intercepted three passes. Georgia State converted only three of 15 third-down conversions.
“A lot of our throw game is a five-man protection at times, and they did a good job with inside pressure, bringing their two inside linebackers, and they were firing their two defensive ends to get pressure on us right away,” Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott said. “That was good on their part. They did a good job matching the protection and bringing the stunts, so credit to them.”
The game was competitive until the third quarter. Appalachian State led 14-6 at halftime, and Georgia State took its first possession of the second half all the way to the 5. Instead of gambling on fourth down, the Panthers opted to kick a field goal, and Noel Ruiz drilled it from 23 yards to make the score 14-9 with 8:22 left.
That’s when the Mountaineers struck their biggest offensive blow. On their first play, quarterback Chase Brice dropped back and fired a perfect pass to Corey Sutton, who had achieved separation from cornerback Bryquice Brown, and he ran it in for an 79-yard touchdown.
Appalachian State didn’t wait long to score again. The Mountaineers put pressure on GSU quarterback Quad Brown, and his underthrown pass was intercepted by Tim Frizzell. This time the GSU defense limited App State to Chandler Stanton’s 48-yard field goal that upped the lead to 24-9.
But the rout was on. The Mountaineers did in the long way – a 10-play drive capped by Miller Gibbs’ 5-yard reception from Brice – and the quick way – an 80-yard pass from Brice to Christian Wells. They even had a short-field score, with Anderson Castle scoring on a 22-yard run three plays after the Panthers turned it over on down.
“There in the second half they did a good job of wanting it much more than we did,” Elliott said. “I snowballed on us in the second half. Very disappointed. Its a very disappointing feeling. I don’t know what the turning point was to go downhill like it did.
“We’ve got to do a lot of soul-searching. I don’t know where some of the mentality came from right there in the middle of the third quarter and then throughout the fourth quarter. We’ve got to talk as a team. We’ve got to figure some things out.”
Brice, who played at nearby Grayson High School, enjoyed his homecoming. The senior, who also had stops at Clemson and Duke, spread the ball around to eight different receivers and completed 20 of 28 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns.
Georgia State started Darren Grainger at quarterback, lifted him after two possessions for Quad Brown, and turned back to Grainger in the fourth quarter. Brown completed 16 of 31 passes for 171 yards and two interceptions. Grainger was 4-for-6 passing for 75 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Elliott said he and his staff had planned to use both quarterbacks Saturday.
“We had to get our throwing game going a little bit, and we thought at that point we weren’t sitting there running the ball, and we haven’t been able to do that in the past very well.”
The GSU running game was not effective, either. The Panthers totaled 134 yards, with Marcus Carroll (46 yards) and Jamyest Williams (41 yards) leading the team.
The defensive pressure started early and never let up.
Georgia State turned it over on the second play of the game when Shaun Jolly outwrestled Sam Pinckney for an interception. The Mountaineers took advantage and drove 59 yards for a touchdown, with Nate Noel running it in from 23 yards.
After the Panthers went three-and-out, the team seemed to wake up after Jordan Veneziale went unblocked and plowed into the check of Brice for a sack.
That’s when Georgia State changed quarterbacks, inserting Brown, who started the first two games but hasn’t played the last two weeks, in place of Grainger, who started the previous two games. Grainger returned in the fourth quarter to throw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Tailique Williams with 3:44 left.
On his second possession under center, Brown took the Panthers to the 5-yard line. But the quarter break gave the App State defense a chance to regroup, and GSU had to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Ruiz.
Brice directed an 87-yard scoring drive to put the Mountaineers ahead 14-3. He converted three third-down conversions with passes and completed the drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Malik Williams.
Georgia State responded and drove the Panthers to the 14, but they settled for a 33-yard field goal and trailed 14-6 at halftime.
The Panthers lost two players to targeting calls. Safety Chris Moore was ejected with 2:07 left in the third quarter and backup Zach Dixon was tossed with 7:46 left.
Georgia State plays again Saturday on the road against Louisiana-Monroe.
