One of the bright spots in Georgia State’s 45-3 loss to Alabama came on its only points, a 53-yard field goal by Wil Lutz in the third quarter.
The kick set a school record, breaking the 49-yard effort hit by Iain Vance against Morehead State in 2010.
“It was awesome to be able to help the team,” Lutz said.
Two weeks ago, Lutz missed a point-after attempt and two field goals in an overtime loss to Jacksonville State.
Georgia State coach Trent Miles said the kick was important for another reason.
“When ESPN is flashing the ticker all day at the bottom, the very first score you’re going to see is Georgia State and Alabama,” he said. “Rather than having a goose egg, we had three points.”
Sweeting sweet: The other bright spot was wide receiver Avery Sweeting, who in his first extended action this season caught three passes for 36 yards. It was the sophomore's first receptions this season.
Sweeting said he was told he might get more opportunities against Jacksonville State, but it didn’t work out.
“This week, I just played it smooth and didn’t worry a lot and made plays when my number was called,” he said.
Formations and flags: Brandon Pertile, who has played guard and tackle this season, played tight end Saturday. The Panthers had no healthy tight ends, necessitating Pertile serving as what was essentially an additional tackle.
Keith Rucker, normally the starter at tight end, suffered an ankle injury in practice. He was listed as questionable earlier in the week. Bill Teknipp, who also has started, is out for the season with a knee injury. Drew Pearson is out with a concussion.
Moving Pertile to tight end resulted in at least two illegal-substitution penalties because of confusion with the nomenclature and personnel assigned to different position groups.
“That has to come from us,” Miles said. “Here’s a true freshmen offensive lineman that we’re making play tight end against the No. 1 team in the nation.”
Miles said he expects Rucker will return soon, which will allow the coaches to move Pertile back to the line.
No sacks: The positive of moving Pertile to tight end was that quarterback Ronnie Bell wasn't sacked in the traditional sense. Statistically, Alabama was credited with a sack when Bell was penalized for intentional grounding.
It was the first time this season that Bell wasn’t sacked. He completed 11 of 20 passes for 146 yards.
“If we continue doing that and execute our plays then we’ll be OK,” Bell said.
Rushing low: Despite the extra blockers, Georgia State's running game totaled a program-worst 15 yards on 22 carries. The total lowered the previous mark of 30 set against Chattanooga earlier this season.
The Panthers had minus-4 yards after the first quarter and 2 yards at halftime.
Travis Evans led Georgia State with 19 yards on 14 carries.
Special teams: Punter Matt Hubbard was suspended for the first quarter for violating team rules. David Miller handled the duties, hitting two punts for a total of 55 yards.
Hubbard returned in the second quarter and immediately boomed one 65 yards into the end zone. He averaged 46.6 yards on five punts.
Miles made a point earlier in the week of saying he didn’t want his punters and kickers to give Alabama’s returners opportunities to make plays.
Alabama’s sole punt return went for 37 yards. The Crimson Tide averaged 8.5 yards on two kickoff returns.
Georgia State’s return game wasn’t solid. Kelton Hill fumbled a kickoff return in the first half that Alabama turned into a touchdown one play later.
Alabama didn’t give Albert Wilson too many chances to re-create the 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown he had when the two teams met in 2010. He had three returns for a total of 52 yards Saturday. As a team, the Panthers returned seven kicks for 120 yards.
Helmets: Georgia State wore its blue helmets for the first time this season and introduced a new "GSU" logo, similar to the one used by the baseball team on its caps.
However, the blue letters blended into the blue of the helmet, making them difficult to see.
