Despite Brown’s Strong Performance, Georgia State Falls Short Against South Alabama

The Georgia State Panthers came into the night against the South Alabama Jaguars seeking their first conference win of the season. Both the Panthers and Jaguars have a 1-6 record and sit at the bottom of their conference division, needing a win to shift the momentum of their season. With just his second start of the season, quarterback Cameran Brown seeks to replicate this stellar performance against Georgia Southern. In the game, he went 29-38 for 280 passing yards and 120 rushing yards.

South Alabama struck first midway through the first quarter on an 18-yard Bishop Davenport touchdown pass to Brendan Jenkins. This made the score 7-0. On the next Panthers possession, Brown shot a dart in the middle of the field to Ted Hurst for a 70-yard touchdown. Right after their touchdown, the Panthers gave up a pass in the middle of the field that led to a 3-play, 75-yard touchdown by Jeremy Scott. The back-and-forth offensive slug fest continued in the first quarter when Brown threw a short pass to running back Dennis Murray, Jr., who tightroped his way to a 52-yard touchdown. The Panthers once again gave up a big pass play to South Alabama later in the first quarter. This led to a short 6-yard touchdown run by the Jaguars’ Kentral Bullock. Brown finished the first quarter 5-8 and 140 yards with 2 touchdowns. Five rushers combined for 36 yards of running: the longest run (15 yards) coming from Brown. Almost all stats were even going into the second quarter, where the Jags led 21-14.

The second quarter started much like the first, when South Alabama’s Davenport scored a rushing touchdown for the first score in the quarter. The scoring drive was 14 plays, 82 yards.  Georgia State’s first attempt at points in the second quarter was a missed field goal with 4:02 minutes remaining in the first half.

South Alabama did not punt in the first half, scoring on all but one of their possessions. That possession was the final play of the half when kicker Hamilton DiBoyan missed a 35-yard field goal. They also converted both of their 4th down attempts. Georgia State also played a good offensive first half, registering 219 total yards, but once again struggled in the running game with only 37 yards, and gave up 110 yards to South Alabama. They also gave up a whopping 351 total yards in the first half. The Jaguars went into halftime leading 28-14.

In their first possession of the second half, the Jaguars kicked their first punt of the night. The Panthers came out aggressively in the second half, focusing more on their rushing game and eclipsing their entire first half rushing numbers in the first half of the third quarter. By the 8-minute mark in the third, the Panthers had 54 rushing yards, compared to the 37 yards for the entire first half. The defense continued to step up, causing South Alabama to punt on back-to-back possessions, helping to shift the momentum for the Panthers. Georgia State also held the Jaguars to -4 total yards in the quarter, no 3rd down conversion, and only six plays. In the third quarter, the Panthers had 92 rushing yards on 17 attempts. At the end of the 3rd quarter, South Alabama leads Georgia State 28-17.

Within seconds of the 4th quarter, Ted Hurst snatched the ball out of the air from a defender to score a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brown. The scoring drive was 13 plays, 62 yards, and brought the Panthers within five after a failed two-point attempt. The Panthers stuck with the running game in the 4th quarter with big runs from their backs. After an 11-yard touchdown to Grant Hollier from Brown and a successful two-point conversion, the Panthers took a 31-28 lead with 9:38 left in the game. A 39-yard-deep ball from Davenport to Scott gave the Jaguars the lift they needed to regain momentum in the second half. They put their first points of the second half on the board on a Hamilton field goal. A costly Georgia State fumble gave South Alabama the ball at the Panthers’ 40-yard line, and six plays later regained the lead on a 4-yard Bullock rushing touchdown. With the score 38-31 with less than two minutes remaining, the Panthers had one more chance to tie the game with a potential touchdown and an extra point. South Alabama was called for a pass interference that moved the Panthers down the field. The game came down to a 4th and 5 with 1:09 left in the game. Brown threw an interception, which sealed the game for the Jaguars.

Despite the loss, this was a complete and balanced game for the Panthers offensively, with 440 total yards and 241 rushing yards. This is something to carry over to their next game.

In the post-game conference, Coach McGee spoke about permanently making Brown the starter for the remainder of the season, thanks to his exceptional performance in the last two games.

The Panthers will be on a bye next week and will face Coastal Carolina on the road on November 8th.