The inability to run the ball, long a hallmark of Georgia State football, has emerged as a stumbling block.
The Panthers, limited to 29 yards on the ground in the previous game two weeks ago against Georgia Southern, ran for only 57 yards Saturday. It was a major factor in the 21-14 loss to Old Dominion at Center Parc Stadium.
“We’ve got to find a way to run the football with the team that we have,” GSU coach Dell McGee said. “Because throwing it 40 times a game is not the recipe with this team.”
The Panthers ran 28 times, with Freddie Brock gaining 40 yards on 12 carries and Michel Dukes picking up 33 yards on four tries. With the quarterback sack yardage factored in, GSU averaged 2.0 yards per carry. By comparison, the Panthers ran for 157 yards in the win over Vanderbilt on Sept. 14.
“We have to make sure we’re getting the ball to the right people,” McGee said. “And we’ve just got to come up with schemes up front. We’ve got to make sure we lock in our assignments and getting on the right people. A lot of things and questions will be answered from watching the tape.”
Despite the inability to sustain drives on the ground, the Panthers (2-3, 0-2 Sun Belt) had a chance at the end.
Trailing 21-7 in the fourth quarter, Georgia State’s defense stopped ODU on fourth-and-1 on a nice defensive play by Xavier Robinson. But on the next play, quarterback Christian Veilleux threw a bad interception to Angelo Rankin Jr.
That’s when McGee decided to insert Zach Gibson at quarterback, and the Georgia Tech transfer responded by producing a quick touchdown drive. Gibson found Brock in the right flat for a 24-yard score with 2:19 remaining.
Georgia State’s Ja’cyais Credle recovered Liam Rickman’s onside kick, and Dukes ran for 26 on the next play to push the ball to the ODU 28. But two plays later Gibson was nailed from the blind side by ODU’s Kris Trinidad, who knocked the ball loose, with Mario Thompson recovering for the Monachs to end the threat.
“The kids never gave up,” McGee said. “They kept their spirits up, even being down by 14 when the game looked like it was out of hand and made the necessary plays to give us an opportunity to win. Told our guys in the locker room that you’re going to look back at the game film, there’s going to be about five or six plays that, if it goes the other way, it’s probably a different result.”
Veilleux completed 22 of 40 passes for 191 yards and one interception. Gibson was 6-for-6 passing for 49 yards and one touchdown.
“A couple of missed throws that I thought we should have hit and just decision making,” McGee said about his decision to remove Veilleux. “I just thought making the switch will provide a spark, and we ended up making some plays.”
McGee said any decision about changing quarterbacks would come after reviewing the tape and making evaluations.
“It’s a lot of positions, not only that position that we’ve got to make sure we’re looking closer at and making sure we’ve evaluating during practice,” McGee said.
Old Dominion (2-4, 1-1) got its first points after a Georgia State interception by Kenyatta Watson was waved off because of defensive holding call on Josiah Robinson. The Monarchs took advantage of the mistake and needed six plays to get in the end zone on a 4-yard rush by Devin Roche.
Georgia State tied the score on its fifth possession of the game and first of the second quarter. The nine-play drive covered 75 yards, was aided by an ODU defensive holding penalty, and was completed when Veilleux threw 20 yards to Ted Hurst, who exploited a rare instance of single coverage.
The Panthers had another chance at the end of the first half, but Lian Rickman missed a 34-yard field-goal attempt, leaving the score tied 7-7 at the break.
ODU built a two-touchdown lead in the second half. Tariq Sims ran for a 6-yard touchdown, and Colton Joseph, who threw for 141 yards and ran for 98 yards, threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Demariyon Houston.
“I thought our defense played well enough for us to win,” McGee said. “I knew their defense caused a lot of problems just because of how they play, but when we have our shots, we’ve got to make sure we hit them. We did not connect with some ball, and we had too many negative plays.”
Georgia State has little time to recalibrate. The Panthers travel to play Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia, on Thursday in a nationally televised game on ESPN2.
