Georgia Southern turned the inaugural Georgia Grown Bowl into the Georgia Groan Bowl for Georgia State on Saturday.
Georgia Southern, playing with a Georgia-heavy lineup, dominated the first half, held off a spirited Georgia State comeback attempt, rolled to a 38-21 win, and took the shiny new Commissioners Cup on the bus back to Statesboro.
It was the second consecutive year that Southern has earned the right to use the #SouthernNotState hashtag and the Eagles wasted no time starting the chant in the final minutes. Even a few of the players joined in the cheer. Bryson Broadway, a Georgia State expat who now plays for Southern, was happy to lug the big trophy back to the locker room.
“Give coach Clay Helton and Georgia Southern all the credit,” Georgia State coach Dell McGee said “They were the better team. They played hard. I was very disappointed for our seniors, them having their last opportunity to play those guys. That wasn’t the best representation of Panther football.”
Southern, which boasts nearly 70% of its roster from Georgia towns, leaned heavily on Peach State products throughout the afternoon. The attendance was 18,808, the largest home crowd since the 2022 Georgia Southern game drew 20,109.
“When we started the program two years ago, we said we were going to take high school products and develop them,” Helton said. “I really believe the state of Georgia has so much great talent, along with the surrounding states, that if you take that talent and develop it, you’re going to produce a really good team.”
Quarterback J.C. French (Roswell, Blessed Trinity High School) completed 24 of 39 passes for 237 yards and one touchdown. Running back O.J. Arnold (Quitman, Brooks County High) ran 11 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jalen White (Daleville, Ala.) ran 22 times for 114 yards. Wide receiver Josh Dallas (Sharpsburg, Trinity Christian School) caught nine passes for 89 yards and his first career touchdown.
“I got to play here (at Georgia State) in two state championships in high school, getting to do that with my twin brother and my dad as the head coach,” Dallas said. “To come back, honestly it felt comfortable. I was like, this is such a cool experience. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity.”
Georgia Southern improved to 3-2 while Georgia State dropped to 2-2. It was the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
Southern made it look easy in the first half. The Eagles scored on their second possession an 11-play drive that concluded with French tossing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Dallas.
Georgia State was able to quickly answer when Christian Veilleux threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Ted Hurst, who paused after the reception to make the defender miss and ran the final 20 yards for the score.
But that was as good as the GSU offense could do in the first half, and the Panthers couldn’t slow Southern from moving the ball on the ground and through a series of short passes.
Southern went ahead 14-7 on Arnold’s 32-yard touchdown run and added a career-best 53-yard field goal from Gavin Stewart (Savannah, Benedictine Academy). But the shining moment for the Eagles came after GSU punted them dead at the 2. Southern took 12 plays to cover the 98 yards and scored on Arnold’s 1-yard run, which upped the lead to 24-7 at the half.
Georgia State immediately changed the momentum in its favor early in the third quarter. On Southern’s first possession, French was sacked and stripped by Henry Bryant, who recovered at the 6. Two plays later Brock scored on a 5-yard run.
After forcing another punt, Georgia State struck again on a long pass, a 58-yarder to Dorian Fleming, which cut the lead to 24-21.
“I wouldn’t say anything was different,” McGee said. “Same game plan, same plays, just executed a little better.”
The Panthers caused another three-and-out and drove to the 24, where a 41-yarder field-goal attempt from Liam Rickman sailed wide left.
That was Georgia State’s last gasp.
Southern scored to reestablish a 10-point cushion on White’s 10-yard run, and he scored again from the 16 to complete a 14-play, 96-yard drive after Chance Gamble made an acrobatic interception at the 4.
Veilleux completed 23 of 45 passes for 356 yards and two touchdowns but threw three interceptions. Hurst caught four passes for 112 yards. But the running game produced only 29 yards, 1.9 yards per carry.
Georgia State is off next week and plays again at home Oct. 12 against Old Dominion.
“We’ve got to reset, restart and focus,” McGee said. “After this we’ve got eight straight games, so the schedule doesn’t get any easier. We’ve just to continue to improve our roster and make sure we’re playing the right guys and really do a deep dive on what we’re doing on offense and defense, and figure this thing out.”
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