Many of the blue-clad Georgia State supporters crowded into four lower sections of the South end zone at Bobby Dodd Stadium had their cellphone cameras out and ready to capture history.
The Panthers had taken the opening kickoff Saturday night against Georgia Tech and had driven it to the 1-yard line, where it was first-and-goal. Images of the upset win over Tennessee – the program’s first win over a Power Five school which occurred five years ago to the day – were dancing in their heads.
But a first-down run lost a yard. A run on second down got that yard back. A third-down run went for no gain. And after a timeout, the fourth-down pass from Christian Veilleux to Ja’Cyais Credle was well-defended and incomplete.
It wasn’t the first disappointing moment for the Panthers in their 35-12 loss to Tech, which ruined the debut of coach Dell McGee.
The Panthers drove the 1 again in the second quarter, but met the same fierce resistance up front and opted to kick a field goal, a 21-yarder converted by Liam Rickman, rather than going for it again on fourth down.
“That’s all on me, nothing with the kids,” McGee said. “They executed the play that was called. (Tech) is big up front and stout inside, so we just didn’t win those battles. We needed to get all the momentum we could early.”
GSU finally had its Kodak moment in the third quarter. After Kenyatta Watson II intercepted a pass, giving the Panthers the ball at their own 32, they got their first touchdown on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Veilleux to Dorian Fleming. A two-point conversion failed, and Tech led 28-12 with 4:05 left.
The effort was something the Panthers can build on. With 48 new faces on the rosters, there was great uncertainty about what to expect. Many of the issues were answered, leaving McGee and his staff something to work on going forward.
“Even on just looking at it from live action, some players played well, some didn’t play to the standard,” McGee said. “We’ve just got to figure out, moving forward, how we can better prepare our guys and is there more help that’s on the bench or that didn’t see action. We’ll evaluate what we did wrong and make decisions based on what we saw.”
The offense moved the ball at times. Veilleux completed 19 of 34 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown. Freddie Brock, last seen setting the school’s single-game rushing record in the Potato Bowl, carried 10 times for 61 yards. Dorian Fleming (four catches for 68 yards and one touchdown) and Tailique Williams (five catches for 47 yards) emerged as the top targets.
Veilleux came out for only one play – that because of an injury – and showed why he won the competition to start.
“I thought he scrambled, he made plays with his legs,” McGee said. “Probably made some good throws, had a couple drops and some key plays. I was encouraged with his play, but we’ve got to make sure everyone around is executing at a higher level.”
The defense had its moment and the bright spot was a nice interception by Watson, a transfer from Tech. Watson stepped in front of Eric Singleton Jr. on the GSU sideline to collect the Panthers’ first turnover of the season. The Panthers were able to convert that into their only touchdown.
“I’m encouraged by how hard our players played,” McGee said. “We’ve definitely got to clean up details, goal-line plays, limiting big plays. We’ve got to tackle better, leverage the ball better, just basically better at simple things. And I know our kids will grow from this experience. It’s definitely not the outcome that we wanted or planned for, but we’ve got to learn from this moment and get ready to move on to the next opponent.”
Justin Abraham led the defense with 11 tackles, nine of them solos, with one tackle for loss. Dorian Royal had seven tackles and a pass breakup, one of four the Panthers recorded.
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