The Georgia State football team is in for an attitude adjustment this week.
After Saturday’s 59-17 loss at North Carolina, Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott referred to some of his players as “fat cats” and “front runners,” terms that aren’t synonymous with the sort of hard-fighting image the program has become known for since his arrival.
He promised that will change this week as the team prepares for Saturday’s home game against Charlotte. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Center Parc Stadium. (Television: ESPN-Plus; Local radio: WRAS-FM 88.5)
“Here we are sitting 0-2, and we haven’t played very well,” Elliott said his team, which has been outscored 102-27. “There’s some positions that need to play much better. There were some high opinions that they had of themselves, and it’s not rightfully so. You’re exactly what your record is and what your performance shows, and that’s not who we are.
“We’re a blue-collar team that needs to understand exactly who we are as athletes and coaches and understand that we’re going to have to go and fight and claw and scratch for everything we get. I just felt there were too many people being really comfortable.”
That means the players can expect to be analyzed more closely and anticipate more competition for playing time. Things aren’t likely to be so cozy.
“In order to do different things, you’ve got to have different people doing them,” Elliott said. “So we’re going to mix and match some things up and change some things around. The best players will still play, of course, but we’re going to certainly have some competition battles and see if we can get a spark going.”
Elliott was pleased with the play of the offensive and defensive lines against North Carolina. So those areas are less under the gun.
“I think our lines of scrimmage played pretty consistently well,” he said. “And for the most part held their own. That was pleasing. It’s got to be important for us to control the line. We feel like we’ve made some strides there, so that’s a positive.”
The most eye-opening stat is on offense, where all 11 starters returned from a team that averaged 33.3 points in 2020. This year the Panthers are averaging 13.5 points on 114.5 yards rushing and 109.5 yards passing. The total of 224 yards per game is 200 fewer than the team averaged last season.
Quarterback Quad Brown has thrown for only 197 yards and no touchdowns in two games, and running back Destin Coates has rushed for 58 yards, a 2.4-yard average, with three touchdowns.
No change is expected at left guard, where fifth-year senior Shamarious Gilmore will make his school-record 50th start. He made history against Charlotte in the 2017 game by becoming the first – and to date only – offensive lineman to score a touchdown. Gilmore has played more than 3,400 snaps in his career. Dontae Wilson, a mainstay at nose guard, is the only other Panther who played against Charlotte in 2017.
Expect Georgia State to continue to be aggressive on offense. Last week Elliott went for it on fourth down four times and tried a fake punt. That hard-charging trend will continue, he said.
“I told them before the game we were going to be aggressive,” Elliott said. “I told them there were going to be fourth-down situations we were going to go for. We were going to push the envelope and take some chances. … I wanted to make sure we were coming out and moving on fire with everything we had, and we’re going to continue to do that.
“I knew kicking field goals was not going to win that game (at North Carolina). I said to get ready for it because that’s my mentality for the rest of the year. We’re not sitting back, we’re going to attack.”
Charlotte (2-0) doesn’t have North Carolina’s reputation, but the 49ers have beaten Duke and trounced Gardner-Webb. Charlotte is a much-improved club than the one Georgia State blanked in 2017.
Charlotte’s Chris Reynolds became the school’s all-time passing leader last week, and its running game gained 300 yards for the first time in nearly two years. Coach Will Healy, prominently mentioned whenever a big-time coaching vacancy occurs, is in his third season at Charlotte, where he guided the team to a school-record seven wins and a bowl appearance in 2019.
The teams have split two previous meetings, and last year’s game was cancelled because of COVID-19.
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