Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: First Look At The Georgia State Panthers

Utah State’s Sun Belt foe in the upcoming Potato Bowl knows a thing or two about having an adventurous season.

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Can the Panthers catch a break?

This year’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl will mark Utah State’s fifth overall appearance in the Boise-based game, but the blue turf is brand-new territory for the Georgia State Panthers.

GSU will be just the second Sun Belt Conference team to take the blue turf in the postseason, but the Panthers are arguably the weakest of the seven teams that the Mountain West will face as part of its bowl slate. They head to Idaho on a substantial slide and with key on-field contributors out the door, so the pressure will be on to find an upper hand against the unpredictable Aggies and finish the year on a high note.

Here’s what Utah State fans need to know about the Panthers.

2023 Georgia State Panthers — Team Profile

Conference: Sun Belt

2023 Record: 6-6 (3-5 Sun Belt)

SP+ ranking: 101st

FEI ranking: 102nd

Sagarin rating: 112th

Head coach: Shawn Elliott (seventh year, 42-49 overall).

2023 in a nutshell: For a brief time, it looked like the Panthers might be in position for a real breakthrough this fall. The team opened 6-1, the lone blemish a stumble at home against Troy, but the realities of the super-competitive Sun Belt Conference pulled GSU back to earth. After scoring those six wins by an average of 12.8 points, they dropped the final five games of the year by an average of 23.2.

Best wins: at Coastal Carolina (7-5), at Louisiana (6-6), vs. Marshall (6-6)

Key Players

Darren Grainger, QB

Georgia State football has only existed for a little over a decade, but Grainger might already be the best quarterback in the program’s young history. He already owns team records for career total offense and career total touchdowns and, in 2023, completed 67% of his 336 attempts for 2,364 yards and 17 touchdowns against a 2% interception rate. He also led the Sun Belt’s QBs with 625 rushing yards and tied for the conference lead with eight rushing touchdowns, so while he struggled in the second half of the regular season, he’s more than talented enough to do damage against an often-shaky Aggies defense.

Travis Glover, OT

One of the longest-tenured Panthers in program history, the Potato Bowl will mark Glover’s 58th career start. At 6-foot-6 and 323 pounds, he also happens to be the biggest player on the roster. He’s spent time at tackle and guard across his five seasons at GSU, but 2023 was spent protecting Grainger’s blind side. Though he gave up four sacks in just over 800 snaps, Glover allowed just 12 total quarterback pressures. He’ll be a tough assignment for whichever Aggies defensive end lines up across from him.

Gavin Pringle, CB

A three-time all-Patriot League defender at Bucknell, Pringle transferred to Atlanta last off-season and made his lone year at GSU count. He finished the regular season as one of five Sun Belt defenders to grab four interceptions, and he added four pass breakups, four tackles for loss, and 37 total tackles to land on the third-team all-conference defense earlier this month.

Tailique Williams, WR

Leading wide receiver Robert Lewis has already left the program and transferred to Auburn, leaving his primary running mate to shoulder a larger load in the Panthers passing game. Williams took 90.2% of his snaps out of the slot, per PFF, and finished the regular season with 46 catches, 581 yards, and five touchdowns. He also contributed to special teams, earning an average of 17.7 yards on ten kick returns, meaning the redshirt junior might be a problem in more ways than one.

Justin Abraham, LB

Abraham broke into Georgia State’s starting lineup in the second half of 2022 and had a fine year in his first full campaign as a starter. According to PFF, the Hartsville, South Carolina has made 38 total stops on the strength of 76 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks, so he’ll likely be a key disruptor in the Panthers front seven.

Overview:

Offense

The story of the Panthers offense is closely tied to their tale of two seasons. On the whole, Georgia State finished 75th in the country by averaging 2.07 points per drive and 71st with 45% of available yards earned per drive, but both marks actually represent a small step back from 2022 and obscure their struggles as the year progressed. In a nutshell, the team scored 34.8 points per game in their six victories and 16.7 in their six losses.

Personnel losses to the transfer portal since season’s end will only compound the problem for the bowl game, as leading rusher Marcus Carroll, leading receiver Robert Lewis, and offensive tackle Montavious Cunningham are all gone. Former Maine transfer Freddie Brock seems likely to be the next man up at running back, while Jacari Carter (Jerry Rice Award finalist at Merrimack in 2021; 34 catches, 227 yards in 2023) and Cadarrius Thompson may get first crack at helping Grainger and Williams through the air.

Defense

Much like their offensive counterparts, the Panthers defense also suffered a substantial decline in performance as the regular season wore on. For the year, they managed to give up 2.46 points per drive and 50.9% of available yards per drive — 89th and 94th among FBS defenses, respectively — but tougher offenses like James Madison and LSU tore them up in the second half of the campaign: GSU gave up 40 points in four straight contests, then dropped the season finale at Old Dominion on the final play of the game.

That could spell trouble against an explosive Utah State offense, though losses have been limited to veteran cornerback Bryquice Brown, a transfer portal departure; and linebacker Jontrey Hunter, who recently declared for the NFL Draft, as of this writing. On the other hand, CollegeFootballData.com notes that the Panthers posted a respectable 20% stuff rate and gave up just 4.24 yards per carry on the ground, so a front seven that’s still laden with veterans could pose a stiff challenge for the Aggies’ trio of running backs. Linebackers Abraham and Kevin Swint each tied for the team lead with seven tackles for loss, but Jordan Veneziale, Javon Denis, and Henry Bryant each had five TFLs, as well.

The bigger concern is whether GSU can keep Utah State from having their way through the air. Among the 14 teams in the Sun Belt, the Panthers ranked 12th in opponents’ completion rate (65.4%), 13th in yards per attempt allowed (8.5), and 14th by opponent passer rating (154.76). Pringle and senior safety TyGee Leach (68 tackles, seven TFLs, five pass breakups, one INT) will lead the charge here, though redshirt freshman Izaiah Guy might be a noteworthy name to follow as Brown’s potential replacement.

Story originally appeared on Mountain West Wire