Week 5 Wrap-Up: Georgia State
The Georgia Southern Eagles traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to take on the Georgia State Panthers on Saturday, September 28, 2024. Due to Hurricane Helene and the damage that occurred in Statesboro and along the route to Atlanta, the Eagles arrived later than normal, but that did not slow them down.
After exchanging punts in the first two drives of the game, the Eagles struck first as WR Josh Dallas scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard pass from QB JC French to cap off an 11-play, 61-yard drive. The Panthers quickly answered as QB Christian Veilleux hit Savannah, Georgia native WR Ted Hurst for a 76-yard touchdown strike. That was the last highlight for the Panthers in the first half as Georgia Southern scored 17 more points to take a 24-7 lead into halftime.
After halftime, the Panthers made adjustments and, with the help of a freak turnover by JC French, scored a touchdown to get within 10 points. After a three-and-out by the Eagles offense, Georgia State had another quick drive, this time going 73 yards in 3 plays to make the score 24-21. That would be the last points that Georgia State scored as the Eagles defense clamped down. The Georgia Southern offense scored 14 more points in the game - first a 16-yard touchdown pass from French to WR Joshua “Jet” Thomson before pounding the ground and having RB Jalen White score a grown man touchdown to seal the game.
QB JC French completed 24/39 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown. RB Jalen White finished with 114 yards and 2 touchdowns, RB OJ Arnold had 110 yards and 2 touchdowns, and WR Josh Dallas had a career day and finished with 9 catches for 89 yards and his first career touchdown.
The Eagles defense played extremely well except for a couple explosive plays and DB Chance Gamble, DB Marc Stampley II, and DB TJ Smith all had interceptions.
The final score was 38-21 in favor of the Georgia Southern Eagles to take home the Commissioner’s Cup of the inaugural the Georgia Grown Bowl.
Takeaways
We can run the ball and need to commit to advancing the ball on the ground with two very capable running backs in conference play
The non-conference schedule we played prepared us for a great season ahead. Boise State and Ole Miss are both extremely good teams and traveling to Reno and getting a win at Nevada is a huge confidence boost
WR Josh Dallas is proving that he is going to be a playmaker in our offense for years to come
JC French continues to protect the ball and the defense continues to get key takeaways. Winning the turnover margin is HUGE and gives us a chance to win week in and week out
Now the Eagles get a Bye Week before hosting Marshall in Statesboro on October 12!
