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2013 Georgia State Football
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2012 GAME SUMMARIES
SEASON REV I EW
we’re playing with a lot of effort and we’ll learn from
this experience.
“Weshowedmuchmoregritanddetermination
this game than last week, and we’ll showmore next
week and the next week,”he added.
Tennessee’s Tyler Bray completed 18 of 20
passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns, three
of them to Justin Hunter, who finished with eight
catches for 146 yards.
“Tennessee’s execution in the passing game
was superb,” Curry said. “We were taught some
painful lessons by a great receiving corps and
a potentially great quarterback. He was really
delivering the ball in rhythm.”
Despite the final score, the Panthers had bright
spots in all phases.
Quarterback Ben McLane, the redshirt
freshman playing just his second college game
before 87,821 fans, was 18-for-41 for 146 yards. He
converted three fourth downs with runs, and he
scored the Panthers’ only touchdown on a 12-yard
scramble.
“He did a lot of great things today, and he
also did some truly freshman things,” Curry said
of McLane, who at times had trouble handling the
shotgun snaps.
Albert Wilson caught eight passes for 74 yards,
and Donald Russell added 68 yards on the ground
on 15 carries.
On defense, the GSU defensive line came
up with a pair of turnovers as Terrance Woodard
recovered a fumble and Joe Lockley grabbed an
interception on a tipped ball.
Punter Matt Hubbard was impressive again,
averaging 44.8 yards on eight punts, and place-
kicker Christian Benvenuto booted field goals of 32
and 30 yards.
Georgia State trailed just 7-3 after one quarter.
After Tennessee took the opening kickoff and drove
78 yards on 13 plays, the Panthers answered with
a long drive of their own, moving 60 yards on 14
plays for a field goal.
Facing third-and-25 on their own 25-yard line
following a clipping penalty, McLane found Wilson
for 24 yards to the 49. GSU then converted the
fourth-and-1 as McLane rambled 7 yards up the
middle on a quarterback keeper.
After Russell ran 26 yards before he was
tripped up a the 3, the Panthers had to settle for a
32-yard field goal by Christian Benvenuto.
Tennessee began its next possession in great
field position at the GSU 39 after a 61-yard kickoff
return by Cordarelle Patterson, but after one first
down, the Panther defense held on three straight
plays and forced a 38-yard field goal attempt, which
Michael Palardy missed.
The GSU defense forced a three-and-out on
the Vols’ next possession, but a 35-yard punt return
put UT in business again at the GSU 40. This time,
Bray needed just two plays, hitting Hunter for 21
yards and then tight end Mychal Rivera for the
19-yard touchdown for a 14-3 lead with 11 minutes
left in the half.
But the Panthers cut the deficit to 14-6 late
in the second quarter as Benvenuto booted his
second field goal from 30 yards with 5:31 left in the
half. The drive started after Woodard recovered a
fumble at the UT 41.
McLane’s fourth-quarter touchdown was
a 12-yard run on fourth-and-7 to cap a 12-play,
80-yard drive.
The Panthers played much of the game
without two of their top three receivers. Danny
Williams did not play due to the lingering effects of
an ankle injury he sustained last game. Jordan Giles
left the game with a shoulder injury after catching
two passes for 34 yards in the first quarter.
GEORGIA STATE........... 3
3
0
7
— 13
TENNESSEE .................. 7
21 13
10
— 51
SCORING SUMMARY
UT–Neal 1 Run (Palardy Kick)
UT 7-0
10:46-1st, (13-78, 4:14)
GSU–Benvenuto 32 FG, 4:06, 1st (14-60, 6:40)
UT 7-3
UT–Rivera 19 Pass from Bray (Palardy Kick),
UT 14-3
10:58-2nd, (2-40, 0:30)
GSU–Benvenuto 30 FG, 5:37, 2nd (9-28, 3:01)
UT 14-6
UT–Hunter 25 Pass from Bray (Palardy Kick),
UT 21-6
4:11-2nd, (4-73, 1:20)
UT–Hunter 11 Pass from Bray (Palardy Kick),
UT 28-6
1:29-2nd, (3-79, 0:41)
UT–Neal 5 Run (Palardy Kick Failed),
UT 34-6
11:11-3rd, (6-72, 2:36)
UT–Hunter 19 Pass from Bray (Palardy Kick),
UT 41-6
8:02-3rd, (4-62, 1:18)
UT–Brodus 25 FG, 8:38, 4th (14-47, 5:26)
UT 44-6
UT–Watson 2 Run (Brodus Kick),
UT 51-6
5:47-4th, (5-20, 1:30)
GSU–McLane 12 Run (Benvenuto Kick),
UT 51-13
0:58-4th, (12-80, 4:42)
Attendance–87,821
TEAM STATISTICS .....................................GSU
UT
First Downs (R-P-Pen)..........................22 (8-11-3)
27 (9-18-0)
Rushing (Att-Yards-TD)..............................41-87-0
43-184-3
Passing Yards........................................................176
374
Passes (Cmp-Att-Int)..................................18-41-1
22-28-1
TOTAL OFFENSE (Plays-Yds)...................... 82-263
71-558
Punts (No.-Avg-Net)............................8-44.8-39.0
2-33.0-33.0
Fumbles-Lost ........................................................7-1
2-1
Penalties..............................................................4-35
6-57
Sacks By..................................................................0-0
3-26
3rd Down Conversions ...................................4-19
5-13
4th Down Conversions ......................................3-4
2-2
Time of Possession.........................................34:18
25:42
RUSHING LEADERS
GSU–Russell 15-68; Watson 6-18; Wilson 2-17; Lee 2-11; Sweet-
ing 1-7; Evans 3-3; Ogbuehi 1-(-1); McLane 10-(-21)
UT–Neal 13-65, 2 TD; Young 8-46; Lane 8-31; Watson 7-27, 1 TD
PASSING LEADERS
GSU–McLane 18-41-1, 176
UT–Bray 18-20-0, 310, 4 TD; Worley 4-8-1, 64
RECEIVING LEADERS
GSU–Wilson 8-74; Giles 2-34; Russell 2-33; Minor 2-18; Blair
1-7; Lee 1-5; Sweeting 1-3; Ogbuehi 1-2
UT–Hunter 8-146, 3 TD; Rivera 4-70, 1 TD; Patterson 3-71;
Carter 2-35; Young 2-11
UTSA 38, GEORGIA STATE 14
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Georgia State fell to UTSA 38-14 Saturday night
at the Georgia Dome.
Albert Wilson had three 100-yard receiving
games a year ago. The Georgia State wide receiver
got his first in 2012 against UTSA as Wilson caught
six passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns for
the Panthers.
Georgia State remained winless at 0-3, while
UTSA improved to 3-0.
Wilson, a junior, helped the Panthers take their
only lead of the game early in the opening quarter.
Ben McLane hooked up with Wilson for an 84-yard
touchdown on Georgia State’s third play from
scrimmage. The play accounted for the longest
play from scrimmage in school history, surpassing
Wilson’s 78-yard touchdown catch from Kelton Hill
against South Alabama in 2011.
UTSA answered with consecutive scoring
drives to take a 10-point lead late in the opening
quarter. Four plays after an 84-yard kickoff return by
Kenny Harrison, UTSA got a 5-yard touchdown run
from Evans Okotcha to go up 10-7. Roadrunners
quarterback Eric Soza then completed four of five
pass attempts, including a 5-yard touchdown toss
to Aaron Grubb in the corner of the end zone to
make it a 17-7 game.
Soza was 17-of-24 for 206 yards, and 10
different receivers caught passes.
“Great throws gave the guys some
opportunities, but the receivers took advantage of
those opportunities,” UTSA coach Larry Coker said.
“Your quarterbacks make your receivers looks good
and your receivers make your quarterbacks look
good.”
After a 13-play Panthers’ drive ended with a
blocked field goal attempt, UTSA got four plays
of at least 14 yards during a 10-play drive and
Okotcha dove in from a yard out to push the lead
out to 24-7 with 5:31 left until halftime.
“You got to give a lot of credit to Texas San
Antonio, they made a lot of plays,” Georgia State
coach Bill Curry said.“But our players fight hard, we
fight hard to the final whistle.”
The Panthers, playing their second home
game of the season, were shorthanded in several
areas as starters sat out with injuries. Defensive
tackle David Huey, cornerback Demarius Matthews
and wide receiver Jordan Giles all missed the game
due to injury, and starting wide receiver Danny
Williams was limited by an ankle injury.
The injury problems continued during the
game. McLane, making his third collegiate start,
left in the second quarter with an injury to his left
wrist. McLane returned to guide the Panthers on
their final possession of the half, then had an ice
pack on his arm and sat out the entire second half.
“Well he...his left hand is numb. He’s a tough
guy so he didn’t tell us that,” Curry said. “He got hit
on the forearm, that was why we took him out the
first time.”
After GSU turned the ball over on each of its
first two possessions, backup quarterback Ronnie
Bell provided a spark for the Panthers late in the
third quarter. Bell had an 11-yard scramble on
third-and-7, then connected with Wilson for a
9-yard completion on fourth-and-6. Bell found
Wilson again, this time wide open streaking toward
the end zone, for a 25-yard touchdown that cut the
deficit to 38-14.
“We had to go with Ronnie [due to McLane’s
injury], and he did some great things,”Curry said.
“I was ready to come off the bench and into
the game and go out there to the best I can be,”
Bell said. “I think I showed we have a good backup
quarterback, as well as a good starting quarterback,
and that I can lead the team if the situation needed
me to.”
Georgia State’s defense came up big on a pair
of fourth-quarter possessions. UTSA drove from its
own 18 to the Panthers’2-yard line, but couldn’t get
