The Georgia State Panthers didn't get their football season off to the start they wanted on Saturday, as South Carolina State quarterback Richard Cue passed for 300 yards and three touchdown passes en route to a 33-6 win for the Bulldogs. It was a home game at the Georgia Dome, to make things worse.
South Carolina St. got things started quickly, with Cue hitting Lennel Elmore for a 72-yard scoring pass on their third offensive play. They took a 14-3 lead into halftime when Cue hit Tyler McDonald for his second touchdown pass and McDonald's first of two touchdown receptions. The second one came in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs up 21-6.
A pair of field goals from Nick Belcher and a 68-yard fumble return by Dominique Mitchell in the fourth sealed the deal for the Bulldogs. The only offense the Panthers were able to put up was a pair of field goals, in the second and third quarters.
Freshman quarterback Ben McLane struggled, completing just 7 of 15 passes for 54 yards. Still, he was sacked a total of five times (fellow quarterback Kelton Hill absorbed the team's sixth sack of the game) and Georgia State's plan to run the hurry-up offense was axed before it could really begin. You simply can't run that kind of offense without protection from the offensive line.
Matt Ehasz missed two of his four field goal attempts, including one from just 24 yards out. The entire offense finished with just 229 yards, while the Bulldogs had 300 yards passing and 188 yards rushing. Certainly not the way they hoped to start things off.
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