ATLANTA – In the program's first-ever Sun Belt Conference game, Georgia State fell, 35-28, to Troy in the Panthers' Homecoming game on Saturday at the Georgia Dome. The Panthers (0-6, 0-1) rallied to score 21 second-half points and take the lead in the fourth quarter, but Troy (4-3, 2-1) scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:17 left in the game.
Ronnie Bell tied a school record with four touchdown passes, two to Albert Wilson, who finished the game with seven catches for 153 yards and 119 yards on just two kickoff returns.
"I thought our team battled and proved that they belong in this conference, and I am very happy with the way they played," said Georgia State head coach Trent Miles. "I am not happy with the result, obviously, everyone is disappointed with losing. This was an FCS football team a year ago that won one game. We jumped into FBS and went toe-to-toe for 56 minutes and had every opportunity to win the game.
"We proved that this is going to be a very good conference for us, and we will be able to compete."
Georgia State took a 28-21 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, as Bell found Wilson on a 38-yard pass down the middle for a touchdown. Wilson helped set up the scoring drive after fielding a Troy kickoff at his own goal line and returning it to the GSU 48-yard line.
Troy answered with fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 75 and 63 yards to seal the win. The final score came after Chris Pickett intercepted Bell's pass at the Troy 17-yard line and returned it to his team's 37. Two plays later, Chris Williams caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from Corey Robinson, his third scoring pass of the day.
"Troy is an excellent football team and offensively it showed," Miles said. "You make one mistake at the end, they go down the field and cash it in to put the nail in the coffin on us. Hat's off to them, they are going to win a lot of football games."
Down 14-7 at halftime, Georgia State stormed back to take the lead after the Panthers defense forced two consecutive turnovers and blocked a punt to begin the second half. After Troy took the kickoff to start the third quarter, Trojans running back Brandon Burks fumbled on the next play from scrimmage after getting hit by Panther linebacker Mackendy Cheridor, and Tarris Batiste covered the ball at the Troy 43.
The Panthers capitalized soon after when Bell found Wilson for an 8-yard touchdown pass. Bell converted third-down plays on the previous two series when he found Wilson for a 13-yard gain on third-and-6 and Robert Davis for an 11-yard gain on third-and-3.
Troy's next two possessions ended on a Jarrell Robinson interception in Georgia State territory and a blocked punt by Demarius Matthews that was downed at the Troy 31. After the block, the Panthers scored on the very next play on a touchdown pass from Bell to Davis, despite a defensive pass-interference call, to give the Panthers a 21-14 lead.
The Panthers' first touchdown tied the score at 7-7 with 2:29 to go in the first quarter with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a 7-yard scoring pass from Bell to Kelton Hill. The touchdown was set up by consecutive first-down completions as Bell found Davis for a 21-yard gain and then hit Jonathan Jean-Bart on a 26-yard screen pass to get to the Troy 6-yard line.
The Georgia State defense forced three turnovers, as Batiste intercepted a Robinson pass in the end zone in the second quarter to go along with his fumble recovery and Jarrell Robinson's interception. Linebacker Joseph Peterson led the defense with 16 total tackles.
Bell finished 22-of-50 for 370 yards passing and one interception, the only Panthers turnover. Davis amassed 76 receiving yards, and Hill had 60. The Panther offense put up 422 total yards, its highest total of the season.
Troy's Robinson, the FBS active leader in career passing yards, was 21-for-37 for 350 yards with three scores. Eric Thomas caught six passes for 113 yards adn one touchdown, and Williams added four grabs for 152 yards. The Trojans ran an eye-popping 102 offensive plays in the game.
The announced attendance of 17,732 was a season-best total, edging the 17,606 from the season opener vs. Samford.
Georgia State will travel to its first Sun Belt road game next Saturday, Oct. 19 to face Texas State in San Marcos, Texas, at 7 p.m.
