SAN MARCOS, Texas – With both teams looking for their first ever Sun Belt Conference victory, Texas State edged Georgia State 24-17 Saturday night at Bobcat Stadium.
With the game tied at 10-10 in the fourth quarter, Texas State (4-3, 1-2 Sun Belt) scored the go-ahead touchdown on a three-yard run by Chris Nutall. That put the Bobcats ahead 17-10 with 8:01 to play before both teams added late touchdowns.
Georgia State (0-7, 0-2 Sun Belt) outgained the Bobcats 368-343, including 208 yards passing by Ronnie Bell, 71 yards rushing by Travis Evans and 73 yards receiving by Albert Wilson. The Panthers' defense allowed just 47 yards passing on five completions, the lowest figures in school history.
But Texas State's combination of Nutall (90 yards on nine carries, two touchdowns) and Robert Lowe (career-high 177 yards, one touchdown) proved to be the difference.
“We just have to learn how to get over that hump and quit doing the things that beat ourselves,” Georgia State head coach Trent Miles said. “But we're playing hard. I'm proud of them. I had a lot of guys out this game and we still were able to put ourselves in position to win.
“We're getting better because we're executing better. It just hasn't shown in wins yet.”
Georgia State drove 81 yards early in the fourth quarter for the tying field goal, a 19-yard boot by Wil Lutz that knotted the score at 10-10 with11:21 to play. On the drive, Bell hit Wilson for completions of 12 and 21 yards and found tight end Keith Rucker for 15 yards. On 3rd-and-8 at the Texas State nine, Bell scrambled up the middle but was just shy of the first down, forcing the tying field goal.
On Texas State's ensuing possession, the Panthers appeared to have the Bobcats stopped with an incomplete pass on third down, but GSU was flagged for pass interference to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Nutall avoided a would-be tackler to scamper up the middle for 35 yards down to the GSU 9. He scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays later.
After an exchange of punts, Georgia State took over at its own 16-yard line with 5:26 to play. On 3rd-and-4 from the GSU 39, Bell threw incomplete, and then his fourth-down pass was intercepted.
Lowe scored for the Bobcats with 1:33 to play, and then Georgia State answered with Bell's 5-yard touchdown pass to Robert Davis but it came with just one second left.
Georgia State took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards for a touchdown. On the first play from scrimmage, Albert Wilson raced 47 yards on a reverse, the longest run of his career.
After a would-be touchdown by Jonathan Jean-Bart was called back for a holding penalty, the Panthers converted a 4th-and-1 by Sean Jeppesen to keep the drive alive. On the next play, Bell snuck in for the 1-yard score to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game. The score was the first rushing touchdown of Bell's career.
The Bobcats got on the board with Nutall's 34-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left in the first half. On their next possession, Lowe broke another long run, going 59 yards before he was knocked out of bounds at the 4-yard line by Demarius Matthews. But the GSU defense held and forced a field goal, putting Texas State ahead 10-7 with 11:30 to play in the first half.
“They (Lowe and Nutall) are good running backs. Texas State is a good football team, and they are two wins away from being bowl eligible,” Miles said. “I have nothing but good things to say about coach (Dennis) Franchione and how he runs his program.”
GSU linebacker Robert Ferguson finished with eight tackles, raising his career total to 164 as he passed Mark Hogan (157) to become the Panthers' career tackling leader.
With 71 yards rushing, Evans topped the 1,400-yard mark for his career. He now has 1,403 career yards, just nine behind Donald Russell's school record of 1,412.
The Panthers managed 368 yards of offense, including 160 yards rushing, despite playing with a makeshift offensive line that was missing three starters in center Cade Yates, left tackle Ulrick John and left guard Tim Wynn.
Georgia State faces its second straight Sun Belt road test next week at Louisiana-Monroe. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. ET.
