NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl:
GEORGIA STATE (7-5, 4-4 Sun Belt) vs. WYOMING (7-5, 4-4 MW)
Tuesday, Dec. 31  |  4:30 p.m. ET  |  Arizona Stadium  |  Tucson, Ariz.
 
TV: CBS Sports Network. Announcers are Rich Waltz, Aaron Murray and John Schriffren.
 
RADIO: Georgia State Radio Network coverage will air on 92.9 The Game (WZGC-FM) and WRAS-FM 88.5. Dave Cohen is in his 37th season as the play-by-play voice of Panther athletics. Harper LeBel joins him from the booth with Sam Crenshaw on the sideline.
 
2019 RECORDS:
Georgia State: 7-5, 4-4 Sun Belt
Wyoming: 7-5, 4-4 Mountain West
 
SERIES: First Meeting
 
GSU BOWL HISTORY (1-1):
2015 AutoNation Cure Bowl: l. San Jose State 27-16
2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl: d. Western Kentucky, 27-17
 
GSU HEAD COACH SHAWN ELLIOTT
Record at GSU: 16-20 (3rd year) / Career Record: 17-25 (4th year)
 
THE KICKOFF: Georgia State's third bowl trip is to the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, where the Panthers face Mountain West foe Wyoming on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 4:30 p.m. ET at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.
 
QUOTING COACH ELLIOTT:
"When you think of Wyoming, you think tough, rugged, physical, and I think they have all those characteristics in their team.
"Defensively, they're one of the top-notch defense we've seen this year. They play extremely hard with 11 guys doing their jobs and really flying to the football. Offensively, they want to run it right at you with power football.
"They're tough and physical, and they're going to be a talented football team that comes in very well prepared. We've got to match that."
 
NOTING THE PANTHERS
> Playing just its 10th season of football and sixth at the FBS level, Georgia State is in a bowl game for the third time in the last five years. Forty-five current FBS programs cannot make that claim, including 17 schools from Power 5 conferences.
> The Panthers played in their first bowl game in 2015 in the AutoNation Cure Bowl and then made a return trip to the Orlando, Fla., bowl in 2017, when GSU knocked off Western Kentucky for the first bowl win in school history.
> Georgia State has already matched its school-record for victories with seven, including a program-best 5-1 mark at home.
> With a five-game increase in wins over last season, Georgia State is one the most improved teams in FBS. Only Navy and Central Michigan have improved more.
> In 23 seasons as a Division I coach, Shawn Elliott has been part of 21 winning seasons and 18 teams that reached a bowl game or the NCAA playoffs.
> Georgia State's offense ranks among the FBS leaders:
No. 14 Rushing (245.2 ypg)
No. 27 Total Offense (446.9 ypg)
No. 42 Scoring (32.4 ppg)
No. 15 3rd Down Conversions (47.3 percent)
No. 22 First Downs (289)
> Ten Panthers were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team, led by first-team selections RB Tra Barnett and OT Hunter Atkinson. QB Dan Ellington and TE Aubry Payne made the second team, with OG Shamarious Gilmore and WR Cornelius McCoy on the third team. TE Roger Carter, C Malik Sumter and DL Dontae Wilson and Hardrick Willis earned honorable mention recognition.
> Senior Tra Barnett leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 9 in FBS with 115.8 yards rushing per game. His 1,389 yards and 12 touchdowns are GSU records, and he is the Panthers' first 1,000-yard rusher.
> With a school-record 242 yards rushing and two touchdowns vs. Troy, Barnett broke the Georgia State records for rushing yards in a game, season and career in the same game.
> Barnett is Georgia State's career leader in rushing yards (2,092)—the first Panther to top 2,000 career yards—and rushing touchdowns (19).
> A two-time Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week and a member of the Watch List for the Manning Award, All-Sun Belt QB Dan Ellington averages 240.8 yards of total offense per game (2,291 passing/598 rushing) and has accounted for 26 touchdowns (21 passing/5 rushing).
> The Panthers' top receiver is sophomore Cornelius McCoy (65 receptions, 679 yards, 4 TD), while tight ends Aubry Payne (13-204-6) and Roger Carter (25-291-3) are also key targets.
> The Panthers have rushed for 340-plus yards four times in the last eight games, including 340 yards vs. Arkansas State, 350 vs. Coastal Carolina, 390 yards vs. Troy and a school-record 414 yards at ULM.
> Georgia State has already broken season records for:
Points (389)
Touchdowns (51)
Rushing Yards (2,942)
Rushing TDs (29)
> The Panthers need 265 yards to break the GSU record of 5,627 yards of total offense (2015).
> Four different Panthers have recorded 100-yard games: RB Tra Barnett (7), RB Seth Paige (2), RB Destin Coates (1) and QB Dan Ellington (1).
> GSU set school records with 722 yards of total offense, 340 yards rushing (since broken twice), 39 first downs and 39:19 time of possession in its Oct. 5 win 52-38 win over Arkansas State.
 
GEORGIA STATE vs. WYOMING: Georgia State and Wyoming are meeting for the first time.
> Both teams opened the season with victories over SEC foes. Georgia State knocked off Tennessee 38-30 at Neyland Stadium, while Wyoming topped Missouri 37-31 at home.
> The teams have played one common opponent in Texas State. Georgia State fell at Texas State 37-34 in triple overtime, while Wyoming defeated the Bobcats 23-14.
> Both head coaches have been part of national championships at the FCS level. Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott was an assistant coach at Appalachian State when the Mountaineers won three straight FCS titles from 2005-07. Wyoming's Craig Bohl won three straight FCS titles from 2011-13 as the head coach at North Dakota State.
> Elliott faced Wyoming as an assistant coach at App State, which made a trip to Laramie, Wyo., to open the 2004 season and fell 53-7.
> Both teams rely on a strong rushing attack, with GSU ranked No. 14 in FBS at 245.2 yards per game and Wyoming at No. 27 with 208.5 ypg. And both feature 1,000-yard rushers in Georgia State's Tra Barnett (1,389 yards, No. 9 FBS) and Wyoming's Xazavian Valladay (1,061 yards, No. 28 FBS).
> Georgia State is 0-3 vs. Mountain West teams (0-1 vs. San Jose State; 0-2 vs. Air Force)
> In its brief history, the Panthers have made three previous trips to the West, playing at Washington (2014), Oregon (2015) and Air Force (2016).
> Four members of this year's team were also on Georgia State's bowl teams in 2015 and 2017: Khai Anderson, Hunter Atkinson, Ed Curney and Brandon Wright. None of the four played in the 2015 game.