22nd Annual LendingTree Bowl
GEORGIA STATE (5-4, 4-4 SBC) vs. WESTERN KENTUCKY (5-6, 4-3 CUSA)
Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020  |  3:30 p.m. ET  |  Ladd-Peebles Stadium  |  Mobile, Ala.
TV: ESPN  |  Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5
 
Earning its fourth bowl game in the last six years, Georgia State faces Western Kentucky in the 22nd annual LendingTree Bowl, Dec. 26 in Mobile, Ala.

GAME NOTES: 
> The Panthers are playing in a bowl game for the third time in four seasons under head coach Shawn Elliott.

> Georgia State is seeking its second bowl victory against the same opponent the Panthers defeated for their first bowl win. GSU downed WKU 27-17 in the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl in Elliott's first season.

> The Panthers won three of their last four games with wins over ULM, South Alabama and Georgia Southern sandwiched around a three-point loss at Appalachian State.

> Two of GSU's four losses came to nationally-ranked opponents, and the Panthers suffered three losses by a total of 14 points, each coming down to the final possession.

> The Panthers average 32.7 points, currently the highest figure in school history, and have scored 52 points, the program high against an FBS opponent, twice this season and four times in the last two years.

> Over the last three games, the GSU defense allowed an average of 18.3 points and 334.7 yards in wins over South Alabama (14 points, 324 yards) and Georgia Southern (24 points, 370 yards) and a three-point loss at App State (17 points, 310 yards).

> Georgia State leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 7 in FBS with 32 sacks, shattering the GSU season record of 24, set in 2017.

> The Panthers collected 18 sacks over the last four games, including a school-record tying seven vs. South Alabama.

> Georgia State ranks No. 17 in FBS with 18 turnovers caused (10 interceptions, 8 fumble recoveries), including two touchdowns.

> GSU placed a school-record 14 individuals on the All-Sun Belt Conference team, led by first-team selection Shamarious Gilmore. The senior left guard is the first GSU player to earn four straight all-conference honors.
 
ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE
Shamarious Gilmore, LG (1st)
Noel Ruiz, PK (1st)
Sam Pinckney, WR (2nd)
Hardrick Willis, DE (2nd)
Antavious Lane, S (2nd)
Quavian White, CB (2nd)
Destin Coates, RB (3rd)
Roger Carter, TE (3rd)
Dontae Wilson, NG (3rd)
Jordan Strachan, OLB (3rd)
Blake Carroll, ILB (HM)
Cornelius McCoy, WR (HM)
Trajan Stephens-McQueen, ILB (HM)
Malik Sumer, C (HM)
 
GSU vs. WKU: These two schools are meeting in a bowl game for the second time in four years, following Georgia State's 27-17 win in the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

> Senior QB Conner Manning completed 20 of 28 passes for 276 yards and one touchdown while directing a GSU offense that also rushed for 143 yards. The Georgia State defense limited WKU's high-powered offense to 349 total yards. Aided by six sacks, the Panthers set a school record by holding WKU to a net of minus-two yards rushing.

> TE Roger Carter, then a freshman, made perhaps the play of the game as he caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Manning on a reverse flea flicker to give GSU a 20-10 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter.

> Carter is one of four current Panthers who started that game, along with LG Shamarious Gilmore, WR Jonathan Ifedi and OLB Victor Heyward. LB Trajan Stephens-McQueen and DL Hardrick Willis and Dontae Wilson also played in the game, and 11 other current players were on the roster but did not play in the game.

> The teams first met in 2013 when WKU was a member of the Sun Belt, and the Hilltoppers won 44-28 at the Georgia Dome.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES:

> Redshirt freshman quarterback Cornelious Brown IV, a native of Birmingham, Ala., is second in the Sun Belt in passing (227.3 ypg) and total offense 256.3 ypg) while accounting for 21 TDs (14 passing, 7 rushing).

> Brown passed for a total of 706 yards in the season-ending wins over South Alabama and Georgia Southern. He threw for a career-best 334 yards at South Alabama, then topped that with 372 yards vs. the Eagles.

> In both games, Brown led second-half rallies. At South Alabama, he directed four straight scoring drives for 24 straight points  and completed his last 10 passes for 207 yards. Against Georgia Southern, he rallied the Panthers from a 24-13 deficit with 17 straight fourth-quarter points and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2:54 left. In the two fourth quarters combined, Brown was 13-for-14 for 202 yards.

> Junior outside linebacker Jordan Strachan is enjoying one of the top seasons in the Sun Belt. He leads the league and is tied for fourth in FBS with 9.0 sacks, a new GSU season record. He also has 12.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

> Strachan, a third-team All-Sun Belt selection, came to GSU as a walk-on safety and was a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy as the top player who began his career as a walk-on.

> All-Sun Belt receiver Sam Pinckney, a member of the Biletnikoff Award Watch List, had five catches for 176 yards vs. South Alabama, the sixth-highest single-game total in program history.

> Pinckney leads GSU with 44 catches for 753 yards and six touchdowns. Over a two-game span vs. East Carolina and Arkansas State, he totaled 13 receptions, 280 yards and five TD.

> WR Cornelius McCoy, a three-time All-Sun Belt selection, ranks among the active FBS leaders with a reception in 31 straight games (every game he has played.) That includes two or more catches in 26 consecutive games.

> With four sacks in the last four games, including 1.5 at South Alabama, defensive end Hardrick Willis has become Georgia State's career leader in sacks. Willis now has 11.5 career sacks, surpassing Mackendy Cheridor (10.5, 2013-17).

> Junior running back Destin Coates is the Sun Belt's No. 2 rusher, averaging 81.5 yards per game. He has topped the 100-yard mark in four games this season, including a career-high 150 yards vs. No. 19 Louisiana in the seeason opener.

> Coates ranks fourth in GSU history with 1,355 rushing yards (No. 3, Donald Russell, 1,412 yards) and second with 14 rushing touchdowns (Record is 19 by Tra Barnett).

> Along with Coates, Tucker Gregg (441 yards, 6 TD) and Jamyest Williams (208 yards) see plenty of action in the backfield. Against South Alabama, Gregg rushed for 79 yards and tied the GSU record with three rushing touchdowns. Williams added 116 all-purpose yards (68 rushing, 48 receiving).

> Tight end Roger Carter (21-256-4) caught his 10th career touchdown pass against ULM, tying Keith Rucker for the most by a GSU TE.

> Freshman safety Antavious Lane leads GSU with three interceptions­--the most ever by a Panther freshman--including a pick-six, and he is third with 50 tackles. He also has six pass breakups, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. A second-team All-Sun Belt selection, he joins Penny Hart (2015) and Cornelius McCoy (2018) as the only GSU freshmen all-conference selections.

> The inside linebacker tandem of junior Blake Carroll (72 tackles, 5.5 TFL) and senior Trajan Stephens-McQueen (58, 8.0 TFL) are the team's leading tacklers. Stephens-McQueen ranks fourth in GSU history with 256 career tackles.

> Georgia State's starting offensive line has combined for 131 career starts, led by left guard Shamarious Gilmore with 46 starts. After starting the same five offensive lineman in every game in 2019, the Panthers have started the same five in every game but one this year.

LG Shamarious Gilmore, 46 starts
RG Pat Bartlett, 28 starts
C Malik Sumter, 27 starts
LT Travis Glover, 22 starts
RT Johnathan Bass, 8 starts

> Placekicker Noel Ruiz, the grad transfer (North Carolina A&T), ranks seventh among all active FBS kickers with 313 points. He is fifth with 169 PAT and 16th with 48 career field goals.