Box Score MOBILE – Georgia State used a balanced offensive attack and a strong defensive effort to top Western Kentucky 39-21 in the LendingTree Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
Georgia State (6-4, 4-4 Sun Belt) completed back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the 11-year history of the program while defeating WKU (5-7, 4-3 C-USA) in a bowl game for the second time, following a win over the Hilltoppers in the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl for the program's first bowl victory.
 
"What a great win! What an awesome evening it turned out to be, finishing the 2020 season here at the LendingTree Bowl and getting a great win over Western Kentucky," head coach Shawn Elliott said. "It's awesome to watch our players and coaches fight and persevere through all the adversity this year. It's amazing what these players can do when they put their minds to it."
 
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Cornelious Brown IV, the MVP of the game, went 16-for-30 for 232 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 40 yards, helping the Panthers pile up 484 yards of offense with 227 yards rushing and 257 yards passing.
 
Running back Destin Coates was named the Offensive Player of the Game with 117 yards rushing--his fifth 100-yard game of the season--and one touchdown. Outside linebacker Jontrey Hunter earned Defensive Player of the Game honors, while placekicker Noel Ruiz was named the Special Teams Player of the Game.
 
Hunter recorded six tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery, while Ruiz nailed a pair of field goals for the Panthers, who were appearing in their fourth bowl game in the last six years.
 
The Georgia State defense held the Hilltoppers to 284 yards of offense--one of the top 10 performances in school history--forced three turnovers and added three sacks to its season-record total.
 
"Our defense was outstanding," Elliott said. "We felt like we had to keep [Pigrome] in the pocket. A few times early we didn't keep him in the pocket and he hurt us, but overall, we did a great job. Early on, we were speed rushing and using edges, but we had to go more of a bull-rush technique to keep him in the pocket and make him try to deliver the right passes. Our guys up front did a masterful job, and I attribute that to the slight adjustment our defensive staff made."
 
Cornelius McCoy led the GSU receiving corps with five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown, while Sam Pinckney added three catches for 62 yards and a TD. The duo were two of eight Panthers to record at least one catch on the night.
 
Just minutes into the game after driving the Panthers down the field 64 yards, Brown was intercepted in the end zone, which the Hilltoppers were able to turn into a 14-play, 80-yard drive, capped by quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome's 2-yard scoring run.
 
Georgia State responded by scoring 27-straight points, starting with Coates' 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game 7-7 just before the end of the first quarter.
 
"After that first interception, I knew we were going to get rolling," said Brown, the Alabama native who led his team to three victories in his home state in 2020.

"My teammates--Sam Pinckney, Cornelius McCoy, Roger Carter, Aubry Payne--picked me up and never let me hang my head. They never lost confidence in me. Coach Elliot came up and patted me on the back and told me that I was ready now. He never lost confidence in me. My OC [Offensive Coordinator Brad Glenn] continued to call the game wide open and call things that were working even though I had thrown that early interception. I knew guys would make plays. I knew if I did my job distributing the ball that somehow, some way we would break open and that's what we were able to do."
  
Early in the second quarter, Brown found Pinckney for a 26-yard touchdown with 9:50 to play to give the Panthers a 14-7 lead.
 
On the following drive, Antavious Lane intercepted Pigrome, Lane's fourth interception of the season that tied the Georgia State season record. It was also the first interception all season by Pigrome, who came into the game with 278 straight attempts without a pick.
 
That led to Brown's second TD pass, this one to Jamari Thrash, whose diving 5-yard reception put the Panthers ahead 21-7 with 2:09 left in the half.
 
Pigrome followed with a second straight interception by Hunter, and that set up Brown's 8-yard TD pass to McCoy to send the Panthers into the locker room with a 27-7 lead.
 
Western Kentucky scored on the opening drive of the second half on a two-yard run by Gaej Walker to cut Georgia State's lead to 27-14. The Hilltoppers then forced GSU punt, but Hunter recovered the fumbled punt at the WKU 32-yard line, and Ruiz kicked a 45-yard field goal for a 30-14 advantage.

WKU had one more chance to make it a one-score game with a first down at the GSU 11 late in the third quarter, but after a 9-yard gain on first down, the Panthers came up with three straight stops, including an incomplete pass on fourth down.
 
Ruiz added a 29-yard field goal to increase Georgia State's lead to 33-14 with 11:19 remaining in the game. It was Ruiz' school-record eighth-straight made field goal, eclipsing the mark of seven by Iain Vance during the 2010 season.
 
With the game in hand, Mikele Colasurdo relieved Brown and found Caddarrius Thompson on a 25-yard reception to put the Panthers ahead 39-14. It was Colasurdo's first completion and touchdown pass of the year.
 
Georgia State is now 2-2 all-time in bowl games including a 2-1 mark under Elliott, who just completed his fourth season at the helm.

"After what we have been through this season, we had an opportunity to finish it the right way; that was coming down here to win, and win decisively," Elliott said. "It was a two-day trip, we weren't coming down here to hang out and have a great time, we were coming down here to win a football game.

"With COVID you have to generate your own intensity. they dug deep to find that fire in themselves today. I loved it. That energy on that sideline was exactly what we want, we want fighters and that's what we had tonight. They left it all out there."
 
Georgia State will open the 2021 season by hosting Army on Sept. 4, at Center Parc Stadium.