GEORGIA STATE (6-4, 3-4) at No. 15/15 LSU (7-3, 5-2)
Saturday, Nov. 18 | 8 p.m. ET | Tiger Stadium

TV: ESPN2
RADIO: Georgia State Radio Network on WRAS-FM 88.5, GSU Athletics mobile app

THE KICKOFF: Georgia State finishes the regular season with back-to-back road games, beginning Saturday at No. 15 LSU with an 8 p.m. ET game in Death Valley

> Playing just its 14th season of football and 10th at the FBS level, Georgia State (6-4, 3-4 Sun Belt) is eligible for its sixth bowl game and fifth in seven seasons under head coach Shawn Elliott. The Panthers earned their sixth win at Louisiana on Oct. 21, the earliest they have ever achieved bowl eligibility.

> LSU will be Georgia State's second ranked opponent in three games, following No. 23/24 James Madison on Nov. 4. The Tigers are GSU's highest ranked foe since No. 5 Penn State in 2017.

> Named to the Midseason All-America team by College Football Network (CFN), Marcus Carroll is No. 3 in FBS in rushing with 1,206 yards (120.6 ypg). He is No. 7 in all-purpose with 138.6 ypg, and his 12 touchdowns make him No. 9 in rushing touchdowns.

> Carroll rushed for a career-high 208 yards vs. Georgia Southern, the second-best single-game total in school history. That performance put him over 1,000 yards for the season, just the second 1,000-yard rusher in program history.

> QB Darren Grainger has passed for 1,986 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 569 yards and seven scores.

> Grainger was named to the Davey O'Brien QB Class of 2023, one of 35 quarterbacks in the nation selected.

> Both Carroll and Grainger are approaching 2,000 career rushing yards. Carroll, with 1,992 yards (third in GSU history), is just eight yards away from the milestone, while Grainger (1,963) is 37 yards from 2,000.

> Grainger's top targets are Robert Lewis, who leads the Panthers with 52 receptions for 727 yards and seven touchdowns, and Tailique Williams with 38 catches for 539 yards and four scores.

> Lewis broke the GSU single-game record with 12 receptions vs. Georgia Southern. Earlier this season he set the single-game yardage record with 220 yards vs. Charlotte. His seven TD receptions are tied for the Sun Belt lead and one behind the GSU season record.

> GSU's top offensive lineman is super senior left tackle Travis Glover, a Preseason First-Team All-Sun Belt selection who has 55 career starts.

> Linebacker Jontrey Hunter is the Panthers' leading tackler with 79 stops, 5.5 TFL, two forced fumbles and three pass breakups. CB Gavin Pringle leads GSU with three interceptions, and OLB Kevin Swint tops the team with four sacks and seven TFL.

> Senior ILB Jordan Veneziale has moved into second place in GSU history with 273 career tackles. The GSU record is 381 by Joseph Peterson (2012-15). Veneziale is also tied for fourth with 57 career games played.

> Georgia State played on national television in five of its first eight games, including once on ESPN, three times on ESPN2 and once on ESPNU. This week's game at LSU will also air on ESPN2.

> After starting 4-0 for the first time, Georgia State achieved another milestone on Sept. 24 by receiving a vote in the US LBM Coaches' Poll, the Panthers' first-ever in either national poll.

GRAINGER RECORD WATCH: Quarterback Darren Grainger threw two touchdown passes last game vs. Appalachian State to tie the Georgia State career record of 51, originally set by Nick Arbuckle.

> Grainger is also Georgia State's career leader in total offense with 8,107 yards and TD responsibility with 67 (51 passing/16 rushing), passing Arbuckle (7,566 yards, 59 TDR) in both categories).

> Grainger's 6,144 passing yards rank second to Arbuckle's total of 7,651 yards.

MORE ON MARCUS: Marcus Carroll has five of the Top 10 single-game performances in program history, all in his last 14 games (208 vs. Georgia Southern/2023; 184 vs. URI/2023; 164 vs. USM/2022; 159 vs. Marshall/2023; 150 vs. CCU/2023).

> His career-high 208 yards vs. Georgia Southern is the second-best single-game in GSU history, while his 184 yards vs. Rhode Island now ranks fifth.

> Over his last 14 games, Carroll has rushed for 1,535 yards and 17 touchdowns.

> With 1,206 yards in 2023, Carroll has the second-best season in school history (record is 1,453 yards by Tra Barnett in 2019). His 12 touchdowns and seven 100-yard games are tied for the GSU season records.

> Carroll is now the No. 3 rusher in GSU history with 1,963 career yards, trailing only Tucker Gregg (2,265) and Tra Barnett (2,156).  His 21 career rushing touchdowns rank second.

GSU VS. LSU: Georgia State is facing LSU for the first time but this is GSU's 16th game against an opponent from the Power Five and seventh vs. the SEC. The Panthers have also faced foes from the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 12.

> Most notably, the Panthers' 38-30 victory at Tennessee in the 2019 season opener is the program's only win over a Power Five team. In that game, Georgia State trailed 17-14 at the half but outscored the Vols 24-13 in the second half, sealing the win on a 22-yard touchdown run by QB Dan Ellington with five minutes left. Ellington is now the GSU tight ends coach. 

> Georgia State also had a close call at No. 23 Auburn in 2021. GSU led 24-19 until the Tigers scored the go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-down play with 45 seconds left. 

> At No. 15, LSU is the highest ranked team that the Panthers have faced since playing at then No. 5 Penn State in 2017. The other higher ranked teams that GSU has faced are Alabama (No. 1 in 2013 and No. 10/12 in 2010), Oregon (No. 12/13 in 2015) and Wisconsin (No. 9/12 in 2016).

> The game at LSU will be just the 13th game that Georgia State has ever played on grass.

> Head coach Shawn Elliott has coached at LSU four times, twice as an assistant coach at Appalachian State (2005 and 2008), and twice as an assistant at South Carolina (2012 and 2015). Following the Gamecocks' 45-24 loss in 2015 (a game that was moved to Baton Rouge due to flooding in Columbia) Steve Spurrier stepped down as head coach, and Elliott took over as the interim head coach for the final six games of the season.