Georgia State dropped its regular-season finale at Old Dominion 25-24 as the Monarchs scored the winning touchdown on the game's final play.

The Panthers (6-6, 3-5 Sun Belt) are bowl eligible with six victories and will learn their bowl fate on Dec. 3.

Old Dominion (6-6, 5-3) scored 11 points in the final two minutes on a field goal, a safety and quarterback Grant Wilson's 3-yard touchdown run on the final play. 

Georgia State jumped to a 21-0 halftime lead as quarterback Darren Grainger rushed for a 16-yard touchdown and then threw two touchdown passes to tight end Ahmon Green. But the offense stalled in the second half as the Panthers were without several key starters, most notably running back Marcus Carroll, but also receivers Tailique Williams and Ja'Cyais Credle and center Avery Reece.

"What a disappointing way to end a ballgame the way we did," head coach Shawn Elliott said. "Our defense was on point and gave us an opportunity to win the ballgame, but our offense just couldn't generate any momentum in the second half.

"We had an opportunity with the ball on the 2-yard and couldn't put it in, we had an opportunity to kick a field goal and it gets blocked and we had an opportunity to recover the onside kick. We had a bad snap and it led to a safety. Our defense made a valiant effort there at the end but they converted the fourth down."

Georgia State took the opening possession and drove 75 yards on 12 plays, capped by Grainger's 16-yard scoring run for a 7-0 lead six minutes into the game.

In the second quarter, the Panthers scored on back-to-back possessions, both on touchdown passes to tight end Ahmon Green. First Grainger found Green over the middle for a 29-yard scoring play, and then he his tight end, who was again wide open over the middle from 11 yards for a 21-0 lead with 2:27 left in the first half.

Old Dominion scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to pull within 21-14, Gavin Pringle's interception, his fourth of the season, gave Georgia State possession at the ODU 39-yard line. But after Grainger hit Robert Lewis for a first down at the 2, the Panthers had to settle for Liam Rickman's 22-yard field to take a 24-14 lead with 10 minutes to play.

GSU had a chance to add more insurance after the defense sacked Wilson on third and fourth down to give the Panthers the ball at the ODU 31. But Rickman's field goal attempt from 39 yards was blocked.

ODU took over with 4:37 left and drove down the field. After a potential touchdown pass was nullified by a facemask penalty, the Monarchs kicked a 37-yard field goal to pull within 24-17 with 1:37 left. Georgia State recovered the onside kick but was called for offsides. On the second attempt, ODU squibed the ball down do the 10-yard line, where GSU took over. On the second play, a bad snap by the backup center resulted in a safety, giving ODU two points and the ball for their final drive.

"It's a huge, huge gut punch. We had an opportunity to win that ballgame and finish with seven wins," Elliott said. "It's hard. This team fights and we have a lot of great players who have done a lot of great things for us. But we still have an opportunity to go finish this thing the right way."

Game Notes

> The Georgia State defense set a school record with eight sacks, including two by Henry Bryant and 1.5 by Justin Abraham.
> The Panthers held ODU to just 44 yards and three first downs in the first half.
> QB Darren Grainger completed 26 of 36 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. He also netted 24 yards rushing, including a 16-yard TD. That put him over 2,000 rushing yards for his Georgia State career.