ATLANTA, Georgia -- Marcus Carroll rushed for a career-high 184 yards and three touchdowns and cornerback Gavin Pringle returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown as Georgia State opened the season with a 42-35 win against Rhode Island Thursday night at Center Parc Stadium.
GSU quarterback Darren Grainger passed for 193 yards, tossing two touchdowns without throwing an interception, and the super senior also added 51 yards on the ground. Â
Pringle, the graduate transfer from Bucknell making his GSU debut, put Georgia State (1-0) ahead for good at 35-28 late in the third quarter.Â
"Rhode Island is a very good football team, and tonight was a great test of everything we went through the last sixth months. We overcame a lot of adversity. We're up 21-7 and thing kind of go off the rails a bit. They take a seven-point lead, but we didn't flinch. That's what our offseason was about.
"I'm very proud of these guys, the way we kept playing. We gave up some big plays in the secondary, some things we've got to fix, but I really love the way our guys looked right in the face of adversity and said, You know what, not tonight."
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Grainger's most prolific target in the ballgame was Robert Lewis, who caught seven passes for 97 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown, while Tailique Williams caught a 42-yard scoring pass.Â
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Carroll's rushing effort is the fourth-highest single-game rushing total in GSU history. He now has three of the top five single-game performances in program history over his last five games, including his 163-yard effort last season at Southern Miss.
GSU won the turnover battle in Thursday's game, forcing two turnovers while avoiding any giveways. Georgia State put together a stellar showing on the ground, racking up 231 rushing yards while averaging 6.1 yards per carry and out-rushing Rhode Island by 119 yards. The GSUÂ offense did a good job extending drives, converting on 50 percent of third-down attempts. The GSU also went 1-for-1 on fourth down.
How It Happened
Georgia State jumped in front 14-0 on Robert Lewis' 39-yard touchdown catch and Marcus Carroll's 9-yard TD run.
After a Rhode Island touchdown, Georgia State answered immediately on Darren Grainger's 42-yard TD pass to Tailique Williams to lead 21-7 four minutes into the second quarter. The Rams cut the deficit to 21-14 with a touchdown late in the first half.
Rhode Island then scored on consecutive drives in the third quarter to move ahead 28-21, but Georgia State tied the game on Carroll's 23-yard scoring run, the second of his three touchdowns.
Then Gavin Pringle gave the Panthers the lead for good with his 21-yard pick six with 1:30 to play in the third quarter.
Carroll extended the GSU lead to 42-28 in the fourth quarter as Carroll broke through the line for a 63-yard run down to the 12-yard line and then scored one play later.
Game Notes
» Safety Cody Jones prevented a score with a spectacular interception in the end zone.
» Jeremiah Johnson led the GSU defense with eight tackles.
» In his first start, Kade Loggins punted five times for GSU with an average of 47.2 yards per punt while pinning URI inside their own 20 one time.
» The GSU didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» Georgia State got off to a fantastic start in the contest, putting 14 unanswered points on the board before Rhode Island could respond.
» Grainger completed 80 percent of his passes, including his first 14 throws, going 16-for-20 while averaging 9.6 yards per attempt.
» Kasim Hill led the URI passing attack, completing 24 of his 40 attempts for 408 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions.
» Marquis Buchanan was Rhode Island's leading receiver with 101 yards and one touchdown.
