GEORGIA STATE (2-7, 0-5 SBC) vs ARKANSAS STATE (5-4, 0-0 3-2 Sun Belt)
Saturday, Nov. 16 | 5:00 p.m. | Center Parc Credit Union Stadium
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: Georgia State Radio Network on WRAS-FM 88.5, WGTJ-FM 97.5, GSU Athletics mobile app
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ATLANTA-- After a four game road series across the Sun Belt, Georgia State returns to Center Parc Credit Union Stadium to host Arkansas State for Homecoming on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5:00 p.m.
SERIES NOTES: Georgia State and Arkansas State are meeting for the ninth time in program history. The Panthers are 2-6 in the series against the Red Wolves.
> The Panthers secured their second win on the series last year, when they defeated Arkansas State 28-20 at home.
PANTHERS VS. THE SUN BELT: Despite a slow start to conference play, the Panthers continue to stand in Sun Belt rankings, on both sides of the ball.
> The Panthers rank third in the Sun Belt and top 50 in the nation for fewest penalties (50).
> Defensively, GSU ranks fourth in the conference fumbles recovered with six. Henry Bryant leads the Panthers and the Sun Belt with two fumble recoveries, ranking fifth in the nation. KD McDaniel, Izaiah Guy, Anthony Blume and Rykem Laney all have one to tie for eighth in the conference for fumbles recovered.
> Senior Kevin Swint leads the Panthers with three forced fumbles to rank second in the conference and top 10 in the nation. D-Icey Hopkins, Josiah Robinson and Henry Bryant have one forced fumble.
TRACKING THE RECORD:
> in the Panthers' road contest at James Madison (Nov. 11), Ted Hurst caught his eighth touchdown of the season to tie the program record for single-season touchdowns, which was set in 2013.
> Senior linebacker Kevin Swint currently has four sacks on the season, which is two away from tying the second place spot for single-season sacks (6) and seven away from breaking the record (10.5).
> Swint is also on track to beat the career record for forced fumbles. Standing at four in his career, he is four forced fumbles away from breaking the record of seven.
> Henry Bryant stands at three career fumble recoveries, which is tied for fifth in program history. He needs two more to tie the career record for fumbles recovered.
> Gavin Pringle and Jeremiah Johnson both have six pass breakups on the season, which
is on track to break the program record for single-season pass breakups (11).
> Liam Rickman stands with 11 field goals made, which is on track to break the single-season FG-made record of 15.
NEW STARTING QB: After a GSU-record 36 consecutive games with Darren Grainger as the starting quarterback, Christian Veilleux and Zach Gibson continue the battle for the Panthers' starting quarterback position.
> After starting Christian Veilleux at quarterback for the first six games, Zach Gibson earned the starting position for game seven at App State (Oct. 26), and has started for the Panthers in the last two games.
> Gibson is 93-for-137 with six touchdowns and one interception this season.
>In his first start at GSU, at App State, Gibson went 16-for-22 for a career-high 192 yards and one touchdown against the Mountaineers.
> Gibson stepped in as the Panthers' quarterback early in the first half of play at Marshall (Oct. 17), and finished the contest going 19-of-32 for 192 yards and two touchdowns.
> Gibson saw his season debut in the final minutes against Old Dominion (Oct. 12), when he went 6-for-6 for 49 yards with one touchdown against the Monarchs.
Following the Homecoming game against Arkansas State, the Panthers travel to Texas State for the final road contest of the year on Nov. 23. The game time will be announced at a later date.
