ATLANTA -- Georgia State scored first and never trailed on the way to a 37-21 victory against Murray State Saturday night at home at Center Parc Stadium.
"Wins are hard to come by, and we're gonna celebrate them when we do have them," head coach Dell McGee said, after securing the first win of the season for the Panthers. "We still have some things that we need to work on in all three phases, but really proud of our guys' effort."
The triumph improved Georgia State's record to 1-2 on the season while the Racers fell to 0-3.
Branson Robinson paced the Panthers rushing attack by accumulating 65 yards over the course of the game, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. Rashad Amos also added 56 yards and one touchdown on the ground, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.
The most prolific target for Georgia State quarterbacks was Ted Hurst, who caught 10 passes for 172 yards and two scores.
Josiah Robinson paced the Georgia State defensive effort, totaling nine tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one recovered fumble. D-Icey Hopkins added 1.0 TFL and one sack and Alex Mullings had 1.0 TFL and one sack in the win.
The Panthers forced one turnover in Saturday's contest, with Georgia State turning that takeaway into seven points. The Georgia State offense did a good job extending drives, converting on 45.5 percent of third-down attempts. The Panthers also went 2-for-2 on fourth down.
Georgia State's defense held up against Murray State's offense, giving up 282 total yards. The Panthers defense was highlighted by a safety, fumble recovery and a sack.
Redshirt sophomore Jaylen Jones started the Panthers' defense out hot with a career-first safety late in the second quarter. Jones' safety marked the second team safety of the season, the first time in program history that the Panthers have scored multiple safeties in a season.
Josiah Robinson tacked on a fumble recovery, which was forced by outside linebacker Marlin Dean. D-Icey Hopkins also recorded his first career sack.
Georgia State took care of business in the red zone, scoring five times on six trips inside Murray State's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
How It Happened
Georgia State took a 7-0 lead over Murray State after scoring the game's first points with 7:26 left in the first quarter.The Panthers then increased their lead to 14-0 with another score.
A score from Murray State cut the lead to 16-7 before Georgia State got on the scoreboard again with :48 left in the second quarter and pushed its lead to 23-7.The Panthers continued to expand their lead, scoring again to go ahead 30-7.
Georgia State continued to extend its lead after Murray State made it a 30-13 game, scoring again with 7:07 left in the fourth quarter make the score 37-13. Georgia State didn't score again and Murray State tacked on eight more points to finish off the game.
Game Notes
» Georgia State outgained Murray State 454-282, including a 288-159 advantage through the air.
» The Panthers scored first with 7:26 left in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Georgia State had their highest scoring quarter in the first period, when they put up 14 points.
» Georgia State converted 5 of 11 third downs while Murray State was successful on 4 of 14.
» Josiah Robinson led the Panthers with nine tackles.
» Georgia State went 2-for-2 on fourth down, converting on 100 percent of attempts.
» The Panthers didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» Georgia State won the time of possession battle 30:55 to 29:05.
» Georgia State got off to a hot start in the contest, putting 14 unanswered points on the board before Murray State could respond.
» Cameran Brown completed 83.3% of his passes on the day, going 10-for-12 while averaging 11.5 yards per attempt.
Up Next
The Panthers travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt for game two of the home-and-home series on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
