What you need to know:
* Georgia State earned a 34-32 win at New Mexico State Saturday night to earn the program’s first Sun Belt Conference victory and move into first-place in the league.
* Freshman Penny Hart tied a school-record with 11 catches for 150 yards and the Panthers finished with a school-record 582 yards of offense.
* QB Nick Arbuckle was 32-for-43 for 372 yards and two touchdowns, while four running backs helped GSU gain 210 yards on the ground.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Georgia State used a record-setting performance from its offense and the defense held at the end as the Panthers scored a 34-32 win over New Mexico State on Saturday night. It marked the first Sun Belt Conference win for the program.
Freshman Penny Hart tied a school-record with 11 catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns to lead the offense which finished with a school-record 582 yards.
Senior Nick Arbuckle went 32-for-43 for 372 yards and two touchdowns while the ground game went for 210 yards on 46 attempts, led by Kyler Neal who finished with 76 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.
However, it was the defense that made several key stops as the Aggies were moving on a final drive that ended with Parker Davidson missing a 49-yard field goal wide right with 29 seconds to play.
"We made it harder than it needed to be, but these kids never quit and they never quit believing," head coach Trent Miles said. "We've got a great group of young men. We just needed to get over the hump, and tonight we did that."
Georgia State came out strong in the first half, recording three scoring drives of 72 yards or longer before the break.
The Panthers opened the scoring with a 13-play, 72-yard drive, capped by Wil Lutz's 19-yard field goal. Arbuckle was 6-for-8 on the drive, including a third-down conversion to Joel Ruiz and a 25-yard strike to Robert Davis.
After forcing a punt, GSU added to its lead with another 13-play drive, this covering 80 yards as Arbuckle found Hart for 15 yards to put the Panthers ahead 10-0 with 3:31 left in the first half.
NMSU answered on its next play with a 75-yard scoring pass from Tyler Rogers to Tyrain Taylor to cut GSU's lead to 10-7.
The Panthers drove down the field again, covering 76 yards on 12 plays, capped by Kyler Neal's 2-yard run on the first play of the second quarter, giving GSU a 17-7 lead.
The GSU defense came up with a goal-line stand as cornerback Bruce Dukes broke up Rogers' pass in the end zone on 4th-and-goal at the 1. But on 3rd-and-4 from the 7, Robert Davis caught a pass and fumbled while trying to reach for the first down. NMSU's Jaden Wright returned the fumble for a score. GSU's Julien Laurent blocked the PAT, and the Panthers still led 17-13.
Neal's second touchdown of the night was set up by Nate Simon's interception at the NMSU 32. Simon returned the ball to the 5-yard line, and on the next play, Neal bulled into the end zone to send the Panthers into the locker room with a 24-13 lead.
In the second half, Lutz booted a 22-yard field goal and then Hart hauled in his second touchdown of the day on a 24-yard reception that put the Panthers ahead 34-19 with 14 minutes to play. Hart's TD capped a school-record 97-yard drive that featured a 51-yard reception by Nyiakki Height.
But the Aggies quickly drove down the field for a touchdown run by Larry Rose III to pull within 34-26. On their next possession, New Mexico State's Rogers hit Taylor for a 29-yard touchdown pass after the defender fell down. With GSU now clinging to a two-point lead, Panthers' cornerback Antreal Allen knocked down Rogers' pass in the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt.
New Mexico State began its final drive at its own 20 with 3:01 left. Georgia State appeared to have the Aggies stopped when Dukes grabbed an interception at the NMSU 45, but the play was nullified by a facemask penalty on the Panthers.
The Aggies moved all the way to the GSU 27 with less than a minute left. A false start penalty pushed NMSU back to the 34, and Jerome Smith knocked down Rogers' pass on third down to set up the field goal try.
Arbuckle spread the ball to eight different receivers in the game. Robert Davis had eight catches for 82 yards, and Height added five for 75, including his 51-yard reception that flipped field position in the third quarter and set up Hart's second touchdown.
"We've been talking all summer about how many playmakers we have on this team, and our receivers did an amazing job today stepping up for the guys who were injured, like Donovan [Harden]," Arbuckle said. "Penny Hart, Kam Myers, Nyiakki Height ... they all did an amazing job making plays. The running backs really stepped up from top to bottom. Demarcus Kirk really held his own in the fourth quarter.
"I'm just happy for all our fans who get to experience this win with us, and we're going to work our butts off to make sure there's a lot more to celebrate."
Neal rushed for 76 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns, and Taz Bateman had 36 yards on six carries, but both left the game with inujuries. Marcus Caffey contributed 43 yards on four attempts, and UAB transfer Demarcus Kirk had 49 yards on 12 carries, all in the second half.
Georgia State will travel west again next week with a game at Oregon Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on the Pac-12 Network.
