On Saturday afternoon in Clemson, S.C., Georgia State football suffered defeat at the hands of the nationally ranked No. 22 Clemson Tigers by a final score of 28˗0.
The Panthers began with possession of the football. Georgia State was able to gain one first down that came courtesy of a Nick Arbuckle’s 11˗yard completion to Robert Davis. The drive would stall out at the 27˗yard line as the opening Georgia State drive was stymied by a pair of false start penalties.
Clemson started its first drive at the 17˗yard line in which they also only managed to gain one first down as quarterback Cole Stoudt threw complete to Artavis Stoudt for 6-yards on a 2nd and 6 play from the Clemson 25˗yard line. Ultimately, the drive stalled at the 37˗yard line.
After a Panthers three and out, the Tigers took over on offense again. The first play of the Tigers’ drive was a 12˗yard run by redshirt freshman runningback Wayne Gallman. The next play was a Stoudt pass that was picked off by Chandon Sullivan at the Panthers’ six˗yard line.
The ensuing Georgia State drive was not too productive as they only advanced the ball 3-yards, resulting in a three and out. Matt Hubbard’s following punt only went 21-yards to the Panthers’ 30˗yard line as Clemson would begin its next drive with excellent field position.
Five plays later, the Tigers capitalized. Runningback Tyshon Dye drew first blood for Clemson as he reached the end zone from3-yards out. Ammon Lakip’s extra point attempt was good for a 7˗0 lead.
Georgia State’s next possession began at their 32˗yard line, and appeared to be promising as they moved the football to the 25˗yard line of the Tigers. After gaining a trio of first downs earlier in the drive, a second and 12 play at the Clemson 27˗yard line resulted in an interception of Arbuckle by safety Korrin Wiggins. He returned the pick 37-yards to the Panthers’ 41˗yard line and a personal foul call on Georgia State moved the chains to the 26˗yard line.
| Quick Fact |
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| Arbuckle’s thirteen completions also raised his total to 227 for the season which tied the single˗season school record for most in a season. It was first set by Drew Little in the 2010˗11 season. |
After a Dye rush and two Stoudt completions, Dye hit paydirt again when he scored six more points for the Tigers from 6-yards out. The extra point was good for a 14˗0 Clemson lead.
The ensuing drive would only bring Georgia State one first down pickup before punting back to the Tigers. Their following possession would see them gain two first downs and move the football to midfield before punting back to the Panthers.
Georgia State would only net a three and out on their next possession before punting back to Clemson. The Tigers fumbled the 34˗yard punt as the football was near the Clemson 49˗yard line. The Panthers recovered to give them great field position.
The Panthers’ drive was stymied by an Arbuckle incompletion, an illegal block in the back flag after a completion from Arbuckle to Davis, and a pick of Arbuckle by Jayron Kearse. The Kearse interception occurred at the Tigers’ 46˗yard line and he returned it to the Georgia State 37˗yard line. Senior defensive tackle Grady Jarrett was flagged for an illegal block in the back to move Clemson back to their 47.
Six plays later, five of which were rushing plays (and gaining a pair of first downs) Gallman reached the end zone from nine yards out to increase the Clemson advantage to 21˗0.
The next Georgia State drive began at the 24˗yard line, and on 3rd and 12 from the 22, Arbuckle threw complete to Donovan Harden for 21 yards to the Panthers’ 43˗yard line. A 2nd and 5 five˗yard pickup from Gerald Howse equaled the second Panthers first down of the drive.
A three˗yard loss on a Howse run play plus Arbuckle’s third interception of the game gave the football back to Clemson. Gerry Peters was responsible for the pick this time.
The ensuing Tigers drive would see them gain two first downs, 53-yards, and six points. The six points came when Stoudt connected with Mike Williams for an 8˗yard touchdown as Clemson went ahead by 28. This would be the score heading into the halftime period.
The defenses began taking over this game as neither team could find the end zone. Both teams traded drives in which they only picked up one first down. Each team would only gain two first downs on their following drives. The final Panthers drive would see their last play be a fourth and three at the Clemson 48, resulting in a 6˗yard sack of Arbuckle by defensive end Vic Beasley.
Clemson then began their next possession at the 46˗yard line of the Panthers in which two runs of eight and 3-yards from D.J. Howard resulted in a first down as the third quarter expired.
A 9˗yard sack of Stoudt by Georgia State’s Jalen Lawrence and a 5˗yard penalty assessed against the Tigers led to a 24-yard gain for a first down. They received 17 of those yards via a Howard run to bring up fourth and seven, but Clemson went for it on fourth down and the Panthers’ Tarris Batiste sacked Stoudt to bring up a turnover on downs.
Georgia State’s next drive would be a three and out with Ronnie Bell at quarterback to relieve Arbuckle. Clemson moved the football from their 28˗yard line to the Panthers’ 17˗yard line as they gained three first downs.
A 5˗yard loss via a Batiste tackle of Howard on a run attempt moved the Tigers back to the 22˗yard line. After a Stoudt pass was incomplete on third down, this brought up a chance for a 39˗yard field goal for Lakip, but his try was wide right.
The next three drives overall ended in three and outs before the Tigers had the ball again. At this point, Clemson also had placed many of its backups in the game, including quarterbacks Nick Schuessler and David Olson. Clemson’s final drive of the game featured six run plays, all through runningback Alex Goode and three pass plays: one for Schuessler and two for Olson.
The longest of this possession was a Schuessler pass to Adrien Dunn for 17-yards for a first down on 3rd and five from the Georgia State 42˗yard line. This placed the football at the 25˗yard line. They would gain one more first down which came from a five˗yard rush by Goode on 2nd and 3 to place the football at the 13˗yard line.
Clemson did not score on this possession. Instead of settling for a field goal with the football at the Panthers’ 11˗yard line, Clemson went for it on fourth and eight. The result was a Goode 2˗yard run as Georgia State stopped the Tigers from reaching the end zone this time.
The Panthers would have the football shortly as the game reached its conclusion with Clemson prevailing by a final of 28˗0.
Georgia State will take to the gridiron one final time in 2014 when they return home to face the Texas State Bobcats at the Georgia Dome Nov. 29 at 2 p.m.
| Georgia State | Nick Arbuckle: 13/29 passing, 115 yards, three interceptions | Marcus Caffey: 13 carries, 24 yards | Lynquez Blair: 5 receptions, 39 yards |
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| Clemson | Cole Stoudt: 19/29 passing, 132 yards, one touchdown, one interception | Tyshon Dye: 20 carries, 124 yards, 2 touchdowns | Mike Williams: 7 receptions, 87 yards, 1 touchdown |
