Georgia State pounded in opener as growing pains continue
Georgia State coach Bill Curry didn't have much to cheer about in opener. (Jason Getz/AJC)
If you haven’t kept up on the uniquely metamorphosing Georgia State football program, it goes something like this:
The Panthers started playing games in 2010. Their first schedule of Colonial Athletic Association games is this season (Year 3). But they’re not eligible for the CAA championship because they’ve already decided to jump to the Sun Belt. The NCAA’s mandated two-year transition to FBS means they can’t compete for championships or bowls until 2014 — not that it was realistic anyway — which effectively means they will have played four years of exhibition games (45) by the end of 2013.
And you thought the NFL preseason was long.
There’s an obvious advantage to this: New programs typically get beat up, and Georgia State has been no exception to this. So this extended stretch of unofficial-ness allows Georgia State athletic director Cheryl Levick to tell prospective donors, “Don’t worry, it’s just growing pains. Just wait until the games really count. Would you like another shrimp?”
But the downside is equally obvious. Georgia State is moving up quickly, maybe too quickly. It wasn’t that long ago when the school didn’t even own a ball, a helmet or a roll of tape. The Panthers struggled against FCS teams. The Sun Belt is going to seem like the NFC East. Sure, you laugh, but the Panthers last season lost 56-0 to a team from Conference USA (Houston), 40-17 to one from the CAA (Old Dominion) and 48-28 to another from the Ohio Valley (Murray State). Nothing screams, “Next, we take Eastern Europe!”
Bill Curry won’t be around for the pain next year. He coached the final season opener of his career Thursday night when Georgia State was drummed by South Carolina State 33-6. The Panthers’ lumps will continue well into Curry’s retirement. Given what another 1-AA program just did to them, imagine what will happen when they start playing FBS programs on a regular basis.
Georgia State has had only two more lopsided losses and both came to FBS opponents, Alabama (63-7) and Houston.
“It’s happening way faster than you would like for it to,” he said. “But in today’s world of college football, you don’t get to choose a timetable. You would like to have the time to be able to build the rest of the elements of this program. You’d like to be able to do that over a six- or seven-year period like most of the other schools did. But in this day and age you either jump on the wagon or you’re left in the dirt.”
Georgia State didn’t make a football decision, it made a financial one. Competing at the FBS level, even while getting hammered, potentially provides more selling points during fundraising. The move to the Sun Belt (with Southeast-based institutions) also makes for less expensive travel for all of the sports programs than the CAA, whose members include campuses seemingly in another galaxy (Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island).
“In a time when there’s such a financial crunch, even when a lot of the so-called big-timers are operating in the red, we didn’t have a choice but to get into the Sun Belt,” Curry said. “We’ll just have to suck it up and do what we have to for a couple of years until we can compete.”
Some of the problems of a young team were evident early against South Carolina State, an FCS school that has played football since 1907. (If you’re keeping score, the age difference Thursday was 105-2.) A Georgia State cornerback, Isaiah Howard (sophomore), fell on the fourth snap of the game, allowing South Carolina State to complete a 78-yard touchdown pass to make the score 7-0. A sack and resulting fumble by Panthers quarterback Ben McLane (freshman) on the Georgia State 23 with just 40 seconds left in the half set up another Bulldogs touchdown, increasing the visitors’ lead to 14-3.
Here’s another problem: Attendance for the season opener was announced at only 18,921. Most of the student section behind one end zone was gone by midway through the third quarter. What does it say when a fan base is so quick to bolt?
Curry is hoping for the best this season, but he’s also a realist.
“We’re tougher physically, mentally and in every other way,” he said the other day. “Now we just have to be able to play football better. Those don’t always go hand-in-hand, but it sure helps.”
It will turn one day. But Georgia State shouldn’t get the idea of moving up again for a while.
By Jeff Schultz
•
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128 comments Add your comment
PantherGuy
August 31st, 2012
10:10 am
Blazerdawg,
Maybe 18,000 is acceptable for a typical SBC game with teams who have floated around mediocrity for 10+ years, but for a blossoming young program who has drawn 31K and 25K their first two openers… it’s awful. The result on the field will eventually change. It will get better, but not overnight. No one here should have ever expected GSU to be competitive for ANY type of championship in their first 5 years.
Bob Horner
August 31st, 2012
10:27 am
it’s funny, all the fuss about this team. Yeah, go ahead and jump to FBS and never win another game. Georgia Southern (the relevant “GSU” in the not-1A football world) should be the one jumping up to FBS, not this silly excuse for a football program. The campus is terrible, and the entire student body commutes in and out every day. This is where people with full time jobs go to get a degree at night. There’s no ‘college experience’ here, and never will be because students are forced to mingle with bums, and have to constantly look over their shoulders when going to the parking deck (which costs $8 per day).
Yet, the AJC feels obligated to push this poor excuse for a football team that no one cares about on their site. To quote the principle in the 1985 John Hughes classic, The Breakfast Club, “They don’t even count. It could disappear forever, and no one would even notice.”
Go get your pretend football team routed again GA State, and take your make-believe athletic department on your ghetto campus back out of the papers. GO AWAY!
(ps – Georgia Southern has 6 championships)
PTC DAWG
August 31st, 2012
10:33 am
I would love to see the real “GSU” take these city boys to the woodshed. No wonder you won’t schedule them.
The Real GSU
August 31st, 2012
10:38 am
For those of you saying GA Southern is GSU, do you realize that you’ve only had that name since 1990… that’s 22 years, for those of you who can’t count. Georgia State, the real GSU, has had the same name since 1969 (43 years).
RealGSU
August 31st, 2012
10:40 am
Georgia Southern would beat lowly ga state like a rented mule—it wouldn’t be close.
BravesFan79
August 31st, 2012
10:43 am
As a former Ga State student i knew there was no way they would get alot of people for games in that stadium! This isnt South Ga, where your options are hanging out in the walmart parking lot, or going to a football game. This is Atlanta, where there’s a million and 1 better things to do than see some crap football team no one cares about!
They should of stuck with soccer and basketball, football brings nothing but a bunch of student athletes in who have half the IQ of the average regular student and should probably be at tech school. Not Ga Tech, Polly Tech.
Im looking forward to the rule changes in a few years that most of the players have to actually be smart enough to get into the school! What a concept huh?
TheEagleWay
August 31st, 2012
10:43 am
Respect is earned on the field… not by simply playing the game.
Ga State better improve their product or they will be the new UAB.
18-19K in Atlanta??? Really? Metro Atlanta has what… 6 million?
Pete
August 31st, 2012
10:45 am
Are there more than 8 people that really care about this ?
Bob Horner
August 31st, 2012
10:45 am
So Schultz, it’s clear that the “Ga State Blog” draws more Georgia Southern grads and fans.
“Real GSU” – who cares how long they’ve had the name. Southern has only had a football team since 1980, yet, has managed to win 6 National Championships in that time period. Southern would absolutely destroy, demoralize, and possibly injure Ga State on the football field. It’s where afletes that can’t get into the bigger schools go to run wild. The speed, the quickness… it’s inherent at GaSou. The Pansies are an absolute joke. IA/FBS? Jigga puhlease!
What
August 31st, 2012
10:56 am
You’re blaming the record on moving up???
Curry sucked at Kentucky winning ONLY 4 games 4 times, 6 games 1 time, 3 games 1 time, and 1 game 1 time (1-10 in 94). 26-52 record at KY.
He sucks. Always has, always will….did (Dec 2012 looking back). Ok, at Bama his record was better but 0-3 to Auburn didn’t help his cause.
Panther
August 31st, 2012
11:00 am
This thread: a bunch of southern fans trying to make themselves feel better because GSU lost last night.
Bob Horner, one of Southerns brightest, is trying to say something about our “afletes”. I suppose southern forgot about teaching students anything and put everything into their 6 little league championships. He also says about how southern has had a team only since 1980! Well, we’ve only had a team since 2010, so if you’d like to give us some time, maybe you’ll see what we can do.
dtanner
August 31st, 2012
11:00 am
georgia state football, i mean why is this? no one gives a damn,more people at the dome for high school games last weekend,are you listening kennesaw state
TheEagleWay
August 31st, 2012
11:02 am
@Panther
We don’t need you to make ourselves feel better, our winning and tradition makes us feel better.
Time to eat some crow.
TheEagleWay
August 31st, 2012
11:02 am
@Panther
We don’t need you to make ourselves feel better, our winning and tradition makes us feel better.
Time to eat some crow.
Mr. Dawg
August 31st, 2012
11:03 am
I realize jumping up to the FCS will bring in more money. But at what cost to the perception of your program? Who will want to watch blowouts that will be even worse than what the Panthers are experiencing now? Who will want to play for a lauching stock at any level? Perhaps they will get a higher level of recruit in players that are at that level of talent and prefer to play in state. In my opinion they are jumping too quickly. Establish a winning foundation that will bring in local fans and exicte the students. Built it and they will come…
GATA
August 31st, 2012
11:25 am
Ok, why are you all thinking that SC STATE suppose to get drugged by GSU. This is a proven program that battes with SC or Clemson every time they are on the schedule. GSU have 3 years people……That’s not enough time to judge the program….However GO EAGLES!!!!!Blue who? Blue Bandits…
Seriously, football?
August 31st, 2012
11:27 am
Does every school in the state need a football program? GSU can’t draw for basketball–who actually expected a crowd for football? After class, GSU students are either going to work or going home to spend scarce free time with their families. GSU students pay almost $100 *every* semester for a special athletics fee *just* so there can be a football program. Give the money back.
Go Panthers!!
August 31st, 2012
11:28 am
Why do I get the feeling that the Southern posters are really just two guys posting under eleven different screen names?
Go Panthers!!
August 31st, 2012
11:28 am
Why do I get the feeling that the Southern posters are really just two guys posting under eleven different screen names?
Go Panthers!!
August 31st, 2012
11:28 am
Why do I get the feeling that the Southern posters are really just two guys posting under eleven different screen names?
fbrlz
August 31st, 2012
11:29 am
It is unfortunate that the AJC continues to write about a worthless program. Too many people read the stories because they believe the subject is about the real GSU. And yes, Georgia State has had the University moniker for many more years than Southern. But it was Southern that has been referred to as GSU for the last couple of decades. State believes that they can elevate their status by attempting to take over the three letters. It is merely a cheap imitation. If you want a real GSU story, drop the worthless AJC and read the Savannah Morning News.
Class of '98
August 31st, 2012
11:34 am
I remember a couple years ago reading posts by Georgia State “fans” claiming GSU would be the dominant program in the state within ten years. Remembering that cockiness and lack of respect for programs that have played for over 100 years, it’s hard to root for them.
Go dawgs.
Dawg Fan
August 31st, 2012
11:40 am
Fire Mark Richt now!! oh wait…
Pantherfan93
August 31st, 2012
11:44 am
http://news.georgiasouthern.edu/marketing/pdf/id-standards-manual.pdf
the abbreviation “GSU” MUST NOT be used in publications, ads, Web sites, or other media
That is your school saying that.
As for the crow us State fans should be eating, yep… last night was humbling. It is a hard road we are on, but if it was easy everyone would do it. USF and UCF were made fun of for having a football program. They would have no place in an FBS division. They seem to be doing fine now. Season tickets have increased for us. We will take our lumps and soldier on. It is a lot easier to thump your chest and be part of something than to stand up and try to start something.
The Truth
August 31st, 2012
11:44 am
Go Panthers – It’s the same reason why everyone else in the state thinks that your 19K fans are the same 3 guys running back and forth through the turn style at the stadium. No one GAS about Georgia State’s single A high school football team. You’re irrelevant. Your campus is as awful as your teams, athletes, and athletic facilities. Georgia State is a half step above Strayer and the University of Phoenix.
And by the way, it’s not the length of time you’ve had the name – it’s what you do with it. The last time I checked, Georgia State hasn’t done a darn thing.
TOP NOTCH
August 31st, 2012
11:56 am
For you knuckleheads that don’t know, SCSU is ranked in the top 25 for FCS.
The Truth
August 31st, 2012
11:58 am
93 – Fwiw, Georgia Southern went from being without a football program to a National Championship in less than 5 years.
And I guess the hat I just bought at the Georgia Southern bookstore with “GSU” on the front must have been a mistake or an older item.
The Truth
August 31st, 2012
11:59 am
Top Notch – Your point? I’m guessing your handle has nothing to do with Panthers football.
STATEment
August 31st, 2012
12:03 pm
We suck.
GSU_MEX_ALUM
August 31st, 2012
12:05 pm
Things will get better… As a TRUE fan I will be here to support the panthers when things are good and when things are bad.
KEEP FIGHTING!
lol
August 31st, 2012
12:05 pm
all you idiots who say the real GSU is not in Atlanta, have you tried going to gsu.edu? thanks for playing.
Paddy
August 31st, 2012
12:09 pm
catlady……..starting a football team in these hard economic times…………According to the NCAA research and other studies, it makes good sense. A school who starts football increases the coffers of the U. fund across the board. Well beyond the actual costy of fielding a team. Sounds like a solid investment by the school and not foolishness as you stated.
yeahsure
August 31st, 2012
12:10 pm
“For those of you saying GA Southern is GSU, do you realize that you’ve only had that name since 1990… that’s 22 years, for those of you who can’t count. Georgia State, the real GSU, has had the same name since 1969 (43 years).”
I was just about to type this. Why can’t GA Southerners get this through their thick little skulls? Georgia Southern College attained university status in 1990!!!!!!!!!! The dates don’t lie! You can’t claim to be the Real anything when theres already one before it.
Pantherfan93
August 31st, 2012
12:11 pm
The Truth… that is nice, but the only thing that counts in college is what happens at the FBS level. Everyone knows that. No one grows up wanting to win an FCS Championship. That is just the way it is. If it wasn’t the case, Georgia Southern fans wouldn’t give a damn about moving up, but they do.
SC News, Politics, Personalities, Newsmakers, Warren Lasch
August 31st, 2012
12:14 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
yeahsure
August 31st, 2012
12:15 pm
For all you sensitive types that were bothered by the confidence of young 18 year old’s excited about a new football program at their University, I don’t know what to say.
Alumni and any real football fan knew the expectations and the uphill battle ahead. This is just year 3. Let’s not close the book just yet.
Paddy
August 31st, 2012
12:15 pm
The Truth…….I think the cap you purchased w/ GSU on it may very well be a mistake. Promotional guidelines say that it must be written/displayed Georgia Southern or Georgia Southern University unless space constrictions dictate otherwise. It may not be a double ‘D’ stamped buffalo nickle, but it could be worth more than you paid for it one day. Wrap it up & put it in your closet.
Go Panthers!!
August 31st, 2012
12:27 pm
I think it’s funny that Southern fans think they deserve to be called GSU because of their football program.
Seeing as how “University” refers specifically to a school’s education opportunities, you’d think they’d try to justify the “U” by touting their strong academics…oh wait.
No, better that they just stick to football. Because that’s all they have.
I’ll be quite frank. We could shut down the football program TODAY, and State will STILL be more dserving of the GSU moniker than Southern.
The Truth
August 31st, 2012
12:29 pm
I guarantee Georgia Southern will play in a BCS game long before Georgia State ever has a winning record in FBS.
And Paddy – I was just making a comment – not being snarky. But since you decided to be a d-bag, It’s “nickel”…not nickle. Did you even make it out of middle school?
GSU_MEX_ALUM
August 31st, 2012
12:30 pm
Year 3… One bad game….
We still have more football to play boys and girls! Sure, if our team gives up after one poor performance we are in for a long season, but I hope they regroup and show up to play better football (with the exception of next weeks game).
We are going to go through growing pains and REAL fans will stay to cheer the Panthers!
Every team in the state of GA has had bad games… It’s what the team does after that will define them!
eaglenationrising
August 31st, 2012
12:31 pm
This is not a completely honest article. Many of the lumps that Georgia State is taking are specifically due to Bill Curry pulling his best impression of Georgia’s Mark Richt. Georgia State (my alma mater) has taken bad apples. We have lost multiple quarterbacks. There is a reason that we are not starting a senior QB. Furthermore, Georgia State has gravitated to quick fixes with junior college players in skill positions. We have taken far too many academic risks.
This is less of a failure of movement and more of a failure of leadership in the athletic department and within Curry and his staff. I encourage Jeff to evaluate the top signees over the past four years. You can run a “Where are they now?” segment that is shocking. Let’s start with the quarterbacks. Two years ago, we had three potential starters. Neither is still in the program. We could go position by position. The bottom line is this is a failure of Bill Curry (a very nice man) and his staff. Blaming it on movement is laughable, Jeff. South Carolina State is not an FBS power, my friend. At your convenience, look at South Florida’s movement. Georgia is the 8th (or 9th) largest state in America with only two FCS programs. FCS programs, i.e. Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, Florida State, South Carolina & now even Vanderbilt live here.
Quick name the best two FBS programs in college football history. Montana & Georgia Southern. It did not take Erk Russell very long to build an FBS champion. The excuse thread coming from my GSU is pathetic! Curry was a bad hire because he had been out of the game for so long. Maybe, we can hire Derek Dooley after Tennessee fires him at the end of this season. Of course, his record with misfits (errrr Da’Rick Rogers of Calhoun, GA) is probably a challenge too.
straightshooter
August 31st, 2012
12:32 pm
Now we’re back talking about which GSU gets to use GSU. That is of no interest to anyone reading these comments. This is about football or the lack thereof when Georgia State is involved. You Staters can bark GSU all you want, but if you want to watch some of what you can only dream of achieving, come to Paulson Stadium at 6:00 tomorrow afternoon. You’ll get to see how it is really done…
straightshooter
August 31st, 2012
12:32 pm
Now we’re back talking about which GSU gets to use GSU. That is of no interest to anyone reading these comments. This is about football or the lack thereof when Georgia State is involved. You Staters can bark GSU all you want, but if you want to watch some of what you can only dream of achieving, come to Paulson Stadium at 6:00 tomorrow afternoon. You’ll get to see how it is really done…
GOGSUBasketball!
August 31st, 2012
12:36 pm
Finally, a little truth on this site. I do not know if eaglenation is a real GSU alum or if a GS(C) alum. I do know that we have lost far too many skill position players to suspension and dismissal to blame the movement. I was at the game and it was a borderline joke! If we are going to play football, let’s play it. Coach Curry and his staff appear to be on retirement already.
Passion of the Panther
August 31st, 2012
12:40 pm
The program is an over reach by the university – there is no demand for it from Atlanta, the student body, or alumni. Watch the attendance at the next home game.
The only reason they were able (wanted) to move up is the 16 million dollars in student fees (tax) they rake in every year.
Sparta_Bubba
August 31st, 2012
12:40 pm
Georgia State has no more right to the abbreviation GSU than does Georgia Southern. If you’ll check your history you will find that there was a black state college in Savannah when the white evening school in Atlanta decided they wanted to be called Georgia State. So guess what? Black Georgia State in Savannah was forced to change their name to Savannah State so the white evening school could have the name “Georgia State.” The powers that be made all of the black state schools use a city name (Savannah State, Albany State & Fort Valley State) and reserved the “Georgia” for white schools (Georgia Tech, U of Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia College, North Georgia, West Georgia, etc.). You can look it up!
Rooty Tooty
August 31st, 2012
12:45 pm
Those folks at GSU must be eating some of those brownies from UGA. GSUneeds to play in same conference as Valdosta State.
Peachstealth
August 31st, 2012
12:51 pm
First off you should have joined the So Con rather than the CAA. With teams in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and both Carolinas it would make for closer away games. They’re fairly equal conferences, both having 3 teams in the pre-season top 10. The only down side is you would have had to play the other GSU and that would have been embarrassing, at least for the first few years.
Get yourself established as one of the better FCS teams before you move up, unless you don’t mind a few winless seasons.
Realize that the Sunbelt doesn’t want you as much as they want the supposed prestige of playing in an NFL stadium, even though it’s only a quarter to a third full.
count_schemula
August 31st, 2012
1:05 pm
Does NYU have a football team? No? That is the model they should be following. Academics, film and graduate studies. A good school at a fair price. I know the school has changed a lot since I went there in the early 90s, but football is just not a good fit at GSU, and I would straight revolt over bolting that athletics fee onto my student loans.
I graduated from From GSU when GA Southern was only a college
August 31st, 2012
1:10 pm
Ga Southern fans are correct they are better than we are at this point. I wish we could have started with Erik or someone like him. But, I think the real problem is that even after 32 years and a good number of championships playing in the little leagues they still don’t think you are ready for the next level. Sorry. Yes, we are bad and we will be for sometime. We hope the next staff can bring the fire, but they may not. Either way lets look back in another 29 years and see if the big leagues are ready to accept you by then, didn’t the FBS report say Statesboro was just to small to take seriously. I am sure we will not have any Championships and you will probably have some more just be happy with that. And for those who keep being upset that the Atlanta news paper is covering an Atlanta team we will not be checking to see if the Statesboro paper covers us.