A boffo opening night for Georgia State football and its fans
Does this look like real football? It sure as heck felt like it. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
If Georgia State never wins another game or scores another point, the Panthers and their fans can say this: On Sept. 2, 2010, a start-up college-football program outdrew a first-place big-league baseball club head to head. On its first time out of the box, GSU served notice that there’s enthusiasm in this city for this brand new team.
And that wasn’t always a given. Indeed, there were those — that’s my hand you see raised — who feared GSU would unveil its football team to an intimate gathering of friends and family beneath the cavernous Georgia Dome. But there was nothing small about the crowd Thursday night, and there was nothing intimate about the setting.
The Dome’s lower bowl was full, and the overflow spilled upward into the second tier. Cheryl Levick, GSU’s athletic director, reported that there were 11,000 students on hand, and certainly her estimate didn’t seem fanciful. The students arrived early and yelled all night — they even shrieked after a successful Panthers fair catch — and they roared their approval when the school president took a pregame walk in front of their end zone.
Said Mark Becker, the president in question, recalling his promenade: “Our student section was already full; their bodies were painted. I’ll never forget the excitement of those kids. … To see the student excitement and to see them fill the student section straight away will be with me forever.”
Someone asked Becker if he could have imagined such a crowd. “Two months ago, no,” he said. “A week ago, yes. Just the buzz around the city has been electric. … In the last couple of days, I predicted at least 25,000.”
He got it, plus 5K. Attendance was announced as 30,237. (The Braves, by way of contrast, drew 24,895 for their game against the Mets.)
Said Levick: “I am shocked and excited to do 30,000.”
About the game: The Panthers beat Shorter 41-7. They scored on their first drive and scored on their last, eight seconds from the end. They stopped themselves with some penalties, but this was, after all, the first time they had done this. (And it’s not as if established programs can’t be penalized. Ask the folks in Athens.)
Bill Curry, who had coached at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky, was so moved by this Opening Night that he gathered his family for photos before the game in front of the GSU students, who already were roaring. And his players were so stoked that they nearly injured themselves taking the field for warmups, so furiously were they leaping and smacking one another and waving to the crowd.
On the field for the coin flip — for history buffs: GSU won the toss and took the ball — and the kickoff, Levick said she looked into the expectant eyes of her players and “felt chills.” And it wasn’t, she noted, just the players. Walking the concourse, she kept being stopped by gray-haired alums who wanted to say thanks.
And then there were the folks who actually attend GSU. Said Levick: “[The students] are electric down there. They finally have a team, and they’re proud of it.”
When it was done, GSU was a 41-7 winner. The Panthers sprinted to the end zone and sang with the band — to go with a new team, Georgia State had to assemble a marching band — and celebrated with those wearing blue body paint, and it felt like a real football game had just been played and won.
“When you come to the moment of truth, you don’t know what’s going to happen when the lights come on,” Curry said. Then, pointing to the “incredible turnout,” he said: “I wondered if [the crowd] would unglue us. It did not.”
If anything, the crowd emboldened the new team. Forty-five minutes before kickoff, a cluster of Panthers gathered in the tunnel, and one shouted, “This is our house!”
Fancy that. The Georgia Dome — not Deion Sanders’ house, and not Arthur Blank’s, either. Instead it belonged, at least on this night, to a team that had never played, and darned if the Panthers didn’t make themselves at home.
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231 comments Add your comment
juvenal
September 3rd, 2010
10:31 am
turn off the scoreboard at zero, turn off the comments on their(yet again) embarassing blog, they can dish it out…(though who does anything but laugh at their puerile, skulyard rantings…)
GSU 97/02
September 3rd, 2010
10:31 am
I attended both GSUs, under/grad. I graduated from Southern fan to State fan yesterday. To me GSU is State.
Zopf: Georgia State’s first game too exciting to miss – Gainesville Times | Hot Topics
September 3rd, 2010
10:41 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
10:41 am
As I’ve already pointed out, this GSU vs. GSU argument is not about which school had the name first. THIS IS ABOUT FOOTBALL. Which FOOTBALL team had the name first?? Pretty obvious. (Furthermore, if we want to be even more technical about this Grambling State University trumps both Georgia schools, but we’ll keep this in-state for the sake of argument).
AND we didn’t have a nice comfy, ready-made DOME that holds over 70,000 for our team when we got started so excuse us for building our program from the ground up, literally.
Stilly Panther
September 3rd, 2010
10:42 am
Also on schools with the same lettering. What about Grambling State University?
And what would you do about the three OSUs? Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and Oregon State. Are you gonna say one is the only “real” OSU and the rest are phonies? Who cares if multiple universities have the same initials. Get a life and get over it already people.
PMC
September 3rd, 2010
10:43 am
Heck of a first night. Plenty of room for another program in this area. I hope that they can rise like UCF and USF.
Way to go Georgia State all the way around!
PMC
September 3rd, 2010
10:47 am
As long as they do the tickets right and keep everyone toegther in the lower bowl the Georgia Dome is a fantastic venue for events.
The only reason it ever really seems cavernous is when through tiered pricing they stick a bunch of people way up stairs so far away from the action and don’t sell the expensive lower bowl tickets.
Put all the people toegther and it’s loud and proud down at the bottom.
SirReal
September 3rd, 2010
10:50 am
As a GSU alum, i loved what I saw last night! It was an great atmosphere and even greater turn out. I wish they’d have been around when I went 6 years ago!!!
ryan
September 3rd, 2010
10:50 am
EaglesForever…
Yale has 18 national titles.
It means nothing.
That adorable little directional school in Statesboro loves to harp about 6 national titles, which is obviously more than a team that played their first game yesterday. Give State nearly 30 years and let’s see how that compares, Chuckles.
But it’s cool. I understand why y’all are so antsy. You know that with State being up and running that you’re not going to get the run on FCS level talent. You probably are already aware that you’ll never get that 7th flag.
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
10:51 am
@ Stilly Panther – Relax buddy, we’re just trying to build a rivalry here. Jeez! Nobody is foaming at that mouth and I personally plan on attending some Ga State games and cheering for the hometeam….unless that “other” GSU (the one with all the championships) shows up in the dome to play them and I ain’t talking about Grambling State.
Where the Braves fans at?
September 3rd, 2010
10:52 am
I dont know whether to be excited for GSU or depressed because my beloved Braves aren’t getting the fan support they deserve….?
F-105 Thunderchief
September 3rd, 2010
11:02 am
Man, please stop it with the GSU crud. I went to Georgia Southern College. Most people refer to Ga. Southern in shorthand as “Southern,” but so probably do folks at Southern Miss and Southern Illinois. Let’s just schedule each other and be Eagles vs. Panthers. All this GSU chest thumping is childish.
Fulton Resident
September 3rd, 2010
11:06 am
I won’t begin to address the few negative comments screaming into the wind.
It was a fantastic game and atmosphere last night. Proud of GSU for really turning it on. Go Panthers!
ATLNative
September 3rd, 2010
11:07 am
My Mom and Dad (3 GSU degrees between them), had been waiting for last night for a long time. They were never football fans until I went to Auburn for undergrad and brought them down for the annual “Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South” vs. UGA. That was in 2000. Now, 10 years later, I have a Masters from GSU, my brother has his Bachelors, and our family has 6 season tickets.
I got chills at kickoff… maybe it was the A/C vent right behind us or the fact that there were OBVIOUSLY more people there than planned. The students have a lot of traditions to work out and an .mp3 of the fight song needs to get emailed to everyone with a ticket, but to say this is huge would be such an understatement. The coaches, staff, administration, and ESPECIALLY the students at State absolutely NAILED IT last night. It was long overdue.
MS Bully
September 3rd, 2010
11:08 am
Congrats GA State!! Beat Bama!!
Why does the AJC not allow comments when a GA player gets arrested? It seems to be a everyday thing down in Athens. I’m bringing two sets of handcuffs when Georgia comes to Starkville.
WDE
September 3rd, 2010
11:09 am
I was at the game. I have no tie to the school (just graduated from GT), but my friend’s little brother is a freshman there. It’ll be exciting over my lifetime to see how the program develops (maybe it’ll be like USF?), and to know that I was there for the first game.
Only dampener was hearing their fight-song, which is gaining some pretty bad press. No college fight song should ever say “We’re from the ATL”. Anyways, I’m excited for the players.
Go Jackets and War Damn Eagle.
GSU FAN
September 3rd, 2010
11:11 am
That game last night was amazing!!! I never would have thought we’d have 30,000+ people show up!!!! This was the most fun I’ve had at a sporting event since my days in Chicago with the Bulls.
And much respect to our Southern neighbors, but with football at Georgia State now, its only a matter of weeks before people (even Southern) recognize GSU football as the one in downtown ATL.
A Dude
September 3rd, 2010
11:18 am
Considering the location, GSU could stand for “Get Shot University” when referring to the Panthers.
bird watcher
September 3rd, 2010
11:25 am
I like that… let the have the GSU title (get shot university) Southern can use the letters GASOU. Which works and as was already stated most people refer to us as Southern. Also, let this team take a trip down to Southern and we will quickly find out who has the better squad. I guarantee this will be a little tougher opponent than Shorter.
ATL Observer
September 3rd, 2010
11:26 am
I’m with EaglesForever, a little fun trash-talk about silly things like “real GSU” just makes for good rivalry banter. I, for one, look forward to some GSU-GSU games in the future.
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
11:32 am
@Ryan – We may not ever get that 7th flag and State may never get its first. Either way, when people think of GSU Football here they won’t be thinking of State for a while. If you’ve noticed I haven’t bashed State’s program at ALL. I truly wish them all the luck in the world and I’m excited for them and the city. I’ve always wanted State to have a team and now they do. MASSIVE KUDOS! Seriously.
Zopf: Georgia State’s First Game Too Exciting To Miss – Gainesville Times | Buzzinusa
September 3rd, 2010
11:34 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Zopf: Georgia State's first game too exciting to missGainesville TimesApparently work and other [...]
coachx
September 3rd, 2010
11:46 am
Enter your comments here
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
11:47 am
@ ATL Observer – EXACTLY!! Why should UGA and Tech get to have all the fun? I expect State’s program to grow exponentially in the next few years and soon they’ll be more than Southern can handle on any given day but yesterday we Eagles officially passed the title of red-headed step child down to the Panthers. I’m sure they’d tell you it’s better to be that stepchild than to not be a member of the family at all.
coachx
September 3rd, 2010
11:53 am
There are 2 USC’s (U. of Southern Cal and U. of South Carolina…………why can’t there be 2 GSU’s ?
Gerogia State is the much larger school (2nd largest in the entire state with over 30,000). Georgia Southern is the 5th largest state university with 19,000. Normally you win out with #’s. The entire nation (outside of Statesboro, Valdosta, and Macon) will recognize Georgia State University as GSU.
Georgia Southern will have an inferiority complex with Georgia State similar to what Tech has now with UGA. I can’t wait until the 2 school play and all of those rednecks crom south Ga come up to the Dome. A new rivalry is born ! You got to love it !
ryan
September 3rd, 2010
12:00 pm
FWIW, I went to both schools, but graduated from State.
I’m just having some fun here.
If you ask me, the GSU debate is natural, and it adds to what should really be a great rivalry.
Is Southern the better team right now? Obviously. State just played their first game.
But I think anyone with any honesty has to acknowledge that State is going to be competitive at the FCS level very quickly.
dawg day afternoon
September 3rd, 2010
12:06 pm
The G Southern crowd is already embracing its little brother role, just like tech.
UGA RUNS THIS STATE, and now GSU RUNS THIS CITY!!!
David Smith
September 3rd, 2010
12:13 pm
It has been amazing to see this team start out with only one player on the roster and build a cohesive unit in two years. I believe Bill Curry will give this team an opportunity to be competitive in most of it’s games and will gradually improve in the years to come.
Name Solution
September 3rd, 2010
12:14 pm
Georgia Southern needs to change their name to:
Southern Georgia.
Like Southern Misssisippi.
Southern Mississippi used to be called Mississippi Southern.
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
12:15 pm
@Coachx – You have missed the entire point of this. This is all about building a rivalry on the field and yes it’s being done here with something simple and silly – the acronym of both school names. School size has nothing to do with any of this – we’re talking football my friend and if you ask the entire state (outside of Statesboro, Valdosta, and Macon) to talk about GSU FOOTBALL – State’s program would be an afterthought, as it should be. Nothing wrong with that but Southern has simply been at it longer.
Don’t let the media convince you that Tech has an inferiority complex with UGA. Why should they? They both have the same number of national championships and a rich tradition. If the fact that UGA has had more success over Tech in recent years is your basis for that argument then you can imagine the complex UGA must have with Florida (whom they consider to be tougher competition).
Anyway, GSU vs. GSU is gonna be a fun rivalry if they ever make it happen.
Cos
September 3rd, 2010
12:46 pm
Great night for GaState. Bring on Alamaba. We’ve got the Tide quaking in thier boots. We will be No.1 by year end. Georgia Tech who? We’ll manhandle that North Ave. trade school as well. They will probably be too afraid to play us. Nothing can stop us now!! Wahoo!
GCSU Bobcats want football too
September 3rd, 2010
12:52 pm
Shorter is NAIA, for your info. Do your research casual fan. Im sure you learned the game from ESPN and are thus an expert. State were incredibly excited, it was really cool. From my seat though, it didnt seem like a lot really knew what was going on. They didnt even know what a first down was or that illegal motion is …illegal. Not to take anything away, i just worry that the attendance will not be anywhere near that high later on. Really electric atmosphere though, congrats panthers and dont take your team for granted.
Sidenote: average Shorter player was like 5′10 205, Avg GSU player was like 7′2 and 400 pounds of athleticism and muscle, so shout out to the Hawks for playing their hearts out and being really srcappy. I dont see them losing again in conference play this year.
blazerdawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:25 pm
The real University of South Georgia is Valdosta State.
congrats to the old evening school of commerce
September 3rd, 2010
1:35 pm
Georgia State, formerly the Georgia Tech evening school of commerce, deserves credit for beating an NAIA team. In the next few weeks, they’ll take on the dregs from the lower divisions of the NCAA. I’m sure they’ll win some big games—helping Georgia State transform from a commuter school into a respected university.
With Bill Curry at the helm, until he decides to leave for greener pastures, Georgia State is destined to play football games, and eventually, games against schools that give out as many scholarships as they do.
Mark
September 3rd, 2010
2:06 pm
Mr. Panama! I enjoy your excitement for wanting to support your school. I would support Georgia State just because I grew up and live in Atlanta. But I actually went to the real GSU. You know the one down in Statesboro with all the championships. When your school wins a game that will give them some type of credibility other than beating up on a school that is NAIA. Then you can talk.
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
2:13 pm
@ congrats to the…… – Huh? Oh I get it!! So, Georgia State should have taken on Notre Dame’s schedule in their first year. Yeah, that makes sooooo much sense! You know, what makes that line of thinking so strange is that you’d probably turn right back around and say State has no business playing Alabama in their first year either.
dawg day afternoon
September 3rd, 2010
2:20 pm
Geez, the bird brains from Statesboring sure are sensitive. Georgia State will always be known nationwide (not just in south Georgia) as the real GSU, and Ga Southern’s meaningless championships of yesteryear will never change that. And I thought tech had a little brother complex!!
EaglesForever
September 3rd, 2010
2:30 pm
I’m actually from ATL (Decatur to be exact) as are most of the people I know who went to Southern so just stop with this GA Southern redneck stuff already. I’d rather hear than from a State fan than a UGA fan anyday. If Championships are meanlingless then why play for them? When is the official cutoff date for championships to mean anything? Perhaps I missed it when ESPN announced to everyone when that is.
dawg day afternoon
September 3rd, 2010
2:42 pm
Welcome to irrelevance. You have G State to thank for that.
Meanwhile, in the land of grown men: GO DAWGS!!!!!
Bill Stanfill
September 3rd, 2010
2:45 pm
Enter your comments here
Mark
September 3rd, 2010
2:46 pm
To all the State fans who are talking about this State vs. Southern thing. You guys are a first year team who hasn’t done anything. When people talk about football and they say GSU. It is already known that they are talking about Georgia Southern. Yeah you can say you have more students but almost 70% of your student population commute. They have to still stay at home because you are a commuter school with hardly any housing. You barely have a campus cause you share your streets with office buildings and business that sit right in the middle of campus. How can you call yourself a real university when you don’t even have a campus. No housing, no athletic facilities on campus, or anything. Your baseball team play all way in Dekalb. Come on man!!!
john
September 3rd, 2010
2:51 pm
Im happy for Ga. State. However, they have only played a one game. There is no comparison in a football program that has one victory to a school that has won the most national championships of any FCS school. Who knows, it may be different 20 years from now, but get a grip. You have played one game against Shorter College. I agree that Ga. Southern and Ga. State must start playing each other!
A Dude
September 3rd, 2010
2:52 pm
Mark, it’s ’cause nobody wants to play baseball in the ghetto.
USMC07
September 3rd, 2010
2:59 pm
Just to get stuff straight… State’s mascot is named POUNCE… not GUS or anything like that… And Southern… i like how you are all up in arms about your football tradition and all but look who our coach is.. you really think Curry will just settle for an ok program and allow us to miss playoffs all the time… Curry is here to win big and if you dount young school’s ability to perform on the level of the SEC and such go talk to USF and see what they have to say about that topic.
Panther Prowler
September 3rd, 2010
3:00 pm
FYI: GSU owns many of the buildings that GSU “shares” with businesses, and the size of our campus has increased substantially in the last 5 years. This will be a fun rivalry, but all the references to “the ghetto” just sound ignorant, like people that never come downtown. See you in Statesboro, eventually. And of course you’re welcome in our house when the time comes. GO STATE!!!
Panther pride
September 3rd, 2010
3:04 pm
john… I am sorry to inform you of this but State’s campus is the majority style in both Europe and Asia… The U.S. is one of few nations that keep their universities set away from the rest of the cities.. So sorry but close campus styles are not the popular style in the world so looks like State is the real university when you look at the bigger picture.
john
September 3rd, 2010
3:05 pm
USF is the exception, not the rule. And while I like Bill Curry because of his ties to GT, his overall record is 84-105-4. I do hope he is successful at state and that a new rivalry will be born with Ga. southern.
Tide Rising
September 3rd, 2010
3:12 pm
gdawginkalamazoo
September 3rd, 2010
9:45 am
“Why is Curry laying on the ground? Did a Bama fan hit him with a brick or something?”
Gdawginkalamazoo,
I’ll have to go ahead and admit it. Even I was LMAO on that one. Good luck to the panthers the rest of the season.
Michael
September 3rd, 2010
3:24 pm
Bryan, why do you have to add such a negative hating comment to what was truly a great moment in GSU’s history?
Michael
September 3rd, 2010
3:28 pm
Mark, another hater. Our campus exists, is vibrant, and not cluttered with the tractors you bumpkins drive to class.