South Alabama at Georgia State Preview

The 2025 Season has not been kind to South Alabama or Georgia State. Both teams enter the Week 9 contest still searching for their first FBS win on the year. It will be the 10th all-time meeting between the two, a series led by Georgia State 5-4, including a win streak of three games. Both teams will hope this is the the game to finally figure it out, when they meet in Atlanta Thursday night on ESPN2.

South Alabama

South Alabama won their season opener against Morgan State, but have yet to find the win column since, entering the game on a six game losing streak. Despite what the record may imply though, the Jags have still looked competitive in most of these games, losing all but one game by two possessions or less. South Alabama has really struggled on offense and special teams. The Jags have turned the ball over frequently, committed a number of penalties, and have had serious inconsistency with their kicker and punter.

“It’s not like we’re getting drummed by 24 points and 38 points. We’ve got to finish better as coaches in the second half. We’ve got to keep momentum when we have it and we have to put them in a position to keep the momentum,” said coach Major Applewhite.

The last two losses have been particularly heartbreaking. Three weeks ago, South Alabama lost in overtime to Troy in the Battle for the Belt. The Jags had multiple chances to win in this one, but some strange play calling cost them, ultimately losing 31-24. Last week hurt the worst for South Alabama though, as it was a game that they led by 11 in the fourth quarter and never trailed until Arkansas State kicked a walk off field goal to win 15-14.

Not only was the ending heartbreaking, but it was an opportunity the Red Wolves never would have had without some crucial South Alabama miscues. The Jags had the ball in the redzone in the final minutes, but a crucial unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on head coach Major Applewhite backed them up, and after some success, a holding call backed the Jags up again. Hamilton DiBoyan then missed 29-yard field goal that would have made it a five point game. This led to Arkansas State having an opportunity to drive down the field to win.

The offense for South Alabama has not been a strong point and has been very up and down this season. The Jags have found success in their running game though. They feature a heavy rushing attack, using a committee of backs, primarily Kentrel Bullock and PJ Martin. The Jags average nearly 200 yards per game rushing on 44 attempts per game.

Passing has been a weak point for the Jags this season, mainly due to the offensive play calling in recent weeks. South Alabama does not throw the ball much, and takes few shots downfield. In last week’s game, South Alabama completed 18 passes, but only for 118 yards in total. An average of only six yards per completion. South Alabama continues to stick with Bishop Davenport at quarterback, despite some questions in recent weeks about trying something new. The receivers have really struggled to put together numbers. Only one of them has more than 200 yards receiving on the year. That lone receiver would be Devin Voisin, who has 544 yards total and four touchdowns on the season.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be better. One thing is we need to execute. We need to put ourselves in positions to make those plays, we need to be on schedule to call those [shot] plays. We have got to be able to play clean enough down the field, so we can continue to take those chances. It lies on both of us [coaches and players],” said coach Applewhite on the offense.

The defense despite some struggles in early weeks, has been playing much better in recent weeks. South Alabama has really improved their pass defense behind big seasons by Nehemiah Chandler and Ty Goodwill. South Alabama has only given up an average of 174.9 yards per game. The rushing defense has been a different story, South Alabama giving up nearly 200 yards per game on the ground.

As for this week’s game, South Alabama will be missing linebacker Caleb Dozier, but will gain kicker Davis Little back from injury. While it is not clear whether or not Little will regain the starting roll, it at the very least give South Alabama some flexibility to address some kicking struggles this season.

The biggest keys to victory for South Alabama are cleaning up the penalties and finishing drives against a bad defense. South Alabama was penalized 14 times in last weeks game, they will have to clean that up to find any success. They also have to find away to put together a complete offensive performance, this will be their best remaining chance to do so.

Georgia State

For Georgia State fans, it has been a similar, but very different season compared to South Alabama. A season that really couldn’t be much worse. The Panthers have been blown out in nearly every game, with the average margin of victory for their opponent being a shocking 28.7 points, second worst in the nation. Georgia State’s defense has been the biggest issue, giving up an average of 41 points per game. Penalties have also been a huge issue for the Panthers, who are the most penalized team in the country. Georgia State has committed an astonishing 77 penalties for 615 yards, the the only team behind them sits with 59 penalties on the year.

Last week gave Georgia State fans some hope. The Panthers were leading late in third quarter in their rivalry game against Georgia Southern. A bad fourth quarter derailed it though, the Panthers giving up 21 fourth quarter points, ultimately losing 41-24. The offense played well behind new starting quarterback Cameran Brown, who had a huge game after replacing TJ Finley. Brown threw for 280 yards and a touchdown and led the team in rushing, totaling 120 yards and a touchdown on the ground. However, in what has been a common theme in this season, Georgia State’s defense struggled. The Panthers gave up 215 yards on the ground, 212 passing. Georgia Southern quarterback JC French had a huge game against the Georgia State defense, totaling 297 all purpose yards and four touchdowns.

On the season Georgia State has not had a bad season on offense, but they have not been able to put points on the board consistently. The Panthers are averaging 349 yards per game, but only scoring an average of 18.9 points-per-game. Part of this has been due to some inconsistency in the passing game. Georgia State started Cameran Brown last week, but TJ Finley has also seen significant playing time this year. Brown has 882 yards, eight touchdowns and zero interceptions so far this year compared to TJ Finley’s 816 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. Brown looks to be the starter again this week, but Finley could see playing time as well, especially if Brown starts to struggle.

“Some of the things that he’s kind of put behind him. He doesn’t have the other off the field things that he’s been dealing with. He prepared the right way last week, it warranted us to make the change,” said coach Dell McGee about the change at quarterback.

Georgia State has struggled to run the ball though, the running backs finding little success causing them to lean heavily on the quarterback run. Rashad Brown has 242 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, quarterback Cameran Brown has 208 yards and three touchdowns.

As mentioned earlier the defense has been the biggest issue, in addition to the points given up, Georgia State has given up an average of 450 yards per game. Teams have ran for over 200 yards per game against them. The one bright spot is Josiah Robinson, who has 55 total tackles, including six tackles for loss on the year.

The keys for Georgia State in this one are very similar to South Alabama’s, to have a shot they have to clean up the penalties, contain the run, and find a run game. South Alabama runs the ball a lot, if their defense can not keep the Jaguar running backs in check, it will be a long night. Offensively, they need to find away to exploit the South Alabama run defense.

“It’s definitely a tough matchup, and a short week, but I feel like our guys are preparing mentally the right way. We have to come out with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm on a nationally televised game and put our best product on the field,” said Coach McGee about the game.