Last Saturday in Death Valley, the LSU Tigers were able to outlast the Florida Gators in a 52-35 win. Quarterback Jayden Daniels had a record-setting night, becoming the first player in FBS history to pass for 350 yards and rush for 200 yards in the same game.
Next up for the Bayou Bengals will be a home game versus Georgia State, a team with a 6-4 record and is sixth in the Sun Belt – East. This will be the first time ever that these two programs will meet on the football field as the Tigers play their final non-conference opponent of the 2023 regular season.
LSU has not lacked in the points scored department as the Tigers average 45.9 points per game, ranking second in the country behind Oregon’s 46.3. Georgia State averages 27.1 points per game but the Panthers have lost their last three games, all decided by 17 or more points, and haven’t played a good first half since playing the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.
The Panthers’ defense has gotten opportunistic throughout the season as they’ve created 15 takeaways while having 12 giveaways. LSU on the other hand has 12 takeaways yet has turned the ball over only seven times.
This game between the LSU Tigers and Georgia State Panthers will be played on Saturday, November 18th. Kickoff at Tiger Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles, Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.
MAINTAIN THE STREAK
Since Brian Kelly has taken over as head coach of LSU, the Tigers are undefeated at home in night games.
It started in 2022 with a blowout win over Southern in Kelly’s first game at Tiger Stadium, then LSU beat Mississippi State 31-16 and crushed New Mexico the following two Saturdays. Kelly was even able to beat Alabama in overtime 32-31 before cruising past UAB two weeks later.
For this 2023 season, LSU handled business against Grambling in week two, then was able to squeak out a 34-31 win over Arkansas with a last-second field goal. The Tigers made light work of Auburn and Army in back-to-back weeks and most recently won a 52-35 shootout versus Florida to make a perfect 10-0 for Kelly in primetime in Death Valley.
HEISMAN WATCH
Despite the LSU Tigers having three losses on the season, Jayden Daniels has put up monster numbers and has the third-best odds at winning the Heisman Trophy.
Daniels has more total offensive yards than Georgia State has altogether with 4,082 yards (3,164 passing, 918 rushing) compared to 3,809 yards (1,995 passing, 1,814 rushing) for the Panthers. Daniels also has more total touchdowns scored with 38 while State has only reached paydirt 34 times offensively.
The two players who are ahead of LSU’s star are two quarterbacks from the PAC-12 in Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. Nix has led the Ducks to a 9-1 record and has a 29-2 touchdown/interception ratio as well as 3,135 passing yards. Penix’s Huskies have a perfect 10-0 to this point while the Southpaw signal-caller has thrown for 3,533 yards and has scored 30 total touchdowns.
FIRST MEETUP
This will be the first time the LSU Tigers and Georgia State Panthers will face one another on the gridiron.
LSU’s all-time record versus Sun Belt opponents is 17-1 with the one loss coming in 2017 to the Troy Trojans while the last time this program faced a team from that conference was in 2021 when the Tigers faced the ULM Warhawks. In that game, LSU came out on top 27-14.
When it comes to the Panthers, they are a fairly new program, only having a football team since 2010. In that time, Georgia State has posted a 1-4 record against SEC opponents, losing twice to Alabama, once to Auburn, and once to Tennessee. In 2019 however, the Panthers were able to defeat the Volunteers 38-30 to open the season.
STAT LEADERS
LSU
Jayden Daniels: 195-273, 3164 yards, 30 TD, 4 INT
Jayden Daniels: 114 carries, 918 yards, 8 TD
Malik Nabers: 72 catches, 1284 yards, 10 TD
Harold Perkins Jr: 5 sacks
Greg Penn III: 67 tackles (27 solo)
Andre Sam: 3 INT
Damian Ramos: 12-of-15 field goals, Long of 48
Georgia State
Darren Grainger: 176-271, 1986 yards, 14 TD, 5 INT
Marcus Carroll: 244 carries, 1206 yards, 12 TD
Robert Lewis: 52 catches, 727 yards, 7 TD
Kevin Swint: 4 sacks
Jontrey Hunter: 78 tackles (45 solo)
Gavin Pringle: 3 INT
Liam Rickman: 7-of-8 field goals, Long of 46