Tag: Georgia State Panthers

Real life Van Wilder enters transfer portal, seeks eighth year of eligibility

Georgia State tight end Aubry Payne enters the transfer portal, seeking an eighth year of eligibility.

We have a real-life version of a Ryan Reynold’s character on our hands. Georgia State tight end Aubry Payne is trying to do his best rendition of Van Wilder. It was reported by On3 that Payne is entering the transfer portal and seeking to play for his third team.

Payne was granted an NCAA waiver for the 2022 season, his seventh year at the collegiate level that began in 2016. In the movie Van Wilder, Reynold’s character was a seventh-year senior. It appears Payne is looking to top that.

The former two-star recruiting in the 2016 class first played for Western Carolina during the 2016 season appearing in 10 games at the FCS level. He would play in one game his sophomore year before an injury sidelined Payne and he eventually left the program for Georgia State. The Georgia native would play for the Panthers from 2019 to 2022.

He accumulated 49 receptions for 529 yards and 13 touchdowns during that span. Payne appeared in just three games last season and caught one pass for three years. He will be 26 years old in October and would be older than some assistants around college football. Nebraska assistant Garret McGuire is just 24 years old.

It remains to be seen if the NCAA will once again grant Payne another season of playing college football.

5 things to watch for in UNC football vs Georgia State matchup

As North Carolina is set to hit the road against Georgia State, we take a look at a few key things you should know before you watch.

The North Carolina Tar Heels’ unblemished record is on the line this Saturday against Georgia State.

UNC has had a fruitful season start, with their offense clicking on all cylinders. This Saturday should look no different as they will travel to Atlanta to take on the 0-1 Panthers, a vital game for the team before their most challenging game on the schedule against Notre Dame in two weeks.

After escaping week two with a 63-61 win over Appalachian State, UNC will have a chance to work on their defense against a less offensive Panthers team. If North Carolina wants a shot against Notre Dame, they will need to fix their defense, making this week’s three match-up vital for the Tar Heels.

This game is the second time UNC will take on Georgia State in its program history, constraining the Panthers 59-17 last season. This game should have an identical outcome, with quarterback Drake Maye leading the charge for North Carolina.

Now with the narrative of cannot win on the road in the past, the only thing in UNC’s way of a dominating win is their shaky defense.

As UNC prepares to battle the Panthers, we look at five things to look out for in the Saturday matchup.

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022: Season Prediction, Breakdown, Key Games, Players

Georgia State College Football Preview 2022: Team breakdown, season prediction, keys to the campaign, and what you need to know

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Georgia State season with what you need to know and keys to the season.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

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Georgia State Panthers Preview
Head Coach: Shawn Elliott, 6th year at Georgia State, 30-30
7th year overall: 31-35, 2021 Preview
2021 Record: Overall: 8-5, Conference: 6-2

Keys To The Season | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Georgia State Top 10 Players | Georgia State Schedule

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022

Georgia State lost the first two games to North Carolina and Army by a combined score of 102-27, and dropped the date to Appalachian State a few weeks later 45-16 for a 1-4 start.

Even with the schedule lightening up … a 7-1 run with a win at Coastal Carolina, a victory over Georgia Southern, and a 51-20 blowout bowl win over Ball State?

That’s how you turn a season and a program around.

Three straight winning seasons, three straight bowl games, four bowl appearances in five years – it’s been a good run for Georgia State as it grows into more and more of a factor in the Sun Belt.

Even with all of the changes and the new programs coming in, the potential is there for this to be the best season yet since becoming a full-on FCS team back in 2013.

Head coach Shawn Elliott has settled in, the team is loaded with good veterans and playmakers, and with the momentum of the second half of last season, this is when it’s fun to be a Georgia State fan.

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022: Offense

The offense wasn’t always perfect, and it loaded up on a whole slew of mediocre teams, but it got the job done. The running game was fantastic, the passing attack was more effective than the stats, and the parts are there to be far more consistent and far better because …

This might not be the best offensive line in the Sun Belt, but it’s going to be very, very good. Malik Sumter was a Second Team All-Sun Belt center, Pat Bartlett was a Third Team All-Sun Belt guard, and almost everyone else is back with only former star guard Shamarious Gilmore done.

The veteran backs will thrive. Tucker Gregg is a reliable 220-pound occasional workhorse who averaged close to five yards per carry on his 953 yards, fellow senior Jamyest Williams is a quick back who transferred over from South Carolina and ran for 6.7 yards per carry with nine scores, and the rushing production will come from …

Darren Grainger. The 6-4, 202-pound senior wasn’t always accurate, but he threw just four picks with 19 touchdown passes.

Slippery-fast, he took off for 646 yards and three scores – he gave Auburn a hard time and was almost perfect in the bowl win over Ball State. Now he has to be more consistent as a passer. UConn transfer Steven Krajewski is a nice backup option.

The receiving corps is loaded. San Pinckney transferred to Coastal Carolina, but Jamari Thrash led the team with 32 grabs averaging over 14 yards per catch.

TE Aubrey Payne led the team with seven touchdown catches, Ja’Cyais Credle is a 6-4 deep threat, and there are a slew of young options in the mix.

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022: Defense

The defense has to be better on third downs, the secondary has to be stronger, and it has to rise up against the good offenses on the slate, but the pass rush should once again be terrific, there’s a slew of potential all-star talent, and as long as the takeaways are coming, all should be okay.

The pass rush and big plays come from the linebackers. Jamil Muhammad wasn’t always a starter, but he led the team with six sacks from his set on the outside. The inside combination of Blake Carroll and Jordan Veneziale are tough – they combined for 186 tackles as the team’s top two hitters.

The line isn’t massive, but there’s a good rotation. Again, most of the pass rush comes from the linebackers, but as long as the three in the 3-4 can hold up, and if Thomas Gore can keep getting behind the line from his spot on the nose, this group will do its job.

Safety Antavious Lane has been one of the best defensive backs in the Sun Belt over the last few years, and the corners can tackle.

Keys To The Season | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Georgia State Top 10 Players | Georgia State Schedule

Georgia State Panthers: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT

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Georgia State Panthers Top 10 Players: College Football Preview 2022

Who are the top 10 Georgia State players going into the 2022 college football season?

Georgia State Panthers Preview 2022: Who are the top 10 players going into the season?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

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Georgia State Panthers Preview 
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen | Georgia State Schedule 

Georgia State hires former Georgia basketball star

The Georgia State Panthers have hired former Georgia Bulldogs basketball player Jonas Hayes as their head coach.

The Georgia State Panthers have hired former Georgia Bulldogs basketball player Jonas Hayes as their head coach. Hayes served as Xavier’s interim head coach as the Musketeers won the 2022 NIT.

Hayes played for Georgia from 2001-2004 and helped the Bulldogs make the 2002 NCAA Tournament. His named frequently came up as a potential candidate for Georgia basketball’s new head coach, but ultimately the Dawgs hired former Florida coach Mike White.

The Georgia State Panthers finished their 2021-2022 season with a 18-11 record. Georgia State won the Sun Belt conference tournament and made the 2022 NCAA Tournament before losing to top-seeded Gonzaga in the first round.

Jonas Hayes of the Georgia Bulldogs averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds during his college career with Georgia and Western Carolina. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

Hayes has previously served as an assistant coach at Morehouse, South Carolina State, Belmont Abbey, Georgia, and Xavier. Hayes coached at Georgia from 2013-2018 during the Mark Fox era.

Georgia State basketball’s official Twitter account announced Hayers’ hiring:

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2022 Spring Football Game Attendance Tracker

The 2022 FBS spring college football game attendance tracker is now live, with Georgia State helping in getting us started.

For a number of years, I took up an interest in monitoring spring football game attendance. Knowing how much pride some schools put into their spring game crowds and comparing it with schools that don’t give it a second thought was always intriguing to me. Spring football has always been a signature event for a number of schools, most notably in the south where the weather tends to be warmer, but it wasn’t until I took on the mission to track every FBS school’s spring game attendance that I realized just how much more spring football games seem to be a part of the fan experience for schools in the SEC and Big Ten than other conferences.

I tracked spring game attendance figures for a string of years while working as a contributor to College Football Talk on NBC Sports, and I even had a handful of spreadsheets that kept annual records of these figures. Sadly, College Football Talk is no more and those detailed records have been lost for good. Fortunately, my coverage and unofficial crowning of spring game attendance champions for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 still exist. And I’m honored that my coverage of such information was viewed and shared by multiple schools over the years, including UCF and Virginia Tech in 2016.

So, now that college football’s calendar appears to be back to business as usual after two years of pandemic issues canceling spring football entirely or reducing the number of fans who would be able to attend a spring game, I figured now is as good a time as any to get back to monitoring the spring game crowds.

April is the busy month for spring game attendances as the weekends will soon be full of spring games across the major conferences, with the middle of April hitting its stride for a couple of weeks that will include the traditional heavy hitters when it comes to spring football game attendance (Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Nebraska, and Ohio State are all big draws, historically).

This list will keep track of and rank the spring game attendance across the nation this season.

This list was last updated on April 3, 2022.

No attendance figures have been made available for Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Missouri, and Syracuse.

Georgia State vs Gonzaga NCAA Tournament First Round odds, tips and betting trends

The No. 1 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-3) are a 23.5-point favorite in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the No. 16 seed Georgia State Panthers (18-10) on Thursday at Moda Center. The matchup tips off at 4:15 PM. Here are insights into …

The No. 1 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-3) are a 23.5-point favorite in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the No. 16 seed Georgia State Panthers (18-10) on Thursday at Moda Center. The matchup tips off at 4:15 PM. Here are insights into this West Regional Region 1-16 matchup to help you fill out your bracket.

Rankings courtesy of the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.

Gonzaga has gone 15-13-2 against the spread, while Georgia State’s ATS record this season is 13-12-0. The Bulldogs have hit the over in 12 games, while Panthers games have gone over eight times. The two teams score an average of 158.4 points per game, 8.9 more points than this matchup’s total. Gonzaga has a 4-5-1 record against the spread while going 9-1 overall in the past 10 contests. Georgia State has gone 9-1-0 against the spread and 10-0 overall in its last 10 contests.

Ahead of this matchup, here’s everything you need to get ready for Thursday’s college hoops action.

Georgia State at Gonzaga odds, spread and lines

Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list.

  • Spread: Gonzaga -23.5
  • Total: 149.5
  • Moneyline: Gonzaga -9412, Georgia State +2150

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Georgia State at Gonzaga odds, spread, & more

Prediction

Gonzaga 84, Georgia State 61

Moneyline

  • The Bulldogs have won 27 of the 30 games they were the moneyline favorite this season (90%).
  • Gonzaga has won all five games it has played as a moneyline favorite with odds of -9412 or shorter.
  • The Bulldogs have an implied moneyline win probability of 98.9% in this matchup.
  • This season, the Panthers have been the underdog six times and won one of those games.
  • Georgia State has not been a bigger underdog this season than the +2150 moneyline set for this game.
  • The Panthers have a 4.4% chance to win this game based on the implied probability of the moneyline.

Against the spread

  • The Bulldogs score 87.8 points per game, 23 more points than the 64.8 the Panthers give up.
  • When Gonzaga totals more than 64.8 points, it is 13-8-2 against the spread and 23-2 overall.
  • When Georgia State allows fewer than 87.8 points, it is 11-9 against the spread and 15-8 overall.
  • The Panthers average 5.3 more points per game (70.6) than the Bulldogs allow (65.3).
  • Georgia State has put together a 7-4 ATS record and an 11-3 overall record in games it scores more than 65.3 points.
  • Gonzaga is 8-9-1 against the spread and 18-1 overall when it allows fewer than 70.6 points.
  • The Bulldogs have out-scored their opponents by a total of 652 points this season (22.5 points per game on average), and the Panthers have put up 164 more points than their opponents on the year (5.8 per game).

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Over/Under

  • The Bulldogs have an average implied point total equal to their implied total in Thursday’s game (87).
  • This season, Gonzaga has put up more than 87 points 14 times.
  • The Panthers’ implied point total in this matchup (63 points) equals the team’s season average.
  • So far this season, Georgia State has put up more than 63 points in a game 18 times.

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Wyatt Langford’s homer pushes Gators past Georgia State

The Gators clinched the weekend series with a baker’s dozen against GSU.

Florida left fielder Wyatt Langford took a few practice swings and dug into the batter’s box, staring down a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the third with two outs and second baseman Colby Halter 90 feet away from home plate. He watched a ball and a strike sail by.

Then Georgia State pitcher Ryan Watson hurled a pitch that caught too much of the plate. Langford unloaded on it and sent a rocket out to dead center, giving Florida baseball a 4-3 lead that it would never surrender to defeat the Panthers, 13-4, and clinch the weekend series on Saturday.

Halter started the second game with a bang versus Georgia State. He blasted a no-doubter to right-center to give the Gators the 1-0 lead.

However, the lead didn’t last long as coach Kevin O’Sullivan elected to go with pitcher Phillip Abner after Pierce Coppola was a late scratch due to back stiffness. Abner struggled with his command following a solid first inning, allowing two walks while skipping a few pitches to the backstop. The Panthers pounced on the opportunity and brought a runner all the way around to tie the game.

Abner’s woes continued in the third, hitting a batter and surrendering a double that put two runners in scoring position that eventually touched home plate after he was relieved by Blake Purnell.

Florida quickly answered in the bottom half via a sac fly from right fielder Sterlin Thompson to score third baseman Deric Fabian plus a Langford homer to grab the lead. Later in the fifth inning, catcher BT Riopelle grounded to third and drove in Thompson to add another run. First baseman Kris Armstong padded the Gators’ lead in the sixth with another dinger, and Thompson drove in Halter with an RBI single.

Florida added another six runs in the late innings, and the Panthers hit a solo shot in the top of the ninth to get to the final score. The team tallied 16 hits in the ball game but also committed two errors on defense.

The Gators return for the final game in the series against Georgia State to try to earn the sweep at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday.

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Gators strikeout 18 in series-opening victory over Georgia State

Gators hurlers were hot on Friday night!

After giving a lead-off triple that led to a run, Florida baseball ace Hunter Barco dialed in and picked up from where he left off in his last start. He hurled six innings, collected a career-high 12 strikeouts while giving up only one run, a walk and three hits.

The strikeouts didn’t stop coming after Barco departed and the Gators bullpen took over. Reliever Nick Ficcarotta dished out six more where the ballpark couldn’t keep track because they ran out of strikeout signs at 15. Their stellar outing led to a 4-1 series-opening victory over Georgia State Friday at Florida Ballpark.

The Gators struck back in the bottom of the opening frame. Second baseman Colby Halter and center fielder Jud Fabian recorded back-to-back singles then right fielder Sterlin Thompson grounded out to first to put two runners in scoring position. Left fielder Wyatt Langford followed and scored Halter when he grounded out to short, then Fabian touched home plate on a wild pitch to reclaim the lead.

Langford added to Florida’s advantage in the bottom of the third when he sent a moonshot over the right-field wall. Shortstop Josh Rivera then crushed a ball to right-center field for more insurance to make it 4-1.

Offensively, Rivera, Langford and Fabian led the team with two hits apiece and the lineup as a whole only struck out seven times.

The Gators return to Florida Ballpark Saturday to play Georgia State and try to take the series at 4 p.m. EST.

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Series Preview: Florida baseball hosts Georgia State for second weekend series of 2022

Here’s a look at what’s on tap on the baseball diamond this weekend.

After dropping two of the first three games of the 2022 season, Florida baseball is looking to build on its midweek improvements in a weekend series against Georgia State.

Florida struck out 31 times against Liberty in the opening series, but the Gators only fanned 10 times over the week against Stetson and North Florida. This weekend series will be a good opportunity for Jud Fabian and Kris Armstrong to get back into their grooves. Fabian, who struggled with strikeouts last year, leads the team early on with six strikeouts, and Armstrong is batting just .050 through his first 20 at-bats.

Fortunately, others have stepped on the offensive side of the ball. Sterlin Thompson’s bat continues to be on fire — he’s batting .400 with three home runs so far this season — and Colby Halter has notched a hit in each of Florida’s five games.

Pitching is still a work in progress, but things are coming along nicely. Ryan Slater was named the closer until further notice, and he proved his worth with a 2 1/3 innings save against North Florida on Wednesday.

Hunter Barco will be back on the mound Friday night for Florida. He received national attention after his 11-strikeout performance on opening night. Timmy Manning and Pierce Coppola will round out the weekend rotation, but the two will swap days after Manning got the Tuesday start against Stetson.