After a rough sophomore season, the Georgia State Panthers finally begin conference play in the Colonial Athletic Association with a tough slate of games within the conference along with a non-conference matchup against SEC foe Tennessee. After traveling to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama in the team’s inaugural season, the Panthers will get another crack at another storied SEC program as they take on the Volunteers in Knoxville.
The season begins with a home date against South Carolina State, which defeated the Panthers 23-13 last season in South Carolina. After the aforementioned trip to Knoxville, revenge will be on the team’s mind as the Panthers take on the Larry Coker-led Texas-San Antonio squad that beat them at the Alamodome in overtime 17-14 last season. This time the contest will be at the Georgia Dome.
The Panthers’ CAA debut will come on Sept. 22 with a home date against the Richmond Spiders, who went 0-8 in the conference last season. The schedule gets much tougher for the remainder of the season as they take on four teams that made the 2011 postseason.
A road game with William and Mary begins the tough CAA stretch for GSU as they round out their schedule with New Hampshire, Villanova and Old Dominion coming to the Georgia Dome and road contests against Rhode Island, James Madison and Maine. The final game against Maine could be a benchmark for how the Panthers measure up against the CAA’s elite as the Black Bears advanced to the FCS quarterfinals last season before falling to Georgia Southern.
The biggest question surrounding the Panthers’ roster for next season is who will start at quarterback. The 2011 season saw three different quarterbacks take snaps as Kelton Hill finished the season under center. Hill is expected to compete for the starting job with redshirt freshman Ben McLane, who led the Brookwood Broncos to the 2010 Class 5A state championship, and Bo Schlechter, who started four games last season, also competing for the position.
With another big SEC game on the schedule and the team finally able to compete for a championship, a new excitement surrounds the Georgia State Panthers. While it may take a few more years for the team to be a force in the conference, the program is taking steps in the right direction in reaching its ultimate goal.
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