Know Your Opponent: Week 2 - Georgia State - NC State University Athletics

2017 Recap
Georgia State looks to build on the momentum of last season's strong finish, which produced the program's first winning season (7-5) at the FBS level and first bowl victory, a 27-17 win over Western Kentucky in the AutoNation Cure Bowl. Of the seven wins, six came away from Atlanta.

2018 Outlook
Georgia State was picked third in the Sun Belt's East Division, and placed five members on the preseason All-Sun Belt team. The Panthers return six starters on offense and five on defense, led by preseason All-America WR Penny Hart, who is ranked No. 1 among all FBS returnees with 2,281 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns last season.

2018 Results
The Panthers started their season with a 24-20 win Kennesaw State last Friday night. After going down 14-0, Georgia State scored two touchdowns in the final minute of the first half to tie up the game. Down 20-14 in the fourth quarter, the Panthers scored the game's final 10 points for the home win, with the winning touchdown coming with 41 seconds remaining.

Staff Connections
Entering his fifth year as Athletics Director at Georgia State, Charlie Cobb is a very familiar name to Wolfpack fans. Cobb was a four-year letterwinner as a football player at NC State (1986-89), and then spent seven years working in the Wolfpack Athletics Department lastly as the senior associate athletics director.

The Series
This will be the first ever meeting between NC State and Georgia State.

From the Radio Booth - Dave Cohen
Strength of the offense:
We have a battle at quarterback because Conner Manning (3,146 yards, 14 TDs in 2017) graduated. Dan Ellington who they brought in from Itawamba Junior College in Mississippi has come in with some big numbers (3,211 yards and 27 TDs in 2017). We also have Aaron Winchester as a returning guy.

Whoever wins the QB battle, there will be no shortage of receivers to throw to. Obviously starting with Penny Hart who is our Mr. Everything (1,121 yards and 8 TDs in 2017), he has all the accolades. A lot of the other receivers are relatively young and transfers.

Strength of the defense:
Running a hybrid 3-4, and starting right on the front, we should be strong in different aspects of the game. DE Marterious Allen (4 sacks in 2017) has been around for a few years and is very solid, and as freshmen last year both NG Dontae Wilson and DE Terry Thomas both really came on and played really well at the end of the season.

Biggest preseason question mark:
The running game is going through a complete overhaul, as we lost our top two running backs from last year in Glenn Smith (599 yards, 3 TDs) and Kyler Neal (184 yards, 5 TDs). Demarcus Kirk (145 yards, 2 TDs) returns from last year, and we signed three freshmen backs to compete. It is going to be a wide open battle as to who will be the top one-two guys as we primarily run a one-back set. We've had no trouble through the football, but we have not had a 1,000-yard rusher in the eight-year history of the program.

Know Your Opponent: Week 2 - Georgia State

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