As Georgia State prepares to face a talented Clemson team, head coach Trent Miles hopes the Panthers took some lessons from this season’s game at another Power Five conference school, Washington.
Georgia State (1-9, 0-7 Sun Belt Conference) and the Tigers (7-3, 6-2 ACC) kick off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Clemson Memorial Stadium.
“We are excited to go and try to put our best foot forward and earn the respect of an ACC team like Clemson,” head coach Trent Miles said at his weekly press conference.
In week four of this season, Georgia State travelled across the country to play at Washington, and the Panthers opened the game with a strong first half to lead the Huskies 14-0 at the intermission. Quarterback Nick Arbuckle threw a pair of touchdown passes, and GSU outgained Washington 231-73 in the first half. The Panthers still led 14-7 late in the third quarter before UW pulled away for a 45-14 victory.
“Hopefully we learned that we can only worry about what we control,” Miles said. “We can’t control the crowd or the weather, we can’t control their size and speed. We can only control our preparation, our effort and our execution, so hopefully we go out there and just worry about us and play as hard as we can.
“We are still in the process of growing this program and teaching these kids how to respond in different situations and environments. Hopefully, they are learning lessons from playing at Alabama, West Virginia, Washington and just focusing on the things we can control.”
Georgia State has produced one of the Sun Belt’s top passing attacks behind Arbuckle, receivers Donovan Harden, Robert Davis and LynQuez Blair and tight end Joel Ruiz, but the Panthers continue to look for improvement in their running game.
Last time out at Troy, GSU got 86 yards rushing from Marcus Caffey on the way to a net of 101 yards, to go along with 293 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
“We have to establish the running game,” Miles said. “We have to be a balanced offense. We can’t just rely on throwing the ball all over the field.
“It’s also mindset, an attitude that we’re tough, and we need that as we grow this program.”
Arbuckle leads the Sun Belt with 2,812 yards passing and 19 touchdown passes, and the junior from Camarillo, Calif., 313 yards passing to break the Georgia State career record of 3,124 yards passing.
Harden is the Panthers’ top receiver with 52 catches for 796 yards and six touchdowns, just one shy of the Georgia State season record.
The Panthers will be facing one of the nation’s top defenses as Clemson allows just 262.1 yards per game. The Tigers rank in the top 20 nationally in 19 different statistical categories. All-America defensive end Vic Beasley has eight sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss.
On offense, although starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, a talented redshirt freshman, is doubtful for the game, Clemson has two other prolific freshmen in leading rusher Wayne Gallman (493 yards, 2 TD) and top receiver Artavis Scott (56 receptions, 643 yards, 5 TD).
The Sports Inquirer 
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