Catch Fyre -Coaching legacy of Brendan Fyre- (NCAA 14)

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Gerald Howse leaves a swarm of Warhawks in his wake

Panthers pull away from injury-laden Warhawks in 26-14 victory

It wasn't pretty, it took Will Lutz four field goals to safely boost the Panthers atop the Warhawks. A Warhawks program without an active healthy strong side linebacker, the Warhawks program that was without starting quarterback, Kolton Browning and top cornerback, Vincent Eddit. With all of those pieces falling into place, it was the Panthers that capitalized on them for an ugly win.

The Panthers victory that moves them up to 4-4 on the season and a rather improbable turn around after two consecutive victories over Sunbelt schools, has them sitting rather pretty at 2-1 in conference play. On the flipside for the Warhawks, this has been a massive disaster after a near upset of the Oklahoma Sooners in week one, absolutely nothing has gone right. UL-Monroe hit national spotlight last season for being the team to pull off an upset and they almost did it again week 1 with a full roster, but their lack of depth and injuries to their key positions have been insurmountable.

The Warhawks were mssing Colton Browning more than ever today, in his wake, Brayles Brown went 11-29 (37%), for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns. The statline aside from the completion percentage doesnt look too bad, but subtract a touchdown and 88 yards tells the true story of the game, aside from a 88 yard touchdown pass, Brown would've gone 10-28 (36%) for 148 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers were representative of the kind of offensive day the Warhawks had. Because their quarterback wasn't any sort of a threat, Jyruss Edwards was targeted heavily and the tailback averaged 1 yard per carry going 9 for 9 on the evening, he did make some plays in the passing game (3 for 66) to show he still has his abilities, but the game was truly driven to a laugher by the lack of aerial force. The long touchdown was resultant of a rare moment of brilliance by Brayles that offered a glimmer of hope for the comeback.

Nothing for the Panthers really stands out, Ronnie Bell went 14-23 for 187 yards, Gerald Howse went for 90 yards on 5 yards per carry and a touchdown and Albert Wilson tied three other Panthers for most receptions but topped the team in receiving yards for an eighth consecutive game (63). This was a very winnable game for the Warhawks but the injuries was simply too much, beautiful punts gave the Panthers room to breath and even led to points when the Warhawks offense struggled, Lutz converted 4-5 (the other went short from 49 yards).

The Warhawks defense held fairly strong and while unable to force a turnover, they made their imprint on the Panthers backfield, getting five sacks and 10 tackles in the backfield. They thrived today and while they played well enough to only allow two touchdowns, when it came down to it, the field position battles were won by the Panthers who thanks to the four field goals would win by 12. Someone trying to say punters weren't important could look at this game as case and point, the MVP was Mike Hubbard, who averaged 64 yards a punt (skewed by some nice bounces) and routinely pinned the Warhawks inside of the 20.

After a two game road trip amounted to two wins to bring the Panthers back to .500, they will return home where they haven't won since Septhember 7th. With them bringing in the Hilltoppers to the Georgia Dome on the 2nd, it will mark almost two months without a win at home. They have 3 more home games to alleviate that and would like to swing odds in their favor at home, which they currently sit at 2-2. UL-Monroe has two more consecutive weeks of games before they get a chance to lick their wounds, next week the Warhawks travel to take on the Trojans of Troy before welcoming Arkansas State (undefeated in SBC play) home. The loss eliminates the Warhawks from post season play.

Georgia State Panthers at Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
Oct 26, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Georgia State Panthers (4-4)	10	6	3	7	26
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (1-7)	7	0	7	0	14

Team Stats Comparison
	GSU	ULM
Total Offense	335	276
Rushing Yards	148	40
Passing Yards	187	236
First Downs	19	9
Punt Return Yards	34	0
Kick Return Yards	76	72
Total Yards	445	348
Turnovers	0	1
3rd Down Converstion	4-12	4-11
4th Down Conversion	2-2	1-2
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	(2-2)/4	(0-0)/1
Penalties	0	0
Posession Time	18:29	9:31

Georgia State Panthers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Ronnie Bell 14/23 187 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Gerald Howse 18 90 5 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Albert Wilson 3 63 21 0

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Brayles Brown 11/29 236 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jyruss Edwards 9 9 1 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD TJ Maye 2 111 55 1

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NCAA Wrapup
Week 9 Edition

- Fresno State suffers their first setback and drops six places to compensate, the Bulldogs got blasted by San Diego State, 45-21

- Even after winning 56-10, the Crimson Tide slip to #2 for the first time this season. Tennessee falls to 4-4 on the season and is 1-3 in SEC play

- For the second consecutive week, Ohio State has ended an undefeated season as the Buckeyes thrash the Nittany Lions 38-19. Their string of victories are enough for voters to give them the edge over Alabama for the top spot in the nation

- Texas Christian jumps out in the Big 12 in a huge way, smashing Texas 49-28 and dropping them from the polls

- Georgia is on the fringe of a ranking and are trying their best to avenge a season that began with national title hopes, at #25 they take on the Florida Gators whom at 6-1 and #5 in the nation are looking to maintain in the national title game talks

- USC continues to struggle in winnable games, just slipping past Utah in a 24-17 match up, Max Wittek scores all three touchdowns for the Trojans

- UCLA stuns the Ducks and lifts themselves up to #14 in the latest polls, Oregon falls to #8 following 24-21 loss

- Braxton Miller can celebrate his team moving to the top spot, but Johnny Manziel reclaims the top spot in the Heisman race following a huge performance in Texas A&M's 66-31 win over the Commodores

- Connor Halliday stays at the top of the NCAA with 2338 passing yards, Derek Carr, AJ McCarron and Nick Montana lag behind as they race for the top passer of the year.

- Jeremy Hill is the top rusher in the nation with 1106 yards through eight

- In a rather surprising twist, the top two wide receivers are Ryan Grant (TUL) and TommyLee Lewis (NIU) who have 947 and 851 yards respectively

Sunbelt Results

UL Lafayette (4-3)(2-1) 17 @ Arkansas State (5-2)(2-0) 27
Troy (4-4)(2-2) 7 @ Western Kentucky (4-4)(3-1) 40
South Alabama (1-6)(1-2) 35 @ Texas State (3-5)(1-3) 14

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Cam Thomas steps infront of a pass intended for Albert Wilson and pulls in an easy interception in Hilltopper win

Western Kentucky jumps out early and never looks back

It didn't take long for Western Kentucky to get ahead in this one and every time Georgia State answered, the Hilltoppers responded with easy, Garrett Schwettman knocked in a field goal on the Hilltoppers first drive from scrimmage and on the following possession, on the punt, it would be brought back 58 yards for a quick ten points, while the Panthers offense struggled to go much of anywhere.

The Panthers offense seemed to pick it up in the second quarter with Ronnie Bell throwing up a beautiful pass to Williams who pulled in a clean reception the play looked perfect and worked exactly as designed. It wouldn't matter much though, once again on the following drive, Brandon Doughty led the Hilltoppers downfield and tossed up a nice touchdown pass from 22 yards out to complete the drive. Through the rest of the half, there would be only 2 more field goals for the Hilltoppers who after allowing the Panthers within 3, jumped out to a 20-7 lead.

The third quarter was more of a defensive struggle (as was most of the second half) and early in the third, the Panthers saw two key players leave with injuries, Ronnie Bell (QB) left early in the third when he took a bad hit on an option rush and it was ruled he had a high ankle sprain. Middle line backer, Jareel Robinson would leave the game with concussion symptoms and the training staff opted to keep him out at risk of further aggravating the situation.

Ultimately it would be the Hilltoppers whom after forcing a fumble (on the run that Bell got hurt on) that would score with Brandon Doughty going untouched into the endzone on a read option. Ben McLane came in and looked stellar for his first drive and had the Panthers in the end zone within thirty seconds, hooking up with Williams second touchdown reception of the day on another long completion. The snap on the extra point would be botched and result in a failed two point conversion attempt after the extra point unit scrambled to try and push the ball into the endzone.

Ben McLane returned to earlier form from than on, failing to complete over 50% of his passes, throwing an interception and struggling to get the offense moving and with Gerald Howse being rendered ineffective due to the Panthers losing the battles in the trenches and some excellent linebacker play, the Panthers wouldn't sniff the Hilltoppers side of the field the rest of the day. Garrett Schwettman would add another long field goal (52 yards) late in the fourth to give the Hilltoppers a 33-13 lead, the Hilltoppers ended up with a rather easy win in this one.

Brandon Doughty easily earned MVP honors for the game, orchestrating a strong offensive attack and picking up key first downs and making plays throughout the game. The HIlltoppers thanks to his performance and the whole unit performing to their abilities, will improve to 5-4 and 4-1 in Sunbelt play, where as the Panthers will fall to 4-5 and drop to .500 in Sunbelt play (2-2).

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Georgia State Panthers
Nov 2, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (5-4)	10	13	7	3	33
Georgia State Panthers (4-5)	0	7	6	0	13

Team Stats Comparison
	WKU	GSU
Total Offense	307	203
Rushing Yards	90	30
Passing Yards	217	173
First Downs	16	7
Punt Return Yards	68	6
Kick Return Yards	65	146
Total Yards	440	355
Turnovers	1	3
3rd Down Converstion	5-11	1-9
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-1
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	(1-2)/4	(0-0)/0
Penalties	0	0
Posession Time	22:11	10:50

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Brandon Doughty 18/27 217 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Antonio Andrews 13 56 4.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Mitchell Henry 4 56 14 1

Georgia State Panthers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Ronnie Bell 6/16 88 1 0 Ben McLane 6/13 85 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Gerald Howse 9 30 3.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Danny Williams 5 108 21.6 2

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NCAA Wrapup
Week 10 Edition

- Purdue is the latest casualty of the Buckeyes undefeated run, Buckeyes only have 4 games remaining between them at the national championship

- Miami climbs to #18 following 34-10 beat down of the Seminoles, effectively ends BCS hopes for a team that came into the season in talks for appearing in the NCG.

- Iowa State is ranked in the latest polls, climbing to #23 after improving to 5-3 on the season and 4-1 in conference play, they beat the Wildcats 19-14

- The Crimson Tide look to prove they deserve the #1 slot, take on #20 LSU this week in a big SEC matchup

- Texas is only unranked for one week, taking out their frustrations on a helpless Kansas Jayhawks program, win 49-7

- The Florida Gators escape against the Bulldogs rallying to 20 unanswered points to win the game by 3 in overtime

- Auburn keeps their bowl aspirations alive with 38-31 victory over the Razorbacks, the Razorbacks haven't won a SEC game under Bilema yet

- Happy Valley nearly silenced when Illinois comes close to pulling off improbable upset, but Penn State holds off the Illini rally to win 34-28

- Johnny Manziel and Braxton Miller are knotted at 1 and 2 for the heisman race, experts agree it'll come down to them two, the last three slots in the top five having almost no shot

- Theo Agnew of Georgia State is currently the favorite to win the Lombardi award, Agnew has 12 sacks and 4 forced fumbles on a defensive unit that has had little to celebrate. He is also listed just behind Jackson Jeffcoat in the top three for the Nagurski. Corey Bell of Boise State is the only other non-AQ school player to be a favorite to win an award

Sunbelt Results

UL-Monroe (2-7)(1-3) 31 @ Troy (4-5)(2-3) 27
Arkansas State (6-2)(3-0) 28 @ South Alabama (1-7)(1-3) 22
Texas State (4-5) 38 @ Idaho (1-8) 3
New Mexico State (2-7) 30 @ UL-Lafayette (5-3) 33 OT

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NCAA Wrapup
Week 11 Edition

- Vanderbilt inches towards bowl eligibility with 24-23 upset of the Gators which could very well end their national championship hopes

- Oregon runs away early with their matchup against Stanford, late rally is rendered essentially worthless

- Oklahoma State at #19 will take on #22 Texas, Oklahoma State is just slightly ahead of the Horns in the standings and a win would keep them ontop

- Florida looks to avenge a tough loss and reinsert themselves into the national picture when they travel to take on Spurrier's #7 Gamecocks

- Alabama blows out LSU 38-7, but lose heisman fringe candidate, AJ McCarron for the season to stress fracture,

- USC blanks Cal to return to a bowl game, with a 6-3 record it would take a lot to go wrong for them to miss the post season

- Florida State avoids yet another upset by holding off a late Wake Forest rally, Wake has to win out to be eligible for post season, while Florida State improves to be eligible

- Only three undefeated teams remain, Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame. Ohio State has to travel to Illinois (5-4) and Michigan (4-5) and play Indiana (4-5) at home and with the B1G championship. Notre Dame has a game against Brigham Young and travels to Stanford to close out the season. Alabama has to travel to Mississippi State (4-5) and Auburn (4-6) while getting a FCS squad to pad their stats against.

- Terry Bowden and Charley Molnar head coaches of Akron and Massachusetts are likely firings this offseason. Charlie Weis of Kansas and Mike MacIntyre of Colorado are the two of the BCS head coaches that could be without a job next year

- Derek Carr is running away with the passing title, with 3050 yards thus far

Sunbelt Results

Western Kentucky (6-4) 17 @ Army (2-7) 0
Arkansas State (7-2)(4-0) 27 @ UL-Monroe (2-8)(1-4) 14

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Panthers Corner

The Panthers pick up their second recruit when Roy Wade (CB) decided to stay in his hometown, the Atlanta native measures in at 6'1, 177 and had an offer to play at FIU as well as Georgia State. This instantly bolsters a secondary that has been one of the worst in the NCAA. Expect him to be starting or just short of the top two backs, he has that level of talent.

Remaining Schedule
11/16 vs UL-Lafayette (6-3)
11/23 @ Arkansas State (7-2)
11/30 South Alabama (1-7)

Sunbelt Standings

Sunbelt Conference Standings - Updated: Nov 4, 2013
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
Arkansas State	7-2	77%	4-0	261	178	W4
Western Kentucky	6-4	60%	4-1	242	185	W3
UL-Lafayette	6-3	66%	3-1	223	171	W2
Georgia State	4-5	44%	2-2	244	327	L1
Troy	4-6	40%	2-4	210	258	L3
South Alabama	1-7	12%	1-3	145	285	L1
Texas State	4-5	44%	1-3	191	229	W1
UL-Monroe	2-8	20%	1-4	210	283	L1

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In the Panthers edition of the famous 'butt fumble' Ronnie Bell loses possession

Disaster strikes in Atlanta; Panthers sunk

Everyone familiar with football is likely to remember the Mark Sanchez 'Butt fumble' of a year ago, the embattled New York Jets quarterback hit a new low when his own teammate forced a fumble. For the Panthers, they found a similar low when Ronnie Bell tried to run a pass from under center. Gerald Howse collided with Bell who tripped forward and took a rough hit that dislodged the ball, the Panthers lost possession and ultimately the Cajuns ended up bringing the ball back for a touchdown, but by than the game was already decided, it was just pouring a pound of salt on a wide open wound.

The Panthers were never close in this one, they went down 31-13 in the first half, including a 17-3 deficit in the first quarter, on the opening play from scrimmage, Terrance Broadway hooked up with his wide open receiver that went 78 yards untouched. All the Panthers could do to respond was knock in a short field goal, which was responded to in earnest with a field goal of their own than an added touchdown on a Gerald Howse fumble that turned the game into a laugher early.

The second quarter really didn't get much better, while the Panthers showed some life by driving down field and Ronnie Bell hit Danny Williams on a screen for a short touchdown, the Cajuns sandwiched a long Lutz field goal with two touchdown runs, including one by aforementioned quarterback, Terrance Broadway.

The Cajuns came out in the second half and put up 17 more points while keeping the Panthers out of the end zone in one of the worst performances the Panthers offensive unit has put up all season, and the flood gates had opened after several weeks of bending and not breaking, the fourty mark would be hit in large to turnovers. Terrance Broadway would run in a second touchdown in the final minute of the game (illiciting the anger of Fyre) and while Fyre was trying to get the game to be more respectable and get a few plays, the Ronnie Bell fumble situation led to the final touchdown of the day with 16 seconds left. Fyre opted to call for a kneel to close out the game and a rather embarrassing performance all around.

Ronnie Bell completed 19 of 34 for 260 yards and a single touchdown, his top target none other than Albert Wilson whom with his 9 reception 111 yard performance broke school records in both categories for season totals. Danny Williams continues to make himself an end zone threat and establishing himself as a viable option next season as a top wide out.

Ronnie Bell finished the game with -19 yards, which also factored in five sacks, and several tackles in the backfield that all in all befuddled the Panthers offensive unit and left them rather helpless. Gerald Howse carried the ball a season low nine times and picked up 50 yards, but a good portion of those yards came on two or three runs, he wasn't consistent and with how much havoc the Cajun's line was causing, the run game was abandoned quickly.

The Panthers aren't eligible for the post season this year regardless but with a 4-6 record, their matchup next week against the Red Wolves of Arkansas State will be their de facto elimination, in all likelihood, the Wolves (whom are 5-0 in conference play) will extend another long losing streak. The Panthers will than close out the season against South Alabama, a 5-7 record on a 1-11 projected record is a huge accomplishment for Fyre, but its still bittersweet with so many losses being blowouts, their record definitely wouldn't give any hope that the team will change one loss to a win next year and pick up their first bowl appearance. On the flipside, the Cajuns solidfiy their spot in the bowl situation and keep themselves tightly behind Arkansas State with a 4-1 record in conference play. With only two games remaining, taking on Louisiana-Monroe in a rivalry matchup than closing out the year in South Alabama, the Cajuns will likely win out and hope that the Red Wolves can drop their last two conference tilts so the Cajuns slide into first. If the Wolves lose to Western Kentucky and beat Georgia State, there would be three co-champions.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns at Georgia State Panthers
Nov 2, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (7-3)	17	14	3	14	48
Georgia State Panthers (4-6)	3	10	0	0	13

Team Stats Comparison
	ULL	GSU
Total Offense	441	303
Rushing Yards	168	38
Passing Yards	273	265
First Downs	18	18
Punt Return Yards	11	6
Kick Return Yards	80	91
Total Yards	532	400
Turnovers	0	3
3rd Down Converstion	5-10	3-10
4th Down Conversion	1-1	1-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	(3-2)/5	(1-1)/2
Penalties	0	0
Posession Time	13:04	14:56

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Terrance Broadway 16/25 273 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Terrance Broadway 15 63 4.2 2 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Alonzo Harris 3 82 27.3 1

Georgia State Panthers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Ronnie Bell 19/34 260 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Gerald Howse 9 50 5.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Albert Wilson 9 111 12.3 0

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NCAA Weekly Wrapup
Week 12 Edition

- David Ash leads the Longhorns past the Cowboys, with 427 yards, he bolsters a 38-13 rout

- Utah stuns the Ducks to improve to #24 in the nation despite a near .500 record (6-4), win 28-14 with two fourth quarter touchdowns

- The Gators get their revenge on Spurrier leaving iwht a 34-31 victory over his Gamecocks, Jeff Driskel out duels Connor Shaw in this offensive shootout

- Alabama rises to 10-0 with 28-7 victory over Mississippi State, only a FCS squad and Auburn stand in their way from an undefeated 2013 regular season

- Purdue gets something to remember the season by, when the 3-7 Boilermakers deal the #22 Nittany Lions their second loss of the year when they completely rock Christian Hackenburg

- Oklahoma and Kansas State look to keep their slim hopes of a Big 12 title alive when the two teams meet this week, Oklahoma has a 7 point spread this week

- UCLA has had a dream season, despite two tough losses (including a 17-40 blow out loss to 3-8 Cal) they find themselves at 3-8 and could have a rose bowl birth on their horizon

- #17 Stanford rights the ship and escapes against the Trojans, a late touchdown in the third quarter seals the deal for the Cardinal

- In a rather odd twist, Logan Thomas usurps Johnny Manziel. Braxton Miller drops all the way to fifth and Teddy Bridgewater jumps into the conversation once again

BCS Bowl Projections
Rose Bowl
Notre Dame (10-0) vs UCLA (8-2)

Fiesta Bowl
TCU (8-3) vs UCF (7-2)

Sugar Bowl
Texas A&M (9-1) vs North Carolina (9-1)

Orange Bowl
Clemson (8-2) vs Louisville (9-1)

BCS National Championship
Alabama (10-0) vs Ohio State (10-0)

Sunbelt Results

Texas State (4-6)(1-4) 14 vs Arkansas State (8-2)(5-0) 31
South Alabama (1-8) 10 vs Navy (7-3) 42
Troy (4-7) 10 @ Ole Miss (6-4) 31