Episode 34 - Ben Moore, Georgia State Beat Writer

Uh, selfishly, I'll just talk about myself here for, for about 30 seconds here, but we, uh, we started a club football team when I was on campus in 2001 and 2002, and had some support for it. Um, the president at the time wasn't really interested in starting a sanction football program. Um, we also played against South Alabama who started, uh, their program as a, as a club team, as well as, uh, Georgia State's chief rival. Um, Georgia Southern, uh, started as a club football team.

Very, very early, uh, back in the, uh, in the seventies and eighties while they were gone of garnering support there. So club football is, is, uh, is around, it's a lot of power. Five programs have club football teams. So that kind of started the process and, and getting it going. Uh, finally a, a student survey was launched and then football happened, and then you gotta figure out how to sustain it, right? Um, I, I joke with people now, uh, you can't have generations of.

When you don't have, you haven't been around a generation, and that's kind of where Georgia State is right now. Um, President Mark Becker, uh, who was the president, uh, when, uh, football, uh, basically launched in 2010, realized very quickly FCS football was not gonna work in Atlanta. There's just no audience for it. Um, and, uh, basically, Decided and charge his ad at the time. Hey, look, go find a conference. Go find a, a Sunbelt, uh, go find a conference usa Go find something.

That makes sense. Um, there was a relationship there with the, with the then athletic director, Cheryl Levick, with Carl Benson, uh, who was leaving basically the, the whack, which is basically about to, you know, go the way of the dodo as we know. Um, so he, he has, uh, told the story. Uh, multiple times, but their, they had a relationship there and, and the Sunbelt was the landing spot. Interesting to note, uh, and confirm this with a couple people that had, uh, had talked to Conference usa.

Conference USA actually reached out quite literally the day before Georgia State was about to announce. So, uh, Conference USA was interested in Georgia State as well. I think they made the right call. Uh, we'll say, uh, look looking back obviously years later. Um, but it has been a rocky road, certainly with not a whole lot of support and really not a lot of infras. For football.

Um, you know, there, you know, went the end of Coach Curry's days as, as of course ODU and Georgia State matched up in the CAA and the FCS days, moving to the, uh, to the Sunbelt. Um, you know, kind of finding their sea legs here in the last four or five years really with Sean Elliott. And, um, you know, this season not withstanding and it certainly had been in accelerating and inclining kind of moving up the ladder. And, uh, this season was really the first.

Real expectations for this Georgia State football program. And, uh, as of today, uh, which is the 26th of October when we speak, um, they're, they're having a rough season and not really what a whole lot of Panther faithful, uh, or even the coaching staff would tell you that they wanted to do. But, but really in reality, they've only lost one game where they haven't been favored. And that was the Charlotte game, which is still mind boggling.

Um, and that team may not win a win another game all season. But, um, they, they paid a very, very tough non-conference schedule playing two power. Programs to open the schedule. And I think that honestly took a, took a toll on them on an injury and probably even a mental side of things. But, but yeah, that was a very long answer, fellas. I apologize what went on there. But no, it's a, no, it's a podcast, not a radio interview. But yeah, that's, that's kind of where we're at right now.

From, you know, a national championship level program in the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech, or these, I mean, you, you really just draw a circle really, really in about, you know, three or four hour stretch from metro Atlanta and you're gonna hit 9, 10, 11, uh, FBS programs going each direction. So it's very difficult to kind of disconnect those. So you, So Georgia did alums, they, they went to games at Auburn or Alabama, Clemson, South. Listen, I, I grew up a Florida State fan.

You know, my dad and I before football, football started at Georgia State. We had season tickets to fsu. Uh, I was there for the final 10 years of Bobby Bowden. Um, I'd gotten in the car on Saturday morning and we drove to Tallahassee or we went down Friday night. Um, so it's a very difficult. And it has been difficult so far to disconnect that now we know with programs as they continue to grow and mature and honestly get signature wins.

And that's the one thing that that Sean Elliot has gotten gotten Bowl wins as well as obviously enormous, uh, I think landmark victory against the University of Tennessee in 2019 to start that season. Um, and what. You know, is interesting, always talking to folks, uh, around the country, um, trying to understand and encapsulate how big that victory was for the program.

Um, the, the word validation really comes in there because when you live in SCC country down here, to knock off an SCC fo and in the manner that they did it, you know, physically dominating the team. On both sides of the line of scrimmage going into, you know, the mighty Neland stadium and knocking them off. Um, and now Tennessee fans can kind of put that in their memory bank as they're back in, you know, top 10 program now.

But you know, Sean, you know, the biggest thing, you know, and he told us very early, Look, we're gonna run the football here. Uh, we're gonna be a run first tough, you know, hitch punch you in the face, um, type offense. And that's what they've done. You know, they, they've consistently been a top 10, top 15, uh, rushing attack and, and really been, you know, they, they've nicknamed it the Panther Express.

Basically where you have, uh, the train horn as folks will hear, uh, one warning for ODU fans coming to center park, the train horn is very loud and they do it a lot. So they, you know, if you, if you've seen the, the, the, you know, the gift, uh, or, or things around there with the, uh, you need more train horn, that's kind of where it will, will start. And, but, uh, you, they have the hashtags down the horn. No, just getting tougher along the line of scrimmage.

You know, defensively, they've been up and down. Um, you know, and it's had some struggles. Certainly this year they're, they're not, not very good overall. Uh, but this team runs the football. They, they, they have a dual threat quarterback. They wanna run the football. Uh, they want to, you know, be opportunistic in the past game. But they, they're, they, they'd love to run it 45 or 50 times and come right at you and, and force you to stop 'em.

however you win the next two, you turn it around, you beat Army and you beat your big rival, your state rival, Georgia Southern. What was the biggest catalyst in kind of re rebounding and not letting that skid get even.

Blake Carroll, uh, went down with an Achilles, basically, and he's the guy that's the quarterback of the defense, calls all the plays, you know, he goes down, they had, they, because they had already gotten banged up, uh, guys getting hurt on special teams and back up against, uh, the, the previous two games. They threw a walk on in there, walk, walk on, Basically played over 45 snaps and against Charlotte. And the Charlotte coaches kind of figured that out, said, Hey, let's throw it his way.

Uh, let's run it his way. And it really victimize the Panther's defense that day. But, you know, the, the, um, the offensive line has gotten healthy. You've got all five starters back kind of base, basically where they are. Um, Coach Elliot, who is a former offensive line coach in the SCC with South Carolina, uh, made one adjustment left guard, and that's really, You know, Louise Christal, if you recognize that name, his uncle is the, is the coach at the University of Miami, Mario Christal.

Uh, he, he is at play inserted into the starting lineup and really this, this, this offense has started to kind of move where it, where it, uh, you know, was envisioned really in August and fall camp. But, um, I, I think the biggest thing now as well is, is just kind of trying to see, all right, can the defense match what it. In 2021, kind of down the stretch, they're very, very opportunistic defense.

Uh, in the first, I think month, month and a half of the season, they were, you know, top three or top four in the nation in terms of creating turnovers. Um, they are very much of the bend don't break defense. They play a three four, They play zone defense. Basically, hey, you're gonna have to March 8, 10, 12, plays down the field in order, uh, order to beat them. And, you know, teams obviously have and can, uh, but they've been victimized at times as well.

Uh, guys, you know, in the wrong position. Even some shuffling, uh, around on the defensive side of things as well. But I, I think. The confidence too. You know, when you, when you start out open two and you really, you know, play two physical games, um, they had leads in both, you know, against, at South Carolina on the road they had to lead in the second half, had a lead in the second half in the fourth quarter, even against North Carolina at home in an enormous game.

The first ever Power five opponent to come to. Center Park Stadium there in downtown Atlanta. Um, so I, I think it took a lot of steam out of them. Um, and, and just coastal, I think it was just bad timing. And again, I think Coastal's good. I don't think they're great as they were last year. A lot of, lot of really good players, um, that game kind of got away from 'em. And really you, you started seeing, you know, Georgia State, turn the ball over.

That's the one thing in the, in the two game winning streak, they really didn't do as much. They didn't turn the ball over against Army. We were able to force turnovers, force, good grief, a ton of turnovers against Georgia Southern and flip that game. Um, that game honestly shouldn't have been as close as it was, but weird things happened to rivalry games, as we know in college football.

Um, and then I think even, even the Wednesday night game was a little bit funky and Sean Elliott even said it in his, in his weekly press conference this week is just, you know, that we. You know, was kind of odd. They had to kind of start game prep on Friday, Saturday. Um, the conditions were not great, super windy and cold, so you, it really took away the, the passing game.

Um, and, and honestly it just got ran over by, by an app state team that just, you know, was dedicated to run the football and for whatever reason, we see it in college sports all the time. There's teams that just don't match up well with other teams. That's been Georgia State app. Um, you know, Georgia State is. Oh and nine against Appalachian State, uh, Sean Elliot's alma mater, and the games haven't been particularly close.

I think only one o of the, uh, nine matchups has been in the single digits of the vast majority of 'em are over 20. So, um, I'm very interested to see, you know, Saturday and see what kind of team, um, is at. The good thing I guess about playing on a Wednesday night is you get kind of an extra couple days to rest and, uh, come back and kind of game plan for odu. So very, very interested to see where the mindset is of the team on Saturday.

Uh, and, uh, you know, Big, big white running back. Let's just be honest. Um, and uh, I, I've, I've said, he reminds me a little bit of Peyton Hillis, a guy that played at Arkansas and played in the NFL for a couple years. Um, ver very underrated in, in, in terms of size, speed combo. He is very much an inside runner, but does have the ability to kind of pop one as we've seen.

Uh, he had a, you know, plus 50 yard run guest Auburn in 2021 has had multiple over 20 yard runs there, and he's only, I think, 44, 45 yards away from being, um, the all time leader. Basically the career rushing mark, um, there at Georgia State. And, and no disrespect to the OD defense. I expect him to get that on Saturday. Um, Jamus Williams is a, is a former cornerback for a former four star cornerback that signed with South Carolina, Uh, was a defensive back athlete.

Um, moved to Georgia State, uh, came home. Um, he's from Gwinnett County, just on the north part of metro Atlanta. And, uh, moved to running. And something that he wanted to have more offensive snaps, and he's kind of the lightning to Tucker, Greg's thunder, uh, a little bit smaller, but super quick back guy that if he has any amount of space, he's, he's gone, uh, has super home run potential.

So kind of the combination between those two, you know, they like to get them up in the, you know, The, the 30 to 35 um, touches, um, there between them. Uh, Jammas also is a capable, uh, guy out of the back field as well. They've had multiple bill routes, you know, short, you know, screens, different things like that to get the ball in his hands and get him out in space, uh, with either blockers or not. But yeah, the offensive line certainly does a great job

As most players are right, you, you feel better when you're sleeping in your own bed, uh, going through the normal routine, you know, dressing in your own locker room and things like that. Um, but, you know, Granger, unfortunately, you know, he, he's been a victim of some drops this year. Um, I think I saw the number, uh, one of his, his, uh, second leading receivers.

Robert Lewis leads the country in drops this year with nine, um, had several drops, you know, kind of victimized 'em there in the app state game while they were rolling in the first half. And, uh, had some younger tight ends as well. Uh, super. Almost like super, super senior Aubrey Payne, uh, who is old as is as the same age as his position coach. Um, it came back for basically his seventh year this year, uh, he's been a little bit banged up dealing with the growing in the hamstring.

I do expect him back and he's kind of been that security blanket for Granger. Uh, been the guy that he's been able to, to kinda look up the seam and, and find Aubrey Payne to find 88 there. Um, interested to see if he's back and, and ready to roll. They kept him out of the app state game, even though he was. So he should be back, um, this Saturday as he, uh, continues to practice with the team. But no, I, I expect, you know, a bounce back effort.

Ob obviously, you know, Granger did not play well uh, Wednesday night against a state and for his career in his 20 now one start, um, in Atlanta, when he does kind of have the dip and, and the game that he doesn't perform super well through the air. You've seen him bounce back, did that against Georgia Southern. Um, you know, he's done that, you know, post in the North Carolina game after the South Carolina game, the open. This year as well.

So I do expect a strong effort at Adam, Darren as he's looking, you know, obviously to, to try to lead this team and, and that has, you know, just still faint hopes for a bowl game. And it's gotta start obviously Saturday.

Um, but you mentioned Qua White. He's having a fantastic super senior season. Took advantage of obviously the covid year to come back for the, for the extra year. Um, had had a great start in his home state of South Carolina, multiple, uh, pass bricks, breakups, and including interception.

And he's, he's really just playing, you know, out of his mind this year and really kind of garnering even some potential Senior Bowl looks, um, you know, getting some, some opportunities there as one of the higher graded, uh, defensive backs basically in the Sunbelt. Um, You know, you, you've got guys up the middle. Thomas Gore, uh, is a nose guard and, and a no. Being a nose guard is not super sexy. You're not gonna have a ton of sacks or, or, you know, tags for loss and things that way.

But Thomas Gore, um, is one of the highest rated, uh, according to pro football focus, one of the highest rated interior linemen in the country in 2021. Very, very, very, Middle, uh, really occupying that sy guard and, and giving opportunities, uh, to the inside linebackers as well. But, um, the Panthers, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, have been victimized, um, you know, with big plays at times this year.

Um, you lose your inside linebacker and your senior captain, uh, there in Blake Carroll, but you've had some young guys step up. Jordan Jones at the inside linebacker. And then Jordan, uh, vial, uh, who's a guy who, who is, uh, very, very tough. Not, not a guy that's gonna be, you know, get off the bus, you know, type guy, you know, first. But, uh, you know, about six foot and about 2 25, 2 30. Uh, but he's tough. And I know ODU has their own tough guy in the middle there.

Uh, Jordan's kind of that guy, uh, for the Panther's defense. So, They are, they're, they have been solid at times, and if you do turn the ball over or, or give them opportunities to turn the ball over, they take advantage of it. And, uh, they're very, very good at, you know, scooping, fumbles, uh, interceptions as you mentioned. And, uh, you know, they, they play that, again, that bend don't break.

They want teams to try to march on them, 8, 9, 10, 11 plays, you know, down the field and get them to, to make a mistake. And, uh, you know, they've had the opportunity to. They've got a guy that, that, uh, I like to brag on every time I do one of these. Um, ous Lane is a safety, uh, who I kind of call him the, the version, uh, of the Honey Badger for of the Sunbelt. Um, he's a little bit undersized basically at about five nine and about 185 pounds. Uh, he's nicknamed the Hit Stick.

Uh, he is involved in everything. Uh, he will stick his head in there. Um, you know, he has, uh, he's right behind Qua White in career interceptions, and he is, uh, he's big time in terms of causing fumbles and causing, um, tackles for loss. He's some, you know, they don't blitz some a ton, uh, but he's a guy that basically can get in there and, and disrupt some things, uh, on all three levels.

So, you know, they, they do have some play makers there and I'm very interested to see, uh, you know, what they're looking at. And it obviously have a huge challenge on their hands in, in Allie Jennings as well coming.

But, um, you know, Other than that, they're, they're pretty healthy in terms of the depth chart in terms of the, the first and second string there, Coach Elliot hinted in the, on Monday, there may be some, some changes on, on the, uh, the defensive rotations specifically, just because of how poorly they tackled and how poorly they played Wednesday night against Appalachian State. Um, I, I could see, you know, maybe another two or three guys in there.

Uh, the tough part about it, obviously in, in the Sunbelt is you guys, well, Um, if you go too far down the depth chart, you get really, really young. You're getting guys that are, you know, freshmen, red shirt, freshmen, or don't have a whole lot of experience potentially. So, um, this team is very experienced on both sides of the ball, specifically on defense, especially in the secondary. So you can see some guys potentially shuffled, shuffled around there.

But, uh, even along the defensive line, they've, they've, uh, rotated eight, you know, seven, eight guys on a, on a three man front. Um, so they, they should be pretty healthy. Uh, you know, come Saturday a.

What can you tell us about the Panther Special Teams, what we should expect to see there, and then how they plan to stifle Old Dominion?

Early in this season, South Carolina had two, uh, block kicks for touchdowns, which really, you know, can't say if, you know, can't play the what if game, but you remove those two and basically it's a 2114 game, basically in the fourth there of the Williams price. So, um, you know, They seem to have cleaned that up a little bit. You haven't had block kicks as, as, you know, especially in the punt game. Um, there. He's very solid, very good directional kicking.

Um, you know, can pull out the rugby style, can pull, you know, pun, pun it away, it's got a really strong leg as well. Uh, it's been solid, not spectacular, but solid there this year, uh, when he, when he has, you know, had, uh, adequate coverage. Um, I would not. Them to kick the ball, you know, have any anywhere opportunity for, for him to make plays. By the way, I know he was one, one of the names that I had circled this week, and after watching, uh, some of those Georgia Southern

Um, they, they will not, uh, kick or, uh, they will not take a kick return or punt return. Every single one of those, I can assure you right now, um, unless it's an on-site kick situation or a SW kick, uh, the Panthers will always fair catch. That has been shown Elliott's philosophy really since they changed that rule where, hey, um, You know, basically you can fair catch and get the ball at 25. His philosophy is pretty simple.

More bad things happen on, you know, kick returns and punt returns in terms of penalties and fumbles and things than good. So, um, that's his philosophy. The fans don't like it at all because of the amount of team speed that Georgia State has at certain positions, especially in the secondary and wide receiver. Um, but. It is what it is. Um, you know, he basically will fair catch it or allow the ball obviously to, to go, uh, go back in the end zone and drop there.

But, uh, his philosophy is he'd rather turn it over to the keys to his offense, knowing exactly where they are, where they can line up and uh, you know, but they're the 25 yard line of roll. So, um, that's kind of, kind of where it is there. Um, but, uh, they, they do have, you know, some guys they have, have been in and blocked some kits in the past. Um, they have. To do that as well. Um, you know, longer athletes that can go in and, and kind of attack and, and knife in there.

But yeah, it's, uh, it, it's special teams if the game comes out. Special teams, I, I don't feel good about Georgia State's chances, I'll tell you that much.

Um, you know, Sean and his teams, they, they tend to, you know, play a higher octane type type game, um, with, with not a great defense either. Um, the games have gone and have been very high scoring. Um, I, I think the Panthers definitely want to get the, you know, get the game up into the thirties, as you mentioned, in terms of pace, uh, pretty much the, the whole season they've been in and around the top five in. You know, basically plays per minute. They want to run fast.

They want to hit, you know, 75, 80, 85 plays a game. Um, not, not as fast, it's like kind of an ole miss necessarily, or Tennessee. But they, they're right there. They, they, you know, Tring night is kind of from that school, um, you know, that that old Chad Morris kind of picked. Pick you up and, and roll, uh, type offense.

So you'll see that, um, I think with this, you know, on, on Saturday and if the defense obviously can make enough plays, if they can't, then ODU obviously will have their own opportunities to be able to score. And, and the games, I believe will probably be, you know, the winner of this, This game's gonna score in the mid to high thirties for sure. Or.

So yeah, if you like offensive football, man, uh, three on Saturday is your, your place to check it out.

Offensively the team did not play well. Basically in the third and fourth quarter. Turned the ball over, which has been kind of a bugaboo at times. Uh, for this offense. A lot of drops, uh, you know, focus wasn't there. You know, they've had obviously, uh, 10 days to reload for this game now, um, you know, the team returned basically Thursday.

Um, you know, Thur Thursday morning, uh, late Wednesday night, early Thursday morning, uh, kind of getting their mind right and getting, getting, uh, prepared for this football game. So, um, I, I think that's, you know, if, if ODU is able to take advantage, you know, Sean Elliot really didn't really tip his hand Monday talking about specifically how he is gonna defend Allie Jennings. Um, they do play his zone, you know, and basically a 3D 40 deep, uh, cover three, cover four. You know, safety.

Look, I would expect them to back up obviously a little bit, give him a little bit more space. Um, he's gonna get his catches. Sean mentioned that, you know, he's, he's too good of a player not to, Um, the key is obviously not to, to, to limit the damage once he does catch the football. And I think that's the biggest thing. This, this week is really just, you know, being able to wrap up, um, him in space and, and obviously.

With so much attention paid to Allie Jennings, you know, there's gonna be opportunities for other guys to make plays as well. Right. So, you know, being able to have, you know, younger linebackers, you a red shirt freshman inside linebacker, Jordan Jones, you know, he's been victimized at times. His backup. Justin Abraham has come in, uh, team has, you know, Coastal attacked him right away.

Uh, right out the gate, basically lining up wide receivers in the backfield and, and he was burnt for, you know, a 60 yard touchdown, basically right out the gate of that game. So, um, I, I think that's, the big plays certainly have to be limited, and if odus able to hit big plays offensively, um, there, they should be in the game the entire way.

And, and, and conversely, if, if the ODU defense, um, can take advantage if the Panthers, you know, do kind of stub their toe, or, you know, if they're. Not catching passes like they did, you know, earlier in the year.

And, and, you know, not paying attention and not really focusing and dropping the football or, you know, Granger also has, has been victimized by interceptions where it's tipped off guys' hands or he's thrown, you know, step behind guys or, or things have come up late and, and even the Panthers, you know, you know, have even, um, you know, fumbled a couple times this year. So I think that's, that's where it is. I mean, turn. You know, in every game, right?

That that's the thing that really turns, um, it changes the complexity of the game pretty quick. You can kind of, uh, circle that in time of possession. And see, you know, kind of who's on the, on the winning side of that. But, um, yeah, if, if ODU is able to kind of withstand the fast break offense a bit, um, and, uh, slow them down and, and force them to punt, uh, a few times, especially early, you know, see, see how the Panthers react. I agree with, you know, the Vegas spread.

I mean, this, to me, it's the coin flip game. I don't, I don't really see, you know, super advantages on, on both sides that are not negated by the other. Um, and, uh, I think that's, that's what makes good games, right?

You know, and, uh, I think, I think that's, that's gonna be fun is as the Panthers look for their first ever win against ODU and football, we, we remember the Taylor Heineke days and, uh, in, in the old Georgia Dome and the Panther fans bemoaning the fact that Bill Curry did not offer Taylor Heineke because he. Four quarterbacks on the roster.

Come and reach out to me on Twitter as well. Um, as I, as I mentioned to these guys as well. I, I was born and raised in Virginia, um, and so I've got obviously a little bit of love and I've always kept my eye on the ODU program. So, uh, looking forward to, uh, to, uh, to seeing the monarchs come in and, and seeing, uh, you know, a great football game on.

Or sports bars, you can get pizza. Great, great barbecue as well. Woods Chapel Barbecue. Uh, folks that, that love barbecue come on down. Uh, for that they've got, uh, sports bar basically after the game, before the game, Um, you know, right down there as well. There's a lot of restaurants that they have built up in the last few years. But yeah, looking forward to it, to a great ODU crowd. I hope everybody comes down and enjoys their time.