Preview & Prediction: GSU vs. Shorter - 7:30PM

This is a great day to be a Panther.  Tickets are being gobbled up, Georgia State shirts, hats are causing a gush at the bookstores.  Panther Fans everywhere and a great friend said to me yesterday, "Phenomenal business happening in ticket office.  People care. I love it."

Let's Dive In Shall We...

Previewing Shorter's Offense: 

They run a Triple Option (similiar to Georgia Tech but no where near as profient based on Offensive Line ability and speed of RBs).  In Saturday's game, they only managed 4 first downs.  That's not a typo.  4 First Downs.  Another factor to the Triple Option is the yard per carry, they averaged 1.9 for the evening.  Abysmal.  As most triple option offenses they do not pass very much (and well for that matter).  There two QBs were a combined 0-7.  Expect our DBs to cheat up as the game wears on.  They turned the ball over once on a fumble so assignment football is absolutely key.  According to the AJC, Shorter's QB (and a former Lassiter grad) is ready for us.  We'll see as he sure wasn't ready for what West Alabama was bringing.


Previewing Shorter's Defense:

As Coach Bill Curry mentioned in his Coach's Show on Monday, Shorter's defense aligns in a 3-4.  This is a very good thing considering our offense has been practicing against this since Fall practice began.  An interesting nugget as well that CBC dropped, they run a 3-4 base with 2 Deep and 3 deep coverage.  For more information and a great explanation on this coverage, check out my friends at Tomahawk Nation.

Saturday night vs. West Alabama (who is currently ranked #10 in the latest Division II poll) the Hawk defense gave up 37 points and 594 yards of offense.  They forced 4 turnovers but did not convert a single one into points on the offensive end.  This tells me that this game wasn't even as close as the 37-7 score indicated. 

I'm also a big proponent in yards per play.  The Hawks D didn't have a good night here either. They gave up 6.9 yards per play and again this factors in the 4 turnovers (2 INTs and 2 fumbles count for 0 yards each).  Take those away and the yards per play actually climbs to 7.2. 

My Take: I believe that this may be one of the most emotional scenes in recent memory (for this humble writer) and many others.  Grown men will be reduced to a glazed over look.  I trust Coach Curry and his staff and our guys will be ready.  Shorter is not as talented as we are and we overcome early nerves and put them away in the 2nd half.

My prediction: Georgia State 30, Shorter 10.