“He was a exhibit,” Elliott said.
Grainger surpassed the 1,000-lawn hurrying mark for his vocation – he rushed for 670 yards this time – and joined Tucker Gregg and Jamyest Williams with 1,000 profession speeding yards. Gregg rushed 16 moments for 54 yards, giving him with 953 yards this year, and Williams rushed 8 situations for 49 yards to end at 859.
Grainger’s desired focus on was restricted finish Aubry Payne, a tremendous senior who caught a profession-high eight passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Payne’s lover at the posture, super senior Roger Carter, was unable to engage in for the reason that of harm, but was on the sidelines and greeted Payne with a salute right after his first landing.
“Hopefully I put on for him a minor bit,” Payne claimed. “I come to feel like we did this together.”
The protection came up with two scoring performs – a scoop-and-rating for Javon Denis and a select-six for Antavious Lane. It was a school-document fifth select of the year for Lane and extended his occupation report to nine he also led the team with 10 tackles, 8 of them solo stops.
“He is a exclusive player,” Elliott explained. “He’s small in stature, but he plays so tall and so significant.”
The protection additional 4 sacks to push that overall to 38 and surpass final season’s university record of 35. They had eight tackles for loss, extending their school record to 92. They minimal Ball Point out to 74 yards rushing and 293 yards passing.
Kicker Noel Ruiz, who celebrated his birthday on Xmas, kicked a few area goals, connecting from 27, 28 and 45 yards, supplying him 63 for his career. He completed his closing period by making 13 of 15 subject-target attempts.
Ball Condition quarterback Drew Plitt done 27 of 46 passes for 293 yards and one particular touchdown, with Jayshon Jackson catching 12 passes for 146 yards and a single landing. The Cardinals concluded 6-7.
Right after recognizing Ball Point out a extensive touchdown pass, Ga State answered with an 18-property landing pass from Grainger to Payne.
The GSU defense presented the following details. Linebacker Jamil Muhammad, who had a sack on the to start with participate in of the activity, stripped the ball from quarterback Drew Plitt. Javon Denis picked it up, darted earlier an offensive lineman and ran 37 yards for a landing.
The Panthers then stopped Ball Point out on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, with Chris Moore and Blake Carroll producing the tackles to give GSU the ball at the 34. The Panthers had a landing negated on the subsequent enjoy simply because of an unlawful block, but still came absent with a 27-yard area objective from Ruiz and a 17-7 guide.
Ga State led 20-10 at halftime and poured it on in the second half. The Panthers scored on a 10-garden pass from Grainger to Robert Lewis, a 34-yard Grainger run, a 16-yard pass from Grainger to Payne, a 55-garden interception return from Antavious Lane and a 45-property industry goal from Ruiz.
Georgia Point out will eliminate five super seniors, as properly as offensive coordinator Brad Glenn, who approved a job as quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech.
Credit: Vasha Hunt