App State football will travel down south to Atlanta, Georgia to face off against the Georgia State University Panthers for their sixth game of the season.
If the Mountaineers want another locker room celebration like last week’s against Oregon State University, they will have to step it up on both offense and defense.
The defensive side of the ball shows more promise than in previous years. App State recorded 330 tackles so far this season, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Colton Phares recorded 5 solo tackles against Oregon State.
The Panthers are 1-4 in their season currently. Georgia State has played two SEC schools this season, losing to both No. 4 University of Mississippi and No. 20 Vanderbilt University.
Although the Mountaineers have a win percentage of 60%, their only victories this season have come from home games.
“We’ve got another huge, huge road test in front of us,” head coach Dowell Loggains said in his pregame press conference Monday.
The Mountaineers started redshirt junior quarterback AJ Swann for the first 4 games of the season; however, after his MCL sprain, breakout redshirt sophomore quarterback JJ Kohl led the Mountaineers to victory against Oregon State last weekend.
Swann did not play against Oregon State, and the progress of his injury is still to be determined.
“We really won’t know much about him until he’ll do some stuff today,” Loggains said in his pregame press conference.
Kohl threw only 2 complete passes in the first game of the season against UNC-Charlotte and went 13-28 against the Beavers.
“The quarterback, Kohl, can make every throw,” Panthers head coach Dell McGee said in a pregame interview. “He does exceptionally well throwing the deep ball.”
Georgia State welcomed quarterback TJ Finley onto their roster after his previous season at Western Kentucky University and a past sophomore season as a starting quarterback for the Auburn University Tigers. He had a 72.4% pass completion rate against Murray State University and has thrown 725 yards in the four games he’s started in.
Regardless of which quarterback Loggains starts, it will be a tough matchup against Finley.
After recovering from two foot injuries, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Davion Dozier is a refreshed powerhouse for the offense, having 140 receiving yards against a stacked Beavers defense last week.
Panthers wide receiver Ted Hurst will create a battle of the receivers on Saturday. Hurst is averaging 81 yards a game and put up 172 yards on Murray State.
Senior running back Rashod Dubinion is the momentum App State needs to propel the team to a 2-game winning streak. Dubinion is ranked seventh in the nation for rushing yards, averaging 5.7 yards a carry.
The Panthers are coming into Saturday’s game against the Mountaineers with a two-game losing streak.
This game is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Center Parc Stadium and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
