Tennessee State Ruins Georgia State’s Stadium Opener, Picking Up 17-10 Win for 2017’s First FCS Win Over An FBS School

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

(Photo by Sam Jordon/Tennessee State)

No one should be too surprised by what happened at the newly-christened Georgia State Stadium Thursday night.

With new starting quarterback Treon Harris and running back Seth Rowland being hard to catch up to, and Dajour Nesbeth’s interception with a minute remaining killing Georgia State’s comeback bid, FCS Tennessee State spoiled the party in taking a 17-10 win over FBS Sun Belt Georgia State.

In picking up their first win over an FBS school as an FCS member, Tennessee State (1-0) proved that a very good FCS team definitely shouldn’t be taken lightly by a bigger brother FBS team that’s looking to pick up an early season win against a smaller school.

“I don’t think many people outside of us thought we would win, but it’s good to prove people wrong,” said senior linebacker Chris Collins, according to TSU’s athletic website.  “In our heart, we felt like we’re the best, so we expect to do things like that.”

Tennessee State jumped out early, with Collins forcing a fumble as Georgia State was driving midway through the first quarter.  The Tigers drove down the field but had to settle for a Lane Clark field goal to go up 3-0.  TSU again drove down the field on their next possession, but Clark, who has been suffering from a hamstring injury, missed a 38-yard field goal that was partially blocked.

Big runs by Sabree Curtis and Harris, as well as some big passes to wideout Patrick Smith allowed TSU to drive deep again early in the second quarter. They went up 10-3 as Rowland punched in a 4-yard TD run.  The TSU defense stymied Georgia State most of the half, with the Tigers out-gaining the Panthers 247-81.

The TSU defense came up big in the third quarter, stopping two Georgia State fourth down tries, the last at the 4-yard line.  Rowland then ripped off a 57-yard run, with Harris capping the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run to put Tennessee State up 17-3.

Georgia State wasn’t done. GSU backup quarterback Taz Bateman, who came in for injured starter Connor Manning, threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Winchester with 11:29 left in the game. Georgia State drove into Tigers territory with less than a minute remaining.  But Nesbeth picked off a Bateman pass and it returned it 32 yards as TSU salted away a big win.

“It was a huge win for TSU, it was a huge win for HBCU football, huge win for the OVC, to be able to come in and be an FBS opponent, it’s something that doesn’t happen every day, so I’m so proud of these guys,” said TSU head coach Rod Reed.  “now we’ve uust got to stay in the moment and take them one game at a time and just move on from here.”

The TSU defense stepped up to the plate at the former Turner Field and forced four turnovers and only allowed Georgia State 49 yards rushing all night.

So a sold-out crowd of more than 24,000 for GSU’s head coach Shawn Elliott’s debut and their first game in the newly-refurbished stadium went home disappointed – well, not several thousand TSU fans who, led by the Aristocrat of Bands, partied in the stands.

“It means a lot to us,” Rowland said. “Coming into this game, I wanted to do it for the alumni and for our school. The alumni are what started this. Before the game, I tweeted, ‘keep the tradition alive,’ and that’s what we wanted to do.”