ATLANTA--Georgia State (1-2) faces one of the nation's most prolific offenses as the Panthers travel to Houston Saturday for a regionally televised (CSS) contest that kicks off at 8 p.m. ET at 32,000-seat Robertson Stadium.
The Cougars of Conference USA are off to a 3-0 start and just outside the Top 25 behind their Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, sixth-year senior Case Keenum, who leads the nation in total offense.
"When [Director of Athletics] Cheryl Levick and I talked about playing Houston, Case Keenum was supposed to be graduated," Georgia State head coach Bill Curry joked. "Case did not cooperate. He tore his ACL about this time last year, and now he's back for what, his ninth year? But it's going to be such a joy to watch him play and try to match wits with him."
Keenum has thrown for 1,119 yards and 10 touchdowns in the first three games, and he stands 2,719 yards from the NCAA career record for passing yards. As a team, Houston leads the nation in passing (408.0) and ranks eighth in total offense (536.0) while averaging 40.3 points per game.
Houston is coming off an improbable comeback in their last game at Louisiana Tech, in which the Cougars trailed 34-7 late in the third quarter before reeling off 28 straight points to win, 35-34.
Watching what Houston did in the Louisiana Tech game was one of the most fascinating football laboratories I've ever seen," said Curry. "Watching the score go to 34-7, watching Louisiana Tech run the ball for 233 yards against Houston. As the clock wound down, Case Keenum, who had a terrible first half, came out and slowed the game down for everybody. I watched him feel the frame develop and watch how the coverage deployed, and then he fit the ball in exactly the right spot. When it comes time to win, that's what the great ones do."
Curry noted that the Cougars are far from a one-man show.
"Keenum has some incredible weapons at his disposal," he said. "Patrick Edwards is a great athlete and he's caught the ball for over 1,000 yards each of the past two years. They have a kickoff returner named Tyron Carrier and he's returned six kickoffs for touchdowns. We have to continue to improve our kickoff coverage, which we did last week.
"On defense, their leading tackler is Marcus McGraw with 55 tackles," Curry continued. "He's all over the place and had 16 tackles against Louisiana Tech, and he was a big reason they won the game. And they have a punter named Richie Leone who is averaging 49.3 yards per punt."
As for his own team, Curry wants his Panthers to learn from their second-ever game against an FBS opponent.
"We want to learn from what we experience there," he said. "We want to show our team, as we always will, that there is a way that we can win this game. If we eliminate all of our mistakes and create some of theirs, we will have a chance to beat them. The main thing we're going to have to do is take care of our business and block, tackle, secure the ball and absolutely eliminate the penalties and coaching mistakes."
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