Georgia State Cruises Past Western Kentucky 39-21 to Win LendingTree Bowl

The Georgia State Panthers have won the second bowl game in program history after their 39-21 victory over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the 2020 LendingTree Bowl on Saturday. 

Since moving up to football's bowl subdivision prior to the 2013 season, the Panthers have made four bowl appearances. Their only previous victory was also against Western Kentucky in the 2017 Cure Bowl. 

Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott has led the program to three winning seasons in the past four years.

Western Kentucky entered the bowl game riding a three-game winning streak after a 2-6 start. The Hilltoppers' 5-7 overall record marks their third losing season in the past four years.

The storyline coming into the matchup was if Western Kentucky would be able to keep up its recent offensive surge. The Hilltoppers only averaged 18.8 points per game for the season, but they scored 75 points combined in the last two games of the regular season. 

Georgia State's high-powered offense averaged 36.8 points per game during the regular season, but its defense gave up 32.9 points. 

The Panthers ultimately prevailed because their defense was able to force two first-half interceptions that led to 14 points for the offense. 

Notable Game Stats

• Cornelious Brown IV, QB (GA State):16-of-30, 232 yards, 3 TD, INT; 10 carries, 40 yards
• Destin Coates, RB (GA State): 23 carries, 117 yards, TD
• Cornelius McCoy, WR (GA State): 5 receptions, 88 yards, TD
• Tyrrell Pigrome, QB (Western Kentucky): 17-of-33, 180 yards, 2 INT
• Gaej Walker, RB (Western Kentucky): 8 carries, 31 yards, TD; 2 receptions, 30 yards
• Joshua Simon, TE (Western Kentucky): 4 receptions, 84 yards

Brown, Coates Lift Panthers to Victory

Freshman quarterback Cornelious Brown IV has had an up-and-down season with 14 touchdown passes and nine interceptions coming into Saturday. 

The LendingTree Bowl included some of the bad moments that Brown is capable of. He only completed 53.3 percent of his attempts, but his completions counted with three first-half touchdown passes. 

Brown had some help on his third touchdown pass when Cornelius McCoy laid out for an eight-yard catch with 2:07 remaining in the second quarter:

In addition to Brown's success through the air, Destin Coates ran through the heart of Western Kentucky's defense. 

After his team fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter, Coates got the Panthers on the board with an 11-yard touchdown. He had 40 of the team's 75 yards on the 11-play drive that took four minutes, seven seconds off the clock. 

The second quarter saw the floodgates open for Georgia State's offense. It went on a run of three consecutive touchdown drives of at least 11 plays and 77 yards. 

In between those scoring drives, the Panthers defense held Western Kentucky to a total of four yards on seven plays over three possessions. The game went from being tied to a 27-7 advantage for Georgia State at intermission. 

That turned out to be more than enough for the Panthers to get the victory. The defense allowed 21 points and 284 yards against Western Kentucky. 

Elliott has built Georgia State into a solid program in just his fourth year. He's still trying to find consistency on both sides of the ball to challenge teams like Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Conference, but the Panthers are trending in the right direction after wrapping up another winning season. 

Pigrome's Mistakes Cost Hilltoppers

While no one would ever put Western Kentucky's offense among the nation's elite, the unit was great all season at protecting the football. 

Quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome entered the bowl game with zero interceptions on 264 attempts. Clemson's D.J. Uiagalelei was the only other FBS quarterback with at least 100 attempts and no interceptions. 

The first quarter was following Western Kentucky's formula for success. Both teams exchanged punts on the first two drives, followed by Devon Key picking off Brown in the end zone to give the Hilltoppers possession. 

Pigrome led the offense on a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead. 

That wound up being the high point of the game for the offense, as the wheels came off in the second quarter. 

Pigrome threw his first two interceptions of the season on back-to-back possessions. Georgia State turned both of those picks into touchdowns. 

Western Kentucky did come out of the intermission strong. Pigrome and running back Gaej Walker engineered a 64-yard scoring drive to help cut the Hilltoppers' deficit to 27-14. 

After the defense forced a punt, Travis Collier had the ball knocked out of his hands and Georgia State recovered. The Panthers settled for a field goal, but any semblance of momentum Western Kentucky built on that first drive evaporated. 

Its next three drives resulted in two turnover on downs and one punt. Georgia State opened up a 39-14 lead before Western Kentucky got back into the end zone with a C.J. Jones touchdown run in garbage time. 

Saturday was a familiar story for Western Kentucky, unfortunately. The offense has been so limited all year that it can't afford to make any miscues. 

Pigrome has been so good at avoiding big mistakes all season, but he was finally forced into making two against Georgia State. 

The result is indicative of the work that head coach Tyson Helton still has to do filling out this roster. This was only his second season with the Hilltoppers, and they have played in bowl games both years, so there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.