Coming off a hard-fought victory over Charlotte, Georgia State (1-2) faces its second nationally-ranked, Power Five foe in three games as the Panthers travel to No. 23 Auburn (2-1) for the first time.

Georgia State earned its first win with a 20-9 victory over previously unbeaten Charlotte Saturday night at Center Parc Stadium. The Panthers controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, rushing for 298 yards on offense while holding the 49ers to just 276 yards of total offense.

A CASE FOR THE DEFENSE: The GSU defense was outstanding in the Panthers' 20-9 win over Charlotte, which had entered the game averaging 34.5 points, including a win over ACC foe Duke.

> Georgia State held Charlotte to just 276 yards of total offense and an average of 4.1 yards per play. The 49ers managed 118 yards rushing and 158 yards passing.

> 276 yards is the seventh-best single-game defensive performance in program history and the fewest yards allowed by GSU since a 262-yard game vs. ULM in 2018.

> ILB Blake Carroll led the effort with nine tackles, a sack, a pass breakup and a forced fumble at the GSU 13-yard line with the Panthers holding a 13-9 lead late in the third quarter.

IN A RUSH: The Panthers rushed for 298 yards in the win over Charlotte, with four players gaining 60 or more yards: Destin Coates (83), Tucker Gregg (76), Jamyest Williams (73), QB Darren Grainger (64).

> 298 yards rushing is the seventh-best figure in program history. All but one of the top seven rushing games have come in the three seasons under offensive coordinator Brad Glenn (2019-present).

> Leading 13-9 with nine minutes to play, GSU forced a punt and took over at its own 10-yard line. The Panthers proceeded to eat up 7:20 on the clock by running 13 straight times for 90 yards, capped by Jamyest Williams' 13-yard TD WITH 1:38 left.

GRAINGER DEBUT: Darren Grainger, the junior transfer, made his first start for the Panthers in the win over Charlotte. The Furman transfer passed for 139 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 64 yards on 16 carries. He threw TD passes of 35 yards (Jamari Thrash) and 28 yards (Ja'Cyais Credle).

PANTHERS vs. POWER FIVE: Georgia State is playing its first contest against a Southeastern Conference foe since the Panthers' 38-30 victory at Tennessee in the 2019 season opener, the program's first win over a Power Five team. (The scheduled 2020 game at Alabama was canceled.)

> In that Tennessee win, Georgia State trailed 17-14 at the half but outscored the Vols 24-13 in the second half. Tra Barnett's 19-yard run gave GSU a 28-23 lead, and then quarterback Dan Ellington sealed the win with a 22-yard touchdown run with five minutes left. Now Georgia State's running backs coach, Ellington also threw two TD passes in the game, and the GSU defense held Tennessee to 98 yards rushing.

> This is the second of two games in three weeks against ranked Power Five opponents for the Panthers, who fell at No. 24/22 North Carolina two weeks ago.

> GSU is playing two Power Five foes in a season for the third time in its history, along with 2013 (West Virginia and Alabama) and 2014 (Washington and Clemson).

> The Auburn game will be Georgia State's 13th game against an opponent from the Power Five, including games against ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 12 foes. GSU is 1-3 vs. the SEC.

> In the program's first 10 years of existence, the Panthers played at Alabama twice and at Tennessee twice, along with trips to West Virginia, Clemson, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Penn State and NC State.

> Georgia State also has future games scheduled at South Carolina (2022), home vs. North Carolina (2022), at LSU (2023), vs. Vanderbilt (home-and-home, 2024-2025), vs. Georgia Tech (home-and-home, 2024-2026), at Ole Miss (2026) and vs. Wake Forest (home-and-home, 2029-2030).

> As an assistant coach at South Carolina from 2010-16, head coach Shawn Elliott faced Auburn three times, but the Tigers won all three meetings. Elliott's USC teams played at Auburn in 2010 and 2014.

FAB 50: Super senior left guard Shamarious Gilmore, the veteran of the Georgia State program, started his 50th straight game in a Panther uniform vs. Charlotte, breaking the school records for games played and career starts. The four-time All-Sun Belt lineman has logged nearly 3,500 snaps in his career.

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU: Senior running back Tucker Gregg had three fourth-down conversion runs in the second half of the win at Charlotte. He also had two fourth-down conversions at North Carolina, giving him five in the last two games.

THRASH, CREDLE EMERGE: With top receiver Sam Pinckney sidelined the first three games, sophomores Jamari Thrash and Ja'Cyais Credle have stepped up.

> Thrash is the Panthers leading receiver with 11 catches for 167 yards in three games, including a 35-yard TD catch vs. Charlotte.

> Credle, the transfer from UCF, has five catches for 74 yards in two games. In the win over Charlotte, he had a 33-yard reception to set up a touchdown and then a 28-yard TD catch.

ALABAMA NATIVES: Georgia State has five players from the state of Alabama:
QB Cornelious Brown IV (Birmingham/Calera HS); OLB Jamil Muhammad (Madison/James Clemens HS), WR Cadarrius Thompson (Florence HS), OLB Terrell Gordon (Phenix City/Central), and ILB Jordan Jones (Smiths Station HS).

> Last season, the Panthers won three games in the state at Troy, at South Alabama and the LendingTree Bowl in Mobile vs. WKU.