Georgia State wins its first-ever bowl game, highlighted by this smooth trick play

Georgia State’s got tricks, man. In the third quarter of Saturday’s Cure Bowl against Western Kentucky, the Panthers faked a reverse and pitched it back to quarterback Conner Manning, who hit his receiver Roger Carter for a beautiful touchdown with 5:55 left in the quarter. It was executed quite well:

The score gave Georgia State a 20-10 lead over the Hilltoppers, and this was certainly some quality play calling from GSU offensive coordinator Travis Trickett. Shoutout to Manning and Carter on the perfect execution on the play, too.

With the victory, the Panthers have won their first bowl in program history, which is in its fifth FBS season. GSU lost the Cure Bowl in 2015, which was their first-ever bowl bid. It’s been a big season for GSU, who finished 7-5.

The program played its first season in their brand new home Georgia State Stadium in the transformed Turner Field, which Harry Lyles Jr. chronicled as special for a program to have its own home field advantage:

They turned the stadium around in six months. But this was still something different, and it became clear as the game went on.

When fans were prompted to make noise on third downs and big plays occurred, you could actually hear and feel the home-field advantage. That was something that Georgia State didn’t have since its first game, against Shorter College in the Georgia Dome on Sept. 2, 2010. At GSU’s Georgia Dome games, it wasn’t rare to see remnants of a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game logo or Falcons logo at midfield.

When the sun went down and the lights lit up the venue, it felt even more that it belonged to Georgia State, as the old right field bleachers from Turner Field faded into the night. Because of the four stadium light installations behind the newly installed seats, it became easy to block out. What was once right and center field was now occupied by thousands of fans in blue and white.

Congrats to Georgia State on getting this accomplishment!