Georgia State took over the Braves’ stadium and immediately Atlanta Sports’d it

Georgia State football has taken over Turner Field, the Braves’ former stadium in downtown Atlanta. It looks great, it’s close to campus, and GSU got a good deal on it.

And the Panthers’ first game in the building was a 17-10 loss to FCS Tennessee State, a lower-level team with more than a dozen fewer scholarship players (although the road team did boast former Florida QB Treon Harris). TSU hasn’t been an especially great FCS program lately, losing a total 10 games over the previous two seasons, though the Tigers last claimed an HBCU national title in 2013. This was the first time TSU had ever beaten an FBS team.

GSU had struggled throughout its seven years in the Georgia Dome, posting a 20-62 record after three years in FCS and four in FBS. That is now 20-63.

Harris led the way with 145 passing yards on 12-of-25 day, plus 91 yards on the ground. GSU was efficient through the air, completing 18 of 23, but ran for all of 1.7 per carry.

But the stadium looks nice!

And with this new building, GSU can finally start building an identity.

One of the athletic directors for one of metro Atlanta’s counties pointed this out to Cobb while the stadium hosted high school football games over the weekend.

“He said, ‘for the first time, these kids can walk around and play football, but they know that Georgia State has their own stadium.’ And you think about it, the residual of that is the kids three, four, five years from now our coaches are going to be recruiting, and they’re going to grow up with this idea of Georgia State having their own stadium.”

“Look at this place. It’s amazing,” new GSU head coach Shawn Elliott said in an interview in late July. “You use the word ‘excitement,’ it is, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the culmination of so many individuals’ hard work and effort they put forth. what a great facility, I mean this thing is unbelievable. Our players, from our student athletes, to just the students in general, to our administration, to anyone in the city of Atlanta. What an amazing time it is. To be here and open this place up on Aug. 31 it’s going to be very special.”One of the athletic directors for one of metro Atlanta’s counties pointed this out to Cobb while the stadium hosted high school football games over the weekend.

And maybe stop losing to FCS teams.