GEORGIA STATE Georgia State rallies for another dramatic win

For anyone who might have thought there would be a letdown after the previous week’s big win at Tennessee, the Georgia State Panthers proved Saturday night that the focus is real.

Dan Ellington passed for 362 yards and five touchdowns as the Panthers (2-0) defeated Furman 48-42 at Georgia State Stadium. The 38-30 win over the Volunteers of the SEC might have had some wow factor attached to it, but the win over the nationally ranked Paladins (1-1) before a crowd of 20,351 at Pete Petit Field might have meant more because of how it was achieved.

Furman scored with ease on its first three possessions and led 20-3 early in the second quarter, stunning a Geor- gia State defense that didn’t allow its 20th point to Tennessee until the end of the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Georgia State offense had only 81 yards of total offense, and 65 of those came on the first drive of the game.

Then the turnaround hap- pened.

■ Tra Barnett scored the Panthers’ first touchdown of the game on an 18-yard run with 5:32 remaining in the first half, the final play of a dominating, 16-play, 94-yard drive.

■ Ellington connected with Terrance Dixon on a 10-yard touchdown pass as the halftime clock expired.

■ Ellington had TD passes of 26 yards to Sam Pinckney (which gave the Panthers their first lead of the game), 2 yards to Roger Carter and 20 yards to Aubry Payne in the third quarter.

■ The fifth TD pass, Elling- ton’s longest of the game, was a 44-yarder to Cornelius McCoy early in the fourth quarter.

When the dust settled, Ellington had a career high in passing yards, a school record with th e f ive TD passes and 448 yards of total offense. The Panthers have the first 2-0 start in program history.

“Dan did a phenomenal job orchestrating the offense,” Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott said. “Dan is a good player, but he is only as good as the people around him. They all make him who he is. Offensively, it was a great night for all.”

The defense allowed more than 500 yards and a season high in points, but had its key moments as well:

■ Holding Furman on four straight possessions midway through the game — led by Trajan Stephens-McQueen and Ed Curney — while the offense engineered its comeback.

■ A sack by Dontae Wilson and a deflected pass by Remy Lazarus helped to halt one drive while a Lazarus interception stopped another.

■ Shutting down Furman on its final possession with the game still in doubt in the final two minutes.

BRANDEN CAMP / FOR THE AJC Georgia State quarterback Dan Ellington looks to pass against the Furman Paladins at Georgia State Stadium on Saturday. The Panthers won 38-30.