BOONE, N.C. – After two straight weekends off, Appalachian State (6-4, 5-1) is part of a four-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt Conference as it prepares to face Georgia State on Saturday.
Kickoff at 25,000-seat Georgia State Stadium (formerly Turner Field) is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ESPN3.
With the Mountaineers and Panthers (6-3, 5-1) involved in the first-place tie with Arkansas State and Troy, the winner of Saturday's game in Atlanta will be 6-1 in the Sun Belt with a chance to clinch at least a share of a conference title in its Dec. 2 finale.
Here's a closer look at the Panthers:
Georgia State has a new home, moving from the recently demolished Georgia Dome to the renovated former home of the Atlanta Braves, and it has a first-year head coach.
He's a familiar face to Appalachian coaches and fans.
Shawn Elliott, who played at App State from 1991-95 and worked on Jerry Moore's staff from 1997-2009, already has led the Panthers to bowl eligibility. After working at South Carolina from 2010-16, with a six-game stint as the Gamecocks' interim head coach in 2015, he was hired nearly a year ago by Georgia State athletics director and former App State A.D. Charlie Cobb.
The Panthers opened the season with a 17-10 home loss to FCS Tennessee State and a 56-0 road loss to Penn State. Since then, they're 6-1 with a 5-0 road record, including November road victories against Georgia Southern (21-17) and Texas State (33-30).
Elliott was an all-conference defensive end at App State, and his defense at Georgia State ranks second in the Sun Belt by allowing only 129.9 rushing yards per game. App State running back
Jalin Moore has returned to practice after sitting out a 27-6 win against Georgia Southern on Nov. 9, when redshirt freshman
Marcus Williams Jr. rushed for 130 yards.
The Panthers, who allow 259.0 passing yards per game, have an air-oriented offense led by quarterback Conner Manning and redshirt sophomore receiver Penny Hart.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Hart is the Sun Belt's leading receiver with 65 catches for 961 yards and eight touchdowns. He ranks fifth nationally at 106.8 yards per game.
Hart had 1,099 receiving yards as a freshman in 2015, but he played in only two games last year, as he suffered a season-ending foot injury early in Georgia State's 17-3 loss at App State.
A California native, the 6-1 Manning is in his second season as Georgia State's starter following a transfer from Utah. He averages 266.4 passing yards per game, leads the Sun Belt with a completion percentage of 64.2 and has more than twice as many touchdown passes (13) as interceptions (six).
Manning will face an App State defense that ranks 19th nationally in sacks per game and 23rd in interceptions per game.
