CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Behind 466 yards passing by Darren Grainger and a school-record 220 receiving yards by Robert Lewis, Georgia State improved to 3-0 for the first time in program history with a 41-25 victory at Charlotte Saturday night at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
    
Grainger completed 27 of 33 passes and three touchdowns while accumulating 466 yards, just five yards shy of the GSU single-game record. He added 23 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
    
"I'm really proud of our football team for the first 3-0 start in school history," head coach Shawn Elliott said.
    
"I thought our throwing game was really on point tonight," he continued. "We took advantage of some things we saw. We've got some really special receivers who made some plays, and Darren made some great throws. We couldn't really get our ground game going, but our passing game really took over."
    
Lewis needed six catches to rack up 220 yards and two touchdowns, including the longest play in Georgia State history. With the Panthers backed up on their own 3-yard line, Grainger hit Lewis at the GSU 40, and Lewis outraced the defense for a 97-yard touchdown reception. Lewis also had a 59-yard catch down to the 1-yard line and a spectactular 38-yard touchdown catch that put GSU ahead 41-25 early in the fourth quarter.
    
Tailique Williams joined Lewis in the 100-yard column with a career 129 yards receiving on five catches, including a 66-yard touchdown. 
    
Marcus Carroll rushed for 67 yards and his seventh touchdown of the season.
    
Gavin Pringle paced the Georgia State defensive effort, collecting three tackles, one sack, and his second  interception of the season. Bryquice Brown added three tackles, two pass breakups, and one recovered fumble and Jeremiah Johnson had six tackles, 1.0 TFL, one sack, and one forced fumble in the win.
    
The Panthers held Charlotte (1-2) to only 88 yards rushing and forced two turnovers.

How It Happened
Georgia State struck first on Darren Grainger's 8-yard touchdown run with 8:44 left in the first quarter. Liam Rickman's first career field goal extended the lead to 10-0.
    
Georgia State added to its lead to 17-0 with 13:43 left in the second quarter on the school-record 97-yard touchdown pass from Darren Grainger to Robert Lewis. After Charlotte narrowed the gap to 17-10, Rickman booted a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the first half for a 20-10 lead.
    
After stopping Charlotte on the opening possession of the second half, the Panthers extended their advantage to 27-10 with another long TD pass, this one a 78-yard scoring play to Tailique Williams with 10:23 left in the third quarter. 
    
Marcus Carroll's 1-yard touchdown run, set up by Lewis' 59-yard reception down to the 1, made it 34-10 late in the third quarter.
    
Charlotte managed two quick touchdowns to cut the gap to 34-24 before Lewis' second TD catch sealed the win with 12:57 left in the fourth quarter, bringing the GSU lead to 41-25.

Game Notes
» Georgia State outgained Charlotte 568-356, including a 466-268 advantage through the air.
» Georgia State won the turnover battle 2-0 after intercepting one pass and recovering one fumble.
» The Panthers scored first with 8:44 remaining in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Georgia State converted 9 of 15 third downs while Charlotte was successful on 3 of 14.
» TyGee Leach led the Panthers with 12 tackles.
» Georgia State scored on a school-record 97-yard strike from Darren Grainger to Robert Lewis.
» The Panthers racked up 10 tackles for loss and added four sacks.
» Georgia State put together two touchdown-scoring drives of 90 or more yards, the longest drive spanning 97 yards.
» Georgia State got off to a great start in the contest, putting 17 unanswered points on the board before Charlotte could respond.
» Darren Grainger completed 81.8 percent of his passes on the day, going 27-for-33 while averaging 14.1 yards per attempt.
» Grainger passed for a career-high 466 yards, five yards shy of Nick Arbuckle's school record.
» Robert Lewis broke the GSU single-game receiving record with 220 yards on just six catches.
» Lewis has caught a touchdown in 10 of his last 12 games
» Marcus Carroll scored his seventh touchdown in three games
» Lewis and Tailique Williams (career-high 129 yards) gave GSU two 100-yard receivers for the first time since 2020