BUIES CREEK, NC. - Campbell's football team (1-3) lost a second consecutive heartbreaker in a 24-21 non-conference game loss to first-year scholarship program Georgia State (2-2) on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Barker-Lane Stadium/Ed Gore Field.

For the second consecutive week the CU opponent was able to drive the field in final minutes and put up the game-winning score, this time a field goal, with less than 15 second left in the game. The game-winning score came off the right leg of Iain Vance at a distance of 30-yards and allowed Georgia State to escape with a 24-21 victory. The GSU game-winning effort covered 10 plays, 63 yards in 3:06.

The Camels produced a great effort of their own to tie the game up in the final four minutes of regulations with redshirt senior quarterback Daniel Polk sneaking in from seven-yards out to tie the game at 21 after the made extra point from sophomore Sam Eberwein with just 3:14 remaining in the game. The CU drive covered six plays, 64 yards in a time of possession of 2:53. The rushing touchdown was Polk's second of the game and seventh of the season.

Campbell junior running back Rashaun Brown had a career-day with 133 yards rushing. He became the fourth Campbell runner to ever eclipse the 100-yard barrier in a game. The Campbell offense was able to control the line of scrimmage and allowed the Camels to outgain the Panthers 341 to 280, with 257 yards coming on the ground. The Camels had a time of possession advantage of 37:27 to 22:33 in the contest. The time of possession was a new Campbell record breaking the old one of 36:23 against Valparaiso (11/14/09).

Georgia State started the game with an opening kick return for a touchdown by Darren McCray that covered 96-yards to put the Panthers up 7-0 after the made extra point from Iain Vance. The touchdown return was the first-ever kick return touchdown against the Camels and first return touchdown since Nov. 15, 2008 when Valparaiso had a punt return score.

The Camels answered as redshirt junior Milton Brown recovered a fumble on a punt return to put the CU offense in prime position on the GSU 17. The Campbell offense then reeled off a 17-yard drive finished on Polk's one-yard rush. The extra point was made by Adam Willets to tie the game up at seven with 9:47 left in the first quarter.

GSU took the lead on the ensuing drive with a 10 play, 51 yard drive finished on the touchdown pass from Drew Little to Sidney Hayes. The Vance extra point was good to give the Panthers a 14-7 lead with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter.

After a big defensive stop early in the second quarter and getting pinned deep in their own territory the CU offense promptly march down the field on a 13 play, 94 yard drive that was finished on Polk's 18-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior Harrison Jordan. The Willets extra point was good to tie the game at 14 with 1:31 left in the second quarter. The passing touchdown was the first of the season for Polk.

After several missed opportunities for Campbell, including a few missed field goals in the second half, Georgia State took the lead with just over six minutes remaining in the game (6:11) on Little's touchdown pass to Danny Williams. The Vance extra point was good to give GSU a 21-14 lead.

Next, the Camels get back into Pioneer Football League play and takes on Butler on the road in Indianapolis on Saturday, Oct. 2 at noon.

Coach Steele Quotes

Opening Statement:

I'm very disappointed for our team, I thought they did a lot of the things we asked them to do this week in practice and they transitioned it well to the game. We knew we had to run the ball, and we asked our offense to do that. We told the running backs and quarterbacks that since the Georgia State was so quick that holes were going open and close quickly and windows would do the same and they did things quickly. Defensively I can say that I was proud of the improvements that we made; our coaches did a great job of getting them ready to play. Our kids did a better job of tackling, GSU averaged four-yards a rush and we shut them down. We were as physical as we had been all year long. My impressions are that we are disappointed, we missed a lot of opportunities in the kicking game and they were three key plays in today's game. The interception was a big play and the missed kicks were also huge.

How did you guys bounce back after they scored on the opening kick off?

Our kids are very resilient, they never have accepted losing and they have learned lessons when they lose. We tried to tell them to play one play at a time and we still had fifty nine minutes to play in the game, and I wasn't going to let them give up. The team did what we asked them to do. We're going to keep knocking on the door and keep fighting every week.

On Rashaun Brown

Rashaun had a great day, they couldn't tackle him. He had good forward lean and they just couldn't tackle him. He is a great running back and he's caused us to have to look at the way we substitute. He hits the hole so quick and against a team like GSU that's what you have to do. He had a great day and I'm very proud of him.

On Georgia State

They are a good team, but we play a lot of good team. They were three points better than us today. They did what they had to do to win the game today. This was a team that had a chance to beat the fourth-ranked team in the country last week (Jacksonville State) and they only beat us by three points today.

On Adam Willets

Adam Willets has been an important part of this program and has won games for us in the past. It's my job to know if he was ready to play. I felt like he was ready to play this week so it was my fault, not his. I have to get him back in the right mind set to be successful. We will talk to him on Monday and see how he practices and we will try to build his confidence back up. This game was not Adam Willets' fault; I should have had him ready to play today.