ORLANDO, Fla. – Georgia State is still laying the foundation for its football program.

The Panthers played their first season in 2010, joined the Sun Belt Conference in ’13, became a full FBS member in ’14 and made their first postseason game in ’15. They fell to San Jose State in that year’s Cure Bowl.

The program then moved this season into Turner Field, the Atlanta Braves’ former baseball stadium, and converted it into a football venue named Georgia State Stadium.

GSU has fielded a team, established itself in an FBS conference, made the postseason and moved into its own stadium. The next step for the Panthers? Winning the program’s first bowl game.

Georgia State (6-5) will have a chance at its first ever bowl victory Saturday when it faces Western Kentucky (6-6) in the 2017 Cure Bowl. Kickoff from Camping World Stadium is set for 1:30 p.m. CST, with the game to be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

“If we’re able to go out and put together a great game plan and execute well, it would mean the world to our football program,” Panthers coach Shawn Elliott said Thursday. “It’ll set the stage well for future endeavors, bigger bowls, conference championships.

“I talk to our players every single day about setting a standard and doing things you’ll remember the rest of your life. For Georgia State University to take the field and after 60 minutes hopefully pull out a win, it would be an amazing accomplishment.”

Elliott was hired after last season to lead Georgia State. He replaced former coach Trent Miles, who was fired during the 2016 campaign after posting a 9-38 record in three-plus years with the program.

Miles led the Panthers to a 6-7 record in 2015 and that Cure Bowl berth, but was 3-31 in his other three years in Atlanta. Elliott was hired to take the GSU program to the next step, and his tenure is off to a nice start.

The Panthers started the season with a 17-10 loss to FCS squad Tennessee State and a 56-0 shutout defeat at Penn State. Georgia State then rallied and won six of its next seven games, winning road games during that stretch at Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana-Monroe, rival Georgia Southern and Texas State.

The Panthers closed the regular season with home losses to Appalachian State and Idaho. They only played 11 games this year because a Sept. 30 matchup with Memphis was canceled due to bad weather.

“You just have to put on the film to see how motivated of a team they are in general,” WKU coach Mike Sanford said. “They play with a lot of excitement, they play with a lot of passion. …

“We expect nothing less from Georgia State to have a fully motivated football team to come out and play very hard.”

Now the Panthers can clinch both their first winning season in school history and first-ever FBS bowl win with a victory over the Toppers. The teams have met once before, with WKU winning 44-28 on Nov. 2, 2013, at the recently imploded Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Wide receiver Penny Hart is the star for the 2017 Panthers. The redshirt sophomore stands just 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds but has been a playmaker for GSU, earning first team All-Sun Belt honors each of the last two seasons.

Hart caught 73 passes this season for 1,094 yards with eight touchdowns. He ranks No. 8 across the FBS in receiving yards per game (99.5) and No. 12 in receptions per game (6.6).

Other standout Panthers include cornerback Chandon Sullivan, linebackers Trey Payne and Michael Shaw and quarterback Conner Manning.

Those players have a chance Saturday to earn the first bowl victory in their school’s history.

“To be a part of actually building something, years from now when I’m old and I look like one of my coaches, I’ll look back on it and appreciate it, because it was something really special,” the redshirt senior Payne said. “It’ll be a place I always come back to and call home.”{&end}