Senior Elijah Mitchell scored on a 12-yard run on his fourth carry in overtime to give No. 19 Louisiana a 34-31 victory over Georgia State in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday in Atlanta.

The Ragin' Cajuns (2-0, 1-0 SBC) overcame a pair of 14-point deficits (14-0 and 21-7) to send the game into overtime at 28-28.

Junior Destin Coates rushed for a career-high 150 yards and redshirt freshman Cornelious "Quad" Brown IV passed for 196 and a touchdown, but the Panthers (0-1, 0-1 SBC) managed only a field goal on their opening possession of the overtime.

Mitchell rushed for 164 yards and also scored on a 59-yard run. He also set up a go-ahead score with a 53-yard sprint to Georgia State's 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers responded with a 75-yard drive to knot the score at 28 on Coates' 4-yard run with 7:37 remaining in the game.

The Cajuns were without nine players held out because of COVID-19 reasons. Names were not released but at least two starters, linebacker Joe Dillon and cornerback Asjlin Washington, did not play.

The Panthers shut out the Cajuns for the first 28 minutes-plus and took a 14-7 lead into the halftime break after Brown scored on a 12-yard run and threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Roger Carter.

The Cajuns scored late in the second quarter with quarterback Levi Lewis capping a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a 18-yard touchdown pass to receiver Chris Smith just 1:33 before the break.

They had an opportunity to add to that after taking over with 1:10 left in the second quarter, but Lewis was intercepted on third-and-6 at the Panthers' 23-yard line.

Lewis finished the day for Louisiana 21-of-37 passing for 279 yards.

--Field Level Media