Georgia State does not do sleepy Saturdays in the fall. Blame it partly on Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, an Olympic venue turned Braves ballpark turned football fortress, and partly on a Georgia State University fall calendar that reads less like a syllabus and more like a highlight reel. Somewhere between torch relays and touchdown dances, the campus picked up a lot of history it never quite advertises, and this fall carries every bit of it.
GSU homecoming week runs September 28 through October 3, and Georgia State calls it the longest-running tradition on campus, dating to 1916. A university that counts its students in the tens of thousands still throws a homecoming that feels personal up close.
A few stops make the week worth marking on a calendar of your own:
Saturday is game day, when Georgia State hosts Old Dominion at Center Parc Credit Union Stadium in Summerhill for this year’s official Homecoming game. Tailgates fill the lots ahead of kickoff. A new MARTA rapid bus line began connecting downtown to the Hank Aaron Drive corridor this year, and checking kickoff closer to game day still beats a rushed dash once the lots reach capacity.
Fall Fest throws the first punch two days ahead of Halloween, and Georgia State’s Dunwoody campus goes all in. Somebody on the activities council decided a mechanical bull, axe throwing, and archery belonged in the same afternoon, and honestly, it works.
Then the main event lands on Saturday, October 31, when Georgia State takes on Coastal Carolina at Center Parc. Athletics named it Boo & Brew and leaned in with both hands. Everyone shows up in black for a full stadium blackout, and any young Panther bold enough to wear a costume walks straight past the ticket line for free.
Georgia State hosts Georgia Southern at Center Parc on Saturday, November 14, and this one carries a bit of a grudge. Georgia Southern has won the last two Georgia Grown Bowls, and Georgia State wants the Commissioner’s Cup trophy back on home turf. Both teams play in the Sun Belt Conference, and the rivalry has sharpened since Georgia State joined the league in 2013. The matchup even has its own tagline: State, not Southern.
This year’s game also serves as Red, White and Light It Blue, a Heroes Day tribute honoring military members and first responders. Fans wear blue for the occasion, and from the upper deck, the stands turn into one solid stretch of color.
The fall calendar wraps up on Saturday, November 28, when Georgia State hosts Louisiana in a match that doubles as Senior Day. The game falls on the Saturday right after GSU Thanksgiving break, which runs November 23 through 27 this year, so plenty of students can catch it before heading back to class Monday.
Georgia State calls it the Giveback Game, and it lives up to the name. Bring a canned food item or a new, unwrapped toy to the stadium box office and walk in for free, with every donation going to families across Atlanta. A season that opened with a parade closes with a can of soup at the gate, and there’s something fitting about that.
Game week already comes with enough moving parts. You’ve got a flight to catch, a hotel key to grab, and a kickoff time still listed as TBA. Whether it means meeting that flight, checking into that hotel, or making it from tailgate to gate right on cue, one trip can cover the whole day, no spreadsheet required.
