Sun Belt Week 1: What we learned
By Drew Champlin
Published: August 31, 2008
I’m going to try to do this every Sunday, but we’ll see how well I keep up with it.
Arkansas State 18, Texas A&M 14: Wow. Arkansas State did exactly what the conference needed. Corey Leonard is the best dual-threat QB in the conference. He’s better than Michael Desormeaux at ULL because he can throw the ball. Reggie Arnold is a very good running back. Both are redshirt juniors. Here’s one of those games that ASU won where it wasn’t supposed to. The Red Wolves can be SBC title contenders provided they don’t lose a couple of stinkers. Read about it in the Jonesboro Sun.
No. 11 Texas 52, Florida Atlantic 10: I really thought about picking this as a blowout, but decided not to. All the BCS hopes were dashed with the loss, though I don’t know who outside of Boca thought the Owls would go 12-0. Nevertheless, the key injuries and bad defense suddenly makes next week’s game vs. UAB less winnable.
Southern Miss 51, UL-Lafayette 21: What else is new? Michael Desormeaux can’t beat teams with his arm. ULL had some big injuries in the game, and if you can coach, better send Scott Farmer your resume.
No. 14 Kansas 40, FIU 10: Hey, FIU played them closer than I thought they would.
Indiana 31, Western Kentucky 13: Not much to say here. WKU still isn’t eligibile for a Sun Belt title. Indiana had its way with the Hilltoppers Saturday.
Kansas State 45, North Texas 6: We all knew North Texas couldn’t defend anyone. Turns out, they couldn’t pass either. It might be another long year in Denton.
No. 10 Auburn 34, UL-Monroe 0: ULM’s defense was pretty good, as most of those Auburn points came off special teams, turnovers, or came late in the game. Charlie Weatherbie’s bunch did a good job of slowing Tony Franklin’s bunch when he was at Troy, but you’ve got to score to give yourselves a chance.
Troy 31, Middle Tennessee 17: You’ve hopefully read all the coverage on both sides. Troy’s got to create its breaks early at LSU and cash in on them with touchdowns if they want a chance, because I can’t see this offense putting together five sustained drives against the Tigers at this point. Middle Tennessee will probably struggle this year, but there’s some young talent out there. I think freshman WR Sancho McDonald will be very good for the Blue Raiders in years to come.
Biggest thing to watch for this week is how Hurricane Gustav affects plans for Troy at LSU. It could be moved to Nov. 15 since both teams are off that week. Most people I’ve talked with don’t think a decision will come until late Tuesday or Wednesday.
Game or not, let’s have a TROJAN CHAT Thursday at 8 p.m. CST. right here on this blog. I’ll post the chat software later in the week.
Power rankings. These are indicative on how the team is playing now, not overall talent level
1. Arkansas State
2. Troy
3. Florida Atlantic
4. UL-Monroe
5. Middle Tennessee
6. Florida International
7. UL-Lafayette
8. North Texas
