This Week in the Sun Belt – From the Bird’s Nest

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

The Sun Belt Conference went into last week with a winning non-conference record.  And then, reality hit.

To the tune of 0-10.  Now, most of the teams were double digit underdogs against Power-5 conference opponents.  But Idaho lost to Western Michigan at the Kibbie Dome and Troy lost at home….to Abilene Christian, a team that lost to Georgia State and a team that was Divison II just two years ago.

Well, here’s the good news.  The Sun Belt Conference will not go winless this week.  After all, someone has to win the Georgia Southern-South Alabama game in Mobile, the first ever conference game for the Eagles.

Speaking of Georgia Southern, they had the most impressive loss if there is such a thing, coming from 25 points down to take the lead against Georgia Tech, only to fall in the final minute.

So the league tries again…UL Monroe has a bye.  Besides Louisiana at Boise State, here are the other games involving Sun Belt teams.

TROY (0-3) AT GEORGIA (1-1)  Saturday, 11am, SEC Network.  Line:  Georgia (-39.5)---Okay, the Trojans are officially in trouble.  After their season-opening drubbing at the hands of UAB (2-10 a year ago), we wondered whether it was just a bad day at the office.  Evidently it wasn’t.  In perhaps the worst loss since joining the Sun Belt, Troy lost to Abilene Christian 38-35 at home last week.  ACU riddled the Troy defense for nearly 500 yards and came back from a 14 point halftime deficit to take a ten point lead late in the game before the Trojans got a cosmetic touchdown in the final seconds.  Now the Trojans get to go to Georgia to face a furious bunch of Bulldogs who want to take out last week’s frustrating loss to South Carolina out on someone.  Welcome to Athens, Trojans.

TEXAS STATE (1-1) AT ILLINOIS (2-1) Saturday, 3pm, ESPNEWS  Line:  Illinois (-14)—You can’t fault the Bobcats’ effort in their 35-21 loss to Navy a week ago.  And, you have to be impressed with the crowd of over 32,000 at Bobcat Stadium.  But at the end of the day it was a double digit loss.  Now Texas State leaves home for the first time this season to take on the Illini, who won home games against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky, but then got drilled at Washington a week ago.  The Bobcats haven’t won three road games in the same season since 2009.  This would go a long way toward changing that statistic.

GEORGIA STATE (1-2). (0-1) AT WASHINGTON (3-0)  Saturday, 5pm, Pac-12 Network .  Line: Washington (-35)—After opening with three straight home games, the Panthers now will play six of their next games on the road, beginning with a Washington club that followed narrow wins over Hawai’I and Eastern Washington with a drubbing of Illinois last week.  It’s the third of four straight home games for the Huskies, playing in their first season under former Boise State Head Coach Chris Petersen.  Georgia State will get a badly needed week off before traveling to Lafayette on October 4^th.

UTAH STATE (2-1) AT ARKANSAS STATE (1-2) Saturday, 6pm, ESPN3  Line:  ASU (-2.5)—This will be a good non conference matchup that should give both teams an idea of how they’ve progressed so far.  ASU returns home to Centennial Bank Stadium after road losses to Tennessee and Miami (FL).  Their home game was against Montana State and this will be the first game they’ve played against someone like them.  The Aggies have a common opponent in Tenneseee (lost 38-7, ASU lost 34-19).  USU lost by double digits to Wake Forest last week and that should be a bit disconcerting to them.

APPALACHIAN STATE (1-1) AT SOUTHERN MISS (1-2)  Saturday, 6pm, American Sports Network)  Line:  Southern Miss (-2.5) –Like the ASU-Utah State game, App is playing a team that’s on its talent level.  Both teams have been blown out by Power 5 foes.  Both have beaten FCS schools.  The Mountaineers have had two weeks to prepare for this one, while Southern Miss is coming off a blowout loss at Alabama.  I really think the only reason USM is the favorite is because they’re at home.  Don’t be surprised if App gets their first FBS win of the season this week.  Incidentally, the American Sports Network is available on many cable systems, including Cox Sports Televison.  As the man always says, check your local listings.)

IDAHO (0-2, 0-1) AT OHIO (1-2)  Saturday, 6pm, ESPN3  Line:  Ohio (-13.5)—The Vandals squandered an opportunity at home last week when they lost to Western Michigan by twelve points in a game they were favored to win.  Now it’s a Ohio team that’s better than WMU.  The Bobcats will be playing their first home game of the season.  Ohio thus far is near the bottom of the national statistics in scoring offense.  Idaho has given up 83 points in just two games.  Call this one the game between the stoppable force and the movable object.  The fact Ohio is a double digit favorite when they average only eleven points per game should be very disconcerting if you’re a Vandals fan.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN (1-2) AT SOUTH ALABAMA (1-1)—Saturday, 6:30pm, Sun Belt/ESPN3  Line:  USA (-2.5)---Georgia Southern has lost two absolute heartbreakers to ACC schools in N. C. State and Georgia Tech.  They’ll play their first ever Sun Belt Conference game in Mobile against a Jaguars team that has scored just 26 points in their first two games.  My big question is can USA prepare for that Eagles offense properly in just one week?  My other question is the psyche of Georgia Southern after another really tough loss.  I don’t know about you, but, based on what we’ve seen so far, I’m a little surprised the Jaguars are favored in this one.

NEW MEXICO  (0-2) AT NEW MEXICO STATE (2-1)—Saturday, 7pm, ESPN3  Line:  UNM (-5)—The Lobos are coming off a bye week after losses to UTEP and Arizona State.  NMSU lost to UTEP last week.  In comparative scores, the Lobos lost by seven at home,while NMSU lost by 18 on the road.   The Aggies would love to get one over their in-state rivals, but this one won’t be easy.  It wasn’t very long ago UNM might have been the worst team in the FBS.  They aren’t tremendously better, but the program has improved under Bob Davie.  In a few weeks the Aggies have back to back games at Idaho and Troy.  They might have to wait until then to get win number three.