Click
on each team for game recaps, thoughts,
schedules and more and scroll down for
the games, results, players of the week
and the conference roundup.
Arkansas State
| Florida Atlantic
| Florida International
| MTSU
North Texas
| Troy
| UL Lafayette
| UL
Monroe
Sun Belt Game of
the Week
Florida
Atlantic 27 ... Middle Tennessee 14
Florida Atlantic jumped out to a 24-0
lead as Rusty Smith threw two touchdown
passes and Charles Pierre ran for a
one-yard score, but Middle Tennessee got
back in the game on a 27-yard Desmond
Gee touchdown catch in the fourth
quarter followed up by a 32-yard blocked
punt return for a score. The Owl
defense, which came up with four sacks
and allowed just 11 rushing yards, held
firm and Warley Leroy put it away with
his second field goal of the game.
Sun Belt
Player of
the Week
Florida Atlantic RB Charles Pierre ran
16 times for 95 yards and a touchdown
in the 27-14 win over Middle Tennessee.
Conference Roundup
Arkansas State
… Either Texas was going through the
motions, or Arkansas State served notice
that it'll be a major player in the Sun
Belt race. The running game did a good
job to keep things moving, and Corey
Leonard was decent throwing it, but
there simply weren't any big scoring
drives until it was too late. Tyrell
Johnson was the best defensive back in
the game, making 14 stops with an
interception and a tackle for loss.
FIU … Penn State wasn't exactly
the right team to try to work against to
get the offense rolling. The Nittany
Lion defense is among the best in the
nation, and it showed as FIU failed to
do anything on the ground and struggled
just to keep the chains moving. The line
gave up way too many sacks and allowed
the quarterbacks to be pressured way too
often, while the defense couldn't hold
up in the second half after the offense
failed to provide any help.
Unfortunately, it'll be hard to find a
running game against Maryland or Miami
over the next two weeks.
Florida Atlantic … While the
offense might not have been spectacular
against Middle Tennessee, make no
mistake about it; this was a statement
game for FAU in the Sun Belt race. The
defense stuffed everything the Blue
Raiders tried to do on the ground, and
outside of a late scoring drive, never
allowed the offense to get going. It was
a group effort on D, getting good help
and decent pressure to make this a
surprising walk in the park. This was a
Sun Belt championship-caliber
performance.
Middle Tennessee … The defense
was fine against Florida Atlantic, but
it needed to be fantastic to overcome a
rough day from the offense. This was
Florida Atlantic, not Louisville or LSU,
who MT faces over the next two weeks,
and if the ground could only manage 18
rushing yards, there are huge problems
ahead. Joe Craddock wasn't bad throwing
the ball, but unless the offensive line
starts to play better, it'll be an ugly
start to the year.
North Texas … There will be
better days for Todd Dodge. Playing a
fired up Oklahoma team isn't the way to
start and era, and for a team that needs
time to get an offense in place, several
warm-up games are needed before things
start to get better. The defense didn't
have a prayer against the Sooner offense
with a line that allowed the skill
players to do whatever they wanted to.
The one positive was punter Truman
Spencer, who had a nice day pushing the
Sooners deep. He'll be used a lot this
year.
Troy … Arkansas is going to run
for 350 yards on just about everyone, so
there's no need to be too upset about
the defensive performance against the
Hogs. What was a problem was Omar
Haugabook's accuracy, completing just 15
of 43 passes, but bombing for 204 yards.
Troy needs Haugabook to be consistent,
especially on third downs, and he needs
to keep the chains moving against
Florida and Oklahoma State over the next
few weeks. If he's completing 35% of his
passes, Troy will get blown out again.
UL Lafayette … The Ragin' Cajuns
ran the ball extremely well on a good
SEC defense, but the lack of a passing
game, and the failure to move the ball
consistently in the second half, proved
to be the undoing against South
Carolina. Michael Desormeaux wasn't able
to get the passing game to open anything
up, and it allowed the Gamecock
linebackers to tee off as the game went
on. If ULL can outrush Ohio next week,
it'll win.
UL Monroe … ULM lives and dies
with the run, and while Calvin Dawson
had a nice performance against Tulsa,
the ground game only cranked out 212
yards and no one gave the franchise back
much help. Kinsmon Lancaster had an
awful day throwing the ball, with 31 of
his 66 yards coming on one play. He only
took one sack and he didn't make many
mistakes, but he failed to get the
passing attack moving in the second
half. The defense did a good job against
the hurry-up attack until the floodgates
opened in the second half. Blame the
offense for not providing more help.
| |
Conference |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
|
Team |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
|
Florida Atlantic |
1 |
0 |
27 |
14 |
1 |
0 |
27 |
14 |
W1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Troy |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
26 |
46 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
UL
Monroe |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
17 |
35 |
L1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
UL
Lafayette |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
28 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Arkansas State |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
21 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
North Texas |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
79 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Florida International |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
59 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Middle Tennessee |
0 |
1 |
14 |
27 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
27 |
L1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Thursday, August 30 |
|
7:00 PM |
Tulsa 35 ... at UL Monroe
17
CFN Prediction:
Tulsa 34-27 Tulsa -5 |
|
Saturday, September 1 |
|
12:00 PM |
at Penn State 59 ...
Florida International 0
CFN Prediction: PSU 34-6 PSU
-38 |
|
4:00
PM |
at
Florida Atlantic 27
... Middle Tennessee 14
CFN Prediction:
MT
17-14 FAU -2.5 |
|
7:00 PM |
at Arkansas 46 ... Troy
26
CFN Prediction: Ark 24-10
Ark. -24 |
|
7:00
PM |
at
Oklahoma 79 ... North
Texas 10
CFN Prediction: OU 52-7 OU
-41 |
|
7:00 PM |
at Texas 21 ... Arkansas
State 13
CFN Prediction: Texas 48-6
Texas -39 |
|
7:00
PM |
at
South Carolina 28
... UL Lafayette 14
CFN Prediction: USC 30-13 USC
-29 |
Past
Sun Belt
Games of the
Week
Sept. 1 -
Florida
Atlantic 27 ... Middle
Tennessee 14
Past Sun Belt Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Florida Atlantic RB Charles Pierre