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
North Texas 27 ... Western Kentucky
26
WKU's Chris James hit field goals from 26 and 44 yards away in
the second half, but he missed a 38-yarder with just over a minute
to play to seal UNT's second win of the year. Jamario Thomas ran for
147 yards with three second half touchdowns from eight, 30 and 42
yards out. Down 14-0 early, the Mean Green got on the board with a
Chris Neal blocked punt return for a score, but the Hilltoppers took
the momentum going into halftime with a 44-yard Terald Clark
interception return for a touchdown. And then Thomas took over even
though WKU controlled the ball for most of the second half. The two
teams combined for 19 penalties for 198 yards.
Sun Belt
Player of the Week
North Texas RB Jamario Thomas ran 16 times for 147 yards and three
touchdowns in the win over Western Kentucky
Conference Roundup
Arkansas State
… The running game was able to crank out
242 yards on a good Southern Miss
defense, but Corey Leonard struggled too
much throwing the ball and failed to
generate fourth quarter points off two
good drives. This was a good season
against a tough schedule, but not a
great one with too many inconsistent
performances, but 5-7 isn't awful.
Enough key parts return next year to
expect a winning season.
FIU … The defense isn't going to
slow anyone down, and it's not going to
be able to handle North Texas next week.
That's been established, but the
offense, for all the team's problems,
has made some excellent strides over the
last few weeks. It might have been way
too little, too late against Florida
Atlantic, but at least there was some
movement in the fourth quarter with the
passing game finally starting to move
the ball a bit. In the season finale,
the team has come up with something it
can build on for next year. A win would
obviously be ideal, but a great
performance from someone on offense
would be vital.
Florida Atlantic … The Owls did
what they needed to do to get by the
rivalry date with FIU and now can focus
on the task at hand: Troy. A win next
week means a Sun Belt title and a trip
to face Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl,
but to get it, the defense has to be
tighter than it was against the Golden
Panthers and the penalties have to slow
down. Committing ten for 94 yards was an
issue, and since Troy turns the ball
over, and FAU will likely win the
turnover battle, keeping the mistake to
a minimum could mean a win.
Middle Tennessee … The Blue
Raiders ran into a buzzsaw. With nothing
to really play for outside of pride,
once things started going south against
Troy, the wheels came off. The team
didn't quit; Troy was simply playing at
a high level. Now the program once again
has to figure out what it has to do to
get over the hump and get to where Troy
is. The defense underachieved and the
offense wasn't consistent, but it all
came down to the key games against FAU,
UL Lafayette and Troy, and the team
couldn't come through.
North Texas … Oh yeah, Jamario
Thomas. It only took 10.5 games, but the
UNT runner came up with a brilliant
second half in his final home game to
take control in the win over Western
Kentucky. There were three interceptions
from Giovanni Vizza and eight penalties,
but there was, shock of shocks, some
clutch defense in the second half. After
a lousy year, UNT has a chance to close
out with a two-game winning streak that
could mean everything to the young Todd
Dodge era, but a loss at FIU would mean
there's a lot more rebuilding to be
done.
Troy … Troy appears to be totally
locked in with its best game of the year
coming at just the right time. Middle
Tennessee didn't have a chance once all
the parts of the perfectly balanced
Trojan attack started to hum, and now
everything is set up for the showdown
for the Sun Belt title against Florida
Atlantic (as long as the Owls don't lose
to FIU). The defense camped out in the
backfield and Omar Haugabook was on, but
to nitpick, there were two
interceptions. The only was FAU can win
next week is by winning the turnover
battle.
UL Lafayette … ULL outplayed ULM
on both sides of the ball, but it didn't
come through when it had chances to take
control of the game and was killed by
the two turnovers. Connor Morel did a
fantastic job in place of Michael
Desormeaux, giving the attack a passing
game it hadn't had all year, while
Tyrell Fenroy was Tyrell Fenroy,
outdueling Calvin Dawson 118 yards to
66. This was a game the Ragin' Cajuns
should've won, and now they'll have all
offseason to think about it.
UL Monroe … How did ULM beat UL
Lafayette? The running game was fine,
but nothing special, the defense gave up
too many yards and the passing attack
didn't do much of anything. Turnovers.
ULL's two proved to be killers, while
ULM didn't give the ball away and came
up with the two big plays needed on
defense to get by. Now the Warhawks are
bowl eligible with the first six-win
season in decades, and while there won't
be a 13th game, closing out with five
wins in the final six, including a wins
over Alabama and the arch-rival ULL,
this quickly turned into a special
season.
| |
Conference |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
| |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
| Troy |
6 |
0 |
223 |
68 |
8 |
3 |
376 |
257 |
W2 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
| Florida Atlantic |
5 |
1 |
215 |
153 |
6 |
5 |
323 |
373 |
W1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| UL Monroe |
4 |
3 |
176 |
166 |
6 |
6 |
282 |
332 |
W3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| Middle Tennessee |
4 |
3 |
207 |
187 |
5 |
7 |
308 |
339 |
L2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
| Arkansas State |
3 |
4 |
161 |
187 |
5 |
7 |
291 |
331 |
L1 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
| UL Lafayette |
3 |
4 |
205 |
237 |
3 |
9 |
285 |
430 |
L1 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
| North Texas |
1 |
5 |
142 |
213 |
2 |
9 |
279 |
503 |
W1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
| Florida International |
0 |
6 |
111 |
229 |
0 |
11 |
143 |
450 |
L11 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
7 |
|
Tuesday,
November 20 |
| 7:00 PM |
at Troy
45 ... Middle Tennessee 7
CFN Prediction:
Troy 35-27 |
|
Saturday,
November 24 |
| 3:00 PM |
at Southern Miss
16 ... Arkansas State 10
CFN Prediction: USM 31-20 USM -14 |
| 4:00 PM |
at
North Texas 27 ... Western Kentucky 26
CFN Prediction: WKU 38-30 |
| 7:00 PM |
UL Monroe
17 ... at UL
Lafayette 11
CFN Prediction: ULM 28-21 ULM -3 |
| 7:00 PM |
Florida Atlantic 55
... at
Florida International 23
CFN Prediction: FAU 31-21 FAU -11.5 |
Past
Sun Belt Games of the Week
Sept. 1 -
Florida
Atlantic 27 ... Middle
Tennessee 14
Sept. 8 -
SMU 45 ... North Texas 31
Sept. 15 - Florida Atlantic 42
... Minnesota 39
Sept. 22 - Western
Kentucky
20 ... at Middle Tenn. 17
Sept. 29 - Arkansas State
35 ... Memphis
31
Oct. 6 - Virginia
23 ... at Middle Tennessee 21
Oct. 13 - North Texas 31 ... UL Monroe
21
Oct. 20 - Florida
Atlantic 39 ... at UL Lafayette
32 OT
Oct. 27 - UL Monroe 33 ... at Florida Atlantic
30 2OT
Nov. 3 - Middle Tennessee 43
... at UL
Monroe 40
Nov. 10 -
Navy 74 ... at
North Texas
62
Nov. 17 -
at Arkansas State 31 ... North
Texas 27
Nov. 24 - at
North Texas 27 ... Western Kentucky 26
Past Sun Belt Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Florida Atlantic RB Charles Pierre
Sept. 8 - North Texas QB Daniel Meager &
WR Casey Fitzgerald
Sept. 15 - Arkansas State QB Corey
Leonard
Sept. 22 - Troy RB Kenny Cattouse
Sept. 29 - Middle Tennessee QB Dwight
Dasher
Oct. 6 - UL Lafayette QB Michael
Desormeaux
Oct. 13 - Arkansas State QB Corey
Leonard
Oct. 20 - Florida Atlantic QB Rusty
Smith
Oct. 27 - UL Monroe RB Calvin Dawson
Nov. 3 - Middle Tennessee QB Joe
Craddock
Nov. 10 -
North Texas QB Giovanni Vizza
Nov. 17 - Arkansas State QB Corey
Leonard
Nov. 24 - North Texas RB Jamario
Thomas
