Nine out of 10 teams have started conference play as we’ve finally reached the prime month of October (congrats to all who made it).
Results
Appalachian State 45
Georgia State 16
Chase Brice (App St) 20/28 326 yards 3 TD 0 INT
Jordan Veneziale (GSU) 10 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QBH
No. 15 Coastal Carolina 59
ULM 6
Grayson McCall (CCU) 13/13 212 yards 2 TD 0 INT
Chandler Rogers (ULM) 9/17 100 yards 0 TD 1 INT, 11 att 40 yards
South Carolina 23
Troy 14
BJ Smith 19 att 105 yards 1 TD
Jamontez Woods 9 att 49 yards 1 TD
Georgia Southern 59
Arkansas State 33
Logan Wright (GS) 10 att 208 yards 2 TD
Corey Rucker (Ark St) 7 rec 86 yards 2 TD
Louisiana 20
South Alabama 18
Emoni Bailey (UL) 7 att 81 yards 1 TD
Jalen Tolbert (USA) 6 rec 143 yards
Best team performance
Georgia Southern
In their first game since the firing of Chad Lunsford, the Eagles clobbered Arkansas State at home under interim head coach Kevin Whitley. This was a game that was destined to see a lot of points and Georgia Southern very nearly dropped a 60-burger.
The Eagles ran the ball at will but it was an opportunistic secondary that won the game. Although the Red Wolves threw for 443 yards, GS defensive backs picked off James Blackman and Layne Hatcher four times.
Worst team performance
Georgia State
The Panthers have fallen to a painfully disappointing 1-4 start and three of their losses have been utter embarrassments. Georgia State hung in with the Mountaineers in the first half to stay within striking distance but completely fell apart in the final 30 minutes.
App State cruised on third downs (9/16) and picked off GSU’s Quad Brown and Darren Grainger three times. It’s becoming concerning that Shawn Elliott hasn’t figured out his own quarterback and running back situations as Brown and Grainger swapped time in this one. Destin Coates saw little playing time again while his replacement, Tucker Gregg, only had three carries. Marcus Carroll and Jamyest Williams got the bulk of the running back touches. The Panthers have a lot to figure out but it might be too late.
Notes
Chase Brice had App State’s first 300-yard, three touchdown and no interception game since 2017.
Corey Sutton recorded his sixth career 100-yard receiving game.
Grayson McCall is the second player in the Sun Belt history to complete 100 percent of at least 13 pass attempts and the first to do it in a conference game.
Troy ended a streak of 11 games without a 100-yard rusher when BJ Smith reached the century mark against South Carolina.
Troy’s 47 team tackles for loss is the most by a Sun Belt team through five games since MTSU had 50 in 2006.
Logan Wright is the sixth FBS player since 2000 to rush for at least 200 yards on 10 or fewer carries.
Arkansas State has given up 2,819 total yards of offense through five games, the third worst start in conference history.
There were seven total games in 2020 in which a Sun Belt team had 30 first downs. There have already been five so far this season.
Tomfoolery of the week
This was our most viewed tweet this week, so enjoy.
Commentary
The two-quarterback system has been a topic of discussion for us since last season when it comes to Arkansas State. Just when we thought it was gone for good, Butch Jones brought out Layne Hatcher in an attempt to get the offense going. What’s more, Georgia Southern did the same and played Cam Ransom alongside Justin Tomlin. What’s more, Georgia State turned back to Quad Brown before putting Darren Grainger back into the game against App State. It’s an epidemic.
Louisiana has had a tough time finishing games this year. South Alabama shut out the Cajuns 12-0 in the second this week and Georgia Southern pulled within a score when it shut out UL in the fourth quarter last week. Four of the Cajuns five opponents have won the fourth quarter. Earning a spot in the title game isn’t easy and Billy Napier’s team has been playing with fire so far.
That’s all I have this week. If you’d like to hear more, we are recording our podcast tonight (Monday) and will drop on Spotify tomorrow (Tuesday). Last week we also held our first #FunBelt Friday Night Talk on my Twitter account (@scottwatkinstu) through Twitter Spaces. We’ll do so again around 10:30 pm CT this week. It’s a good opportunity to talk all things Sun Belt football with the community.