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Thursday
No. 15 Coastal Carolina at Arkansas State
Time: 6:30
TV: ESPNU
Spread: CCU -20
Location: Jonesboro, Ar
The spread has moved significantly since it opened at around CCU -17 as bettors are not only banking on Coastal’s hyper-efficient offense but also on Arkansas State’s complete lack of defensive presence.
Grayson McCall is coming of an historical 13/13 outing last week and the Chants will benefit from having starting running back Shermari Jones and place kicker Massimo Biscardi back in the lineup.
The Chants have only faced 44 third downs in five games, by far the fewest in the Sun Belt and 12 fewer than Texas State who has had played just four games. Arkansas State’s defense has been susceptible to big plays, as well. The Red Wolves have given up five plays of 70-plus yards while the rest of the conference combined has allowed just four such plays.
Saturday
Georgia Southern at Troy
Time: 6:00 pm
TV: ESPN+
Spread: Troy -5.5
Location: Troy, Al
Georgia Southern is coming off a beatdown against Arkansas State and riding high from the 500-rushing-yard performance that ended in Kevin Whitley’s first win as interim head coach. On the other side, Troy is fresh off an exhaustive heartbreaking loss at South Carolina.
The Arkansas State game saw the emergence of yet another horse in the Eagle backfield in Jalen White who ran for 157 yards and his first two career touchdowns. Georgia Southern will be facing a defense that falls on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Red Wolves, though.
Troy is first in the conference in yards per carry allowed (2.9) and first in rushing touchdowns allowed (2). This game will come down to a Trojan offense that is scoring just 16 points per game against FBS opponents.
South Alabama at Texas State
Time: 6:00
TV: ESPN+
Spread: USA -3.5
Location: San Marcos, TX
Joining Troy atop the surprising defensive leaderboards is South Alabama who has a slim edge over the Trojans in total rushing defense. The Jaguars took Louisiana to the very edge last week and had multiple chance to take down the Cajuns in the final opportunity but ultimately fell short.
Texas State is coming off a soul-searching off week in hopes of turning around its season after two depressing losses against Incarnate Word and Eastern Michigan. Its next two games are against the top two defenses in the league.
There are nine teams in college football who are still perfect in the redzone and three of them are in the Sun Belt. Texas State happens to be one of those three and has the most trips (14) in that group. The key to this game for the Bobcats is actually getting to the redzone. Of course on the flip side South Alabama just so happens to have the top redzone defense in the conference.
Georgia State at ULM
Time: 7:00
TV: ESPN3
Spread: GSU -16
Location: Monroe, LA
I like to think that Las Vegas knows what its doing but sometimes I look at a spread and squint slightly in mild surprise. I did that with this game. Georgia State is fresh off its third loss of 29 or more points. Though ULM is licking its wounds after getting shelled by Coastal Carolina.
The Panthers have exposed a lot of problems with their offense in a year where the roster was supposed to finally pull together and contend in the East. Shawn Elliott can’t seem to decide on a quarterback or running back to carry the offense. The defense has its moments but is prone to complete breakdowns.
ULM already has its “signature” win over Troy but doesn’t stand out in any positive way on paper. The one thing of note is the Warhawks are still first in the league in turnover margin at +1.5 per game.
Picks
Standings
Scott — 23-13
Andrew — 22-14
Thomas — 18-18
Zach — 14-22
Podcast
Here is the link to our weekly podcast enjoyed by fans and coaches alike. This week we have Hayden Bannick with us to talk a little Coastal Carolina.