Welcome everyone to another edition of Around the Sun Belt! It was a wild one for a couple of teams in Sun Belt matchups and one coach appears to be on the hot seat four games into the 2017 season.
Appalachian State Mountaineers:
The Mountaineers came close to completing an upset on Saturday against Wake Forest. Early on the fourth quarter, Michael Rubino gave Appalachian State a two-point lead with a 39-yard field goal.
Wake Forest was able to respond with a chip shot field goal late in the game to take down the Mountaineers in Boone, North Carolina. Appalachian State has the week off before traveling over to New Mexico State with kickoff set for 2:30 pm.
Arkansas State Red Wolves:
The Red Wolves non-conference woes continue with a 44-21 loss to SMU. Justice Hansen managed to have a decent game with 234 yards through the air and two touchdowns. However, the run defense of Arkansas State was suboptimal allowing 314 net yards.
Arkansas State will have a week off before opening up conference play in a midweek primetime game against Georgia Southern.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers:
The Chanticleers’ non-conference woes continued as well, falling to Western Illinois 52-10. Coastal Carolina couldn’t get much going offensively with only 307 total yards of offense.
Coastal Carolina will look to start off conference play on the right foot when they travel down to UL Monroe with kickoff at 6 pm.
Georgia State Panthers:
The Panthers defense looked great on Saturday shutting out Charlotte 20-0. Gilmore wound up capping off the game early in the fourth quarter with a fumble recovery in the endzone.
The Panthers have the next week off before taking on Coastal Carolina to open up Sun Belt Conference play.
Georgia Southern Eagles:
Things have gone from bad to worse for the Eagles, starting out 0-3 on the year after a 52-17 loss to Indiana. In the second year of the Scott Summers era, the University’s president was bombarded with e-mails to replace the athletic director and Summers according to Underdog Dynasty.
Georgia Southern will have a week off before having a midweek matchup on national TV against Arkansas State at 7 pm.
Idaho Vandals:
The Vandals wound up having a hard time in their conference opener, but came away with a double-overtime victory over South Alabama.
Idaho was down by a touchdown with a little more than five minutes left on the clock and tied it up with 13 seconds left in the ballgame with Matt Linehan connecting with Onunwor on a 10 yard pass. Saunders wound getting the Vandals a win on a 2 yard run to start off Sun Belt play right.
Idaho will return home on October 7th to take on the Ragin Cajuns with kickoff set for 4 pm While the Jags will travel to Ruston to take on Louisiana Tech with kickoff set for 6 pm.
New Mexico State Aggies:
The Aggies got back to .500 with a convincing 41-14 victory over UTEP. Larry Rose III continues to impress with 144 yards rushing and 40 yards receiving and three total touchdowns for good measure.
The Aggies travel to Arkansas for another non-conference matchup with kickoff set for 11 am.
Texas State Bobcats:
The Roadrunners of UTSA lived up to their names with a 44-14 victory over Texas State. The Bobcats couldn’t get out of the gates, only amassing 198 total yards.
Texas State continues their road trip when they head all the way up to Wyoming with kickoff at 3 pm.
Troy Trojans:
It was a little bit more of a nailbiter on Saturday for Troy when they hosted the Akron Zips. With five minutes left in the ballgame, Warren Ball gave Akron the lead with a four yard run. Brandon Silvers wound up giving the Trojans the win with a 23-yard pass to Douglas to get the 22-17 victory.
Troy will head down to Baton Rouge when they take on the LSU Tigers with kickoff set for 6 pm.
-Clint Domingue