Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Complete PDF)
Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
Sun Belt Conference Standings
Sun Belt Conference Statistics
The Sun Belt Conference: Together We Rise
• A record six Sun Belt teams went to bowl games last season, breaking the previous record of four set in 2012 and 2015. The four bowl wins were the most ever by the Sun Belt in its league history.
• The Sun Belt’s .667 winning percentage in bowl games fell one win shy of claiming a win in ESPN’s “Conference Bowl Challenge” among all 10 FBS conferences, and percentage-wise finished tied with the Big 12 Conference for the second spot. It was the best bowl winning percentage among the “Group of Five” conferences.
• The Sun Belt finished third in the annual “Group of Five” conference rankings in 2017 after finishing fifth the past two seasons.
• The College Football Playoff distributed $50 million to the “Group of Five” conferences to be split evenly amongst the leagues, with the other $35 million distributed based on regular season and post season performance. The Sun Belt’s third-place finish resulted in an extra $3 million to be distributed evenly among its membership.
• The Sun Belt will add a significant boost to its officiating program this year as it was recently announced that the conference will use a collaborative replay system. The system will allow officials in a central location to review replays and assist officials at each game.
• Troy became the first Sun Belt school to earn an AP Top 25 ranking last season (#25 – November 14).
• South Alabama defeated No. 19 San Diego State 42-24 for the program’s first win over a top-25 team and Mississippi State 21-20 for its first win against a member of the SEC last season.
Arkansas State and Appalachian State were co-champions of the league in 2016. It was the fifth conference title in six seasons for the Red Wolves, and a first-ever Sun Belt title for the Mountaineers.
• The 2017 season will be the fifth consecutive year all Sun Belt football home games will be carried by an ESPN network. In total, 68 home contests will be televised.
12 Sun Belt home games are already slated to appear on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU including at least one game on “Championship Saturday” on December 2nd.
• The Sun Belt will determine its football conference champion with a championship game for the first time in league history beginning with the 2018 season. The game will be played between the winners of the East and West divisions at the home stadium of the divisional winner with the best ranking in the College Football Playoff poll. If there is not a team ranked in the CFP Poll, the average computer ranking of the six computer polls that made up the BCS system will be used to determine the site. The divisions are - East: Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy, West: Arkansas State, Louisiana, ULM, South Alabama, Texas State.
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, September 16
Louisiana at Texas A&M - 11 a.m. (SEC Network)
Coastal Carolina at UAB - 12 p.m. (Raycom Sports)
* Appalachian State at Texas State - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
Arkansas Pine Bluff at Arkansas State - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
Idaho at Western Michigan - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
Southern Miss at ULM - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
Alabama A&M at South Alabama - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
Georgia State at #5 Penn State - 6:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
* Troy at New Mexico State - 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
* denotes Sun Belt Conference game
All times Central (CT) and subject to change
Recent Results
Friday, September 8
#11 Oklahoma State 44, South Alabama 7 - 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, September 9
Colorado 37, Texas State 3 - 1 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Appalachian State 54, Savannah State 7 - 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Tulsa 66, Louisiana 42 - 3 p.m. (ESPN3)
New Hampshire 22, Georgia Southern 12 - 3 p.m. (ESPN3) - game in Birmingham, Ala.
Troy 34, Alabama State 7 - 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
UNLV 44, Idaho 16 - 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
New Mexico State 30, New Mexico 28 - 7 p.m. (Facebook/Stadium)
ULM at #10 Florida State - Cancelled
#16 Miami at Arkansas State - Cancelled
Sun Belt Football Players of the Week
Offensive Player of the Week
Tyler Rogers, New Mexico State (Sr., QB)
Tyler Rogers led the New Mexico State offense through the air in a 30-28 win over rival New Mexico. The senior was 34-for-57 for 401 yards and tied a career-high with four touchdowns. Rogers spread the ball around connecting with 11 different receivers on the night. The Peoria, Ariz. natives 401 yards and four touchdowns are second in the Sun Belt Conference for individual game-highs and his 81-yard connection with Izaiah Lottie is the longest pass this season.
Defensive Player of the Week
Ron Laforce, New Mexico State (Jr., DB)
New Mexico State defensive back Ron Laforce came up big against in-state rival New Mexico. Along with six tackles, the junior transfer came up with two huge interceptions on back-to-back Lobo drives. The first was picked off inside the Aggie 15-yard line just before the end of the half and the other came three yards from the end zone on the opponent’s first drive of the third quarter.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Marcus Ripley, Texas State (So., P)
Texas State’s Marcus Ripley averaged 45.9 yards on nine punts at Colorado and had a career-long 71 yard punt against the Buffaloes. Ripley also kicked a 53-yard punt and two punts of 49 yards and one 48-yard punt in the game. He placed four of his punts inside the 20-yard line and one touchback.
Sun Belt News and Notes
Sun Belt Membership
Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana, ULM, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy give the league 10 full-time members that compete in football. Little Rock and UTA compete as Sun Belt members in all sports other than football. Idaho and New Mexico State compete only in the sport of football.
Sun Belt Bowl Partners
In 2001, the Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring football and created the inaugural New Orleans bowl in December of that year. The conference now stands as one of the 10 premier college football leagues in the country.
As part of the College Football Playoff a worthy football team in the Sun Belt can be in the national championship picture, and the league is a permanent part of the “Group of Five” conferences (joining the American Athletic Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Mid-American Conference and Conference USA) that sends its highest-rated champion to a premier January 1st bowl game.
In the last four years the Sun Belt Conference has gone from having two primary bowl partnerships to five in 2017. From 2001 to 2009 the Sun Belt Conference had only one bowl partner.
College Football Playoff
Opportunity to select Sun Belt Champion for one of six bowls or CFP semifinals
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
First Selection (vs. CUSA)
Dollar General Bowl (Mobile, Ala.)
Second Selection (vs. MAC)
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.)
Third Selection (vs. MAC)
AutoNation Cure Bowl (Orlando, Fla.)
Fourth Selection (vs. American)
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl (Tucson, Ariz.)
Fifth Selection (vs. Mountain West)
Sun Belt Conference Championship Game
The Sun Belt Conference will hold its first ever football championship game as the league’s presidents and chancellors, as well as athletic directors, voted unanimously to play the game beginning in 2018. The addition of Coastal Carolina and the decision to move forward as a 10-team football league, along with the NCAA Division I Council’s rules on championship games, means that the championship game has become a reality.
Sun Belt Athletes are Student-Athletes
During the recent 2016-17 academic year, Sun Belt member institutions awarded over $50 million in scholarships to more than 3,100 student-athletes, while also providing life experiences such as team building, domestic and foreign travel, community service, mentoring and recognition through honors and awards. The commitment to education recently led to over 2,100 Sun Belt Conference student-athletes being named to the 2016-17 Commissioner’s List and Academic Honor Roll. The list is comprised of 1,087 student-athletes on the Commissioner’s List (3.5 grade point average or better) and 1,045 student-athletes on the Academic Honor Roll (GPA between 3.0 and 3.49).
2017 Sun Belt Football Coaches Predicted Order of Finish (first place votes)
1. Appalachian St. (7) - 136 pts
2. Troy (2) - 127 pts
3. Arkansas State (1) - 122 pts
4. South Alabama - 98 pts
5. Louisiana (1) - 95 pts
6. Idaho - 84 pts
7. Georgia Southern - 82 pts
8. Georgia State - 48 pts
9. ULM - 46 pts
10. New Mexico St. (1) - 41 pts
11. Texas State - 31 pts
12. Coastal Carolina - 26 pts
Team News and Notes
Appalachian State Mountaineers
• Appalachian State limited Savannah State to 114 total yards this past Saturday. It was its lowest yardage total allowed since Georgia State managed only 62 yards in a 44-0 loss to App State on Nov. 1, 2014.
• Despite playing only two quarters, Taylor Lamb completed 12 of his 15 passes for 327 yards and five touchdowns. Five touchdown passes tied the school record set previously by four App State quarterbacks: DeAndre Presley in 2010 (vs. The Citadel), Armanti Edwards in 2008 (vs. Wofford), Richie Williams in 2004 (vs. Northwestern State) and Pat Murphy in 1967 (vs. Presbyterian) and 1968 (vs. Wofford).
• Taylor Lamb increased his career total to 68 touchdown passes. He’s six behind Armanti Edwards, the school record-holder with 74 touchdown throws from 2006-09.
• Levi Duffield’s 57-yard touchdown seven minutes into Saturday’s game was the longest catch by an App State tight end since Ben Jorden had a 58-yard reception against Presbyterian in 2008, but tight end Collin Reed topped both of those gains on his 68-yard touchdown with 12:30 left in the second quarter.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
• A-State dropped a narrow 43-36 decision at Nebraska in its season opener, which remains its lone game played entering its contest against UAPB after last Saturday’s game against No. 16 Miami was canceled.
• While Arkansas State first fielded a football team in 1911 and UAPB has been playing football since 1928, Saturday’s game will be just the second meeting between the two-in state programs. The Red Wolves defeated the Golden Lions 62-11 in their 2013 season opener.
• A-State has played six current members of the SWAC a combined seven times, standing 7-0 in those games. The Red Wolves have outscored their opponents 362-21 in those outings.
• Arkansas State has played 11 colleges/universities located in the state of Arkansas.
• While A-State has dropped its last two home openers, vs. Missouri in 2015 and Toledo in 2016, it had won its previous 10 from 2005-14. The Red Wolves stand 30-13 all-time in home openers at Centennial Bank Stadium and also 16-8 in such games since moving to FBS status in 1992.
• A-State holds a 55-13 record at Centennial Bank Stadium since 2005 and 12 consecutive seasons with a winning record at the stadium.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
• This is the first meeting between Coastal Carolina and UAB.
• Coastal has played two current members of Conference USA - Old Dominion and Charlotte - and are 2-1 against them, but neither were league members when the game was played. In fact, both were FCS members, just as CCU was.
• CCU fell 63-35 to then #2 Old Dominion in the second round of the 2012 NCAA FCS playoffs. Then, in Charlotte’s first two years of football, Coastal defeated the 49ers 50-25 in Conway (2013) and 59-34 in Charlotte in (2014).
• Coastal Carolina features two student-athletes from Alabama. Ethan Howard is a sophomore from nearby Brookwood and the starting right tackle. He played in 10 games last season and earned three starts at left tackle. In high school, Howard was a finalist for the Bryant Jordan Award, given annually by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Trey Carter is a redshirt freshman from Monroeville and started at right guard in CCU’s 2017 opener. He was a three-time Alabama Independent School Association All-State pick, AISA Lineman of the Year in 2015 and a finalist in ‘14 and ‘13.
• When it was announced UAB would discontinue football, offensive lineman Daniel Anousheh transferred to Coastal. Anousheh, who began his career at a junior college in California, played in three games as a junior with the Blazers in 2014. In his lone season at CCU (2015), Anousheh started all 12 games at left guard and blocked for All-American quarterback Alex Ross and All-American running back De’Angelo Henderson. Anousheh graduated from Coastal in the summer of 2016.
Georgia Southern Eagles
• With Hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida and Georgia, GS and New Hampshire agreed to move their game on Sept. 9 to Birmingham’s Legion Field. The Eagle football team, along with both soccer squads, the volleyball and swimming team also relocated to Birmingham while the storm track was determined.
• With the move, Georgia Southern will now just have four home games this season at Paulson Stadium, three on Saturdays. That’s only happened two other times in the modern era of GS football: 1983 and 1984. In those two seasons, GS played four home games, five road games and two neutral site games.
• Georgia Southern will now not play its first home game until Oct. 4 when it hosts Arkansas State for a Wednesday Night ESPN2 game. It will mark the first time in program history the Eagles will not have a home game in the month of September. In 1984, it was the fifth game of the season before the Eagles played at home while waiting for construction on Paulson Stadium to be completed, but that opener came on Sept. 29, 1984.
Georgia State Panthers
• Georgia State welcomed a crowd of 24,333 for the inaugural game at Georgia State Stadium on Aug. 31.
• Georgia State had an open date this past week and will be traveling to No. 5-ranked Penn State on Saturday, Sept. 16 (7:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network).
• With one tackle for loss against Tennessee State, senior defensive end Mackendy Cheridor tied the GSU career record of 22. His next tackle for loss will break the mark that he currently shares with Joseph Peterson (2012-15).
• Just a redshirt sophomore, Penny Hart already ranks among the Georgia State career leaders in receptions (84/6th), receiving yards (1,196/5th) and touchdown receptions (9/5th) after just 16 career games.. Hart has averaged 5.25 receptions per game.
• Senior safety Bryan Williams is the first Panther to play a sixth season after being granted an extra year by the NCAA. Williams originally joined the Georgia State program in 2012. His older brother, tight end Arthur Williams, played for the Panthers in their first two seasons (2010-11), meaning Georgia State has never played a football game without a Williams brother on the roster.
Idaho Vandals
• The Vandals travel to Western Michigan for their first road game of the season. It is the fifth meeting between the two programs, with WMU holding a 3-1 all-time lead in the series. Idaho’s victory came in 2010, its last trip to Kalamazoo.
• Idaho is seeking its third all-time win in the Eastern Time Zone. The two previous wins both came in the state of Michigan. The Vandals won at Western Michigan in 2010, and Eastern Michigan in 2004.
• Senior wide receiver Jacob Sannon recorded the first 100-yard receiving game of his career last week against UNLV. Sannon set career highs with 11 receptions and 109 yards.
• Senior wide receiver Reuben Mwehla has caught a touchdown pass each of the first two games this season. They are the first two touchdown catches of Mwehla’s career.
• Junior linebacker Ed Hall led the Vandals with 13 tackles against UNLV. It is Hall’s second career game with double-digit tackles, the other also coming against the Rebels last season (15 tackles). Hall recorded his first career interception last week against UNLV.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
• Louisiana’s 596 yards of total offense against Tulsa was the third-highest total under head coach Mark Hudspeth and its most since totaling 620 yards against Nicholls in 2013.
• Quarterback Jordan Davis set career-highs in passing yards (309), rushing yards (60), total offense (369), completions (21), total touchdowns (4), passing touchdowns (2) and rushing touchdowns (2).
• Davis’ 309 yards through the air was the 33rd 300-yard passing game by a Ragin’ Cajuns quarterback in school history and the first since Terrence Broadway (335 vs. Texas State on Oct. 5, 2013).
• Redshirt freshman Trey Ragas’ 130 yards on the ground marked his first career 100-yard game.
• Ryheem Malone (8 receptions, 119 yards) and Keenan Barnes (6 receptions, 102 yards, 1 TD) marked the 13th time in school history that two receivers recorded over 100 yards in a game. The 119 yards by Malone and 102 yards by Barnes marked the duo’s first career 100-yard receiving game. Malone’s eight receptions against Tulsa were a career-high, surpassing his previous total (6 vs. North Texas) while at SMU in 2015.
• The 309 yards passing by Jordan Davis, 130 yards rushing by Trey Ragas, 119 yards receiving by Ryheem Malone and 102 yards receiving by Keenan Barnes marked the seventh time in school history the Ragin’ Cajuns had a 300-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game (last time came against East Carolina in the 2012 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl).
• The all-purpose yards recorded against Tulsa by Ryheem Malone (145), Trey Ragas (130), Elijah Mitchell (103) and Keenan Barnes (102) marked the first time since 2012 that four played posted over 100 all-purpose yards in the same game. Terrence Broadway (145), Darryl Surgent (145), Harry Peoples (143) and Alonzo Harris (104) achieved the feat against Western Kentucky.
ULM Warhawks
• Florida State University cancelled all home athletic events scheduled this past weekend due to Hurricane Irma. This included Saturday’s football game against ULM.
• The Warhawks (0-1) play their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 16 against Southern Miss, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN3.
New Mexico State Aggies
• Saturday’s win against New Mexico was the first time the Aggies beat the Lobos in back-to-back years since 2009-11. The victory was the first win for NM State in Albuquerque since 2011.
• Two touchdowns in game was a career-high for Izaiah Lottie.
• Ron LaForce forced the first and second interception of his career. LaForce’s pair of picks was the first time an Aggie had two interceptions since Shamad Lomax against Texas State (11/19/16).
• Quarterback Tyler Rogers tied his career-high for most touchdowns in a game with four which was set against Arkansas State (11/29/14). Rogers 57 pass attempts tied his career-high which set last week at Arizona State (8/31/17).
• Doug Martin secured his first win on the road against UNM.
• This was only the fourth time in program history the Aggies beat the Lobos when the opponent scored 27+ points.
South Alabama Jaguars
• South Alabama fell to 0-2 for the first time since the program’s inception after falling to 11th-ranked Oklahoma State Friday night on ESPN2.
• USA is now 1-2 all-time against top-25 opponents.
• The Cowboys — ranked 11th in the Associated Press and 10th in the coaches’ polls entering play — are the highest-rated team the Jaguars have played in the school’s first eight-plus seasons of competition.
• The Jaguars will play host to Alabama A&M Saturday in their final contest prior to the start of Sun Belt Conference play.
• It will mark the first time since Nov. 3, 2011 — when the Jags defeated Mississippi Valley State 35-0 — that USA will take on a school from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• The Jaguars haven’t dropped consecutive home games in the same season since falling to North Carolina State and Arkansas State during the 2015 campaign.
• South is 4-3 all-time against in-state opposition, going 2-3 against league rival Troy while defeating Huntingdon and West Alabama in its only meeting with the latter two programs.
• In the OSU contest senior Xavier Johnson became the second individual in USA history to surpass 3,500 all-purpose yards after leading the Jaguars with 36 on five rushes while adding 60 more returning kicks.
• Jeremy Reaves matched his tackle total from the Jags’ season-opening contest at Ole Miss to share the team lead in the category for the second straight outing. It’s the seventh time since the start of his sophomore year that the safety has accomplished the feat, and the first since pacing South in stops against San Diego State and North Carolina State on Sept. 19 and 26, 2015, that Reaves has done so in back-to-back outings.
Texas State Bobcats
• Texas State looks to win its second home game of the season when the Bobcats open their Sun Belt Conference schedule against Appalachian State on September 16. The Bobcats won their first home game of the year with a 20-11 victory over Houston Baptist.
• Saturday’s game will mark the first time the Bobcats have played a home game against the Mountaineers. They previously met in Boone in 2004 and 2016.
• Texas State held Colorado to 91 rushing yards to mark the second straight game that the Bobcats have held an opponent under 100 yards rushing.
• Texas State recorded two quarterback sacks at Colorado. It gives Texas State eight total sacks this season after the Bobcats record a season-total of nine sacks in 2016.
• Anthony D. Taylor made his first career start and led Texas State with 66 yards rushing on six carries at Colorado. Taylor had a career-long, 55-yard run on the first play of the game against the Buffaloes. It was the longest run from scrimmage since Tyler Siudzinski had a 62-yard run at Idaho in 2015.
• Thurman Morbley returned to Texas State’s lineup and led the Bobcats with 96 all-purpose yards and five receptions for 96 yards. Morbley had a career-long 21-yard run and ended the game with two carries for 23 yards. His 45-yard reception was the second-longest catch of his career and set up James Sherman’s 32-yard field goal.
• Marcus Ripley averaged 45.9 yards on nine punts at Arizona. Ripley had a career-long 71-yard punt and a 53-yard boot. He enters the Appalachian State game having placed seven punts inside the 20 after placing four punts inside the 20 against Colorado.
• Senior linebacker Gabe Loyd led Texas State with a career-highs of 12 solo and 12 total tackles and recorded his first sack of the season at Colorado. Loyd also had a tackle for loss of eight yards with the eight-yard sack.
Troy Trojans
• A Veterans Memorial Stadium record crowd of 29,278 was in attendance for Troy’s home game against Alabama State last Saturday. the previous record was 29,013 when Troy hosted Mississippi State on Sept. 15, 2012.
• Neal Brown has never been shutout as a head coach or as an offensive coordinator -- a span of 115 games. Troy improved to 13-1 all-time under Neal Brown when leading at the half.
• Troy improved to 15-2 in home openers since moving to the FBS level in 2001 and 3-0 in home openers under Neal Brown.
• Jordan Chunn finished the game with three rushing touchdowns for his 10th career multi-touchdown game and second career three-touchdown game. Chunn now has 40 career rushing touchdowns and is eight rushing touchdowns shy of tying the all-time Sun Belt record. It marked his 28th career game with a rushing touchdown. Chunn moved into fourth place all-time in Troy history with 2,448 rushing yards after rushing for 61 yards against Alabama State to pass DuJuan Harris; he is 345 behind Shawn Southward for third place
• Brandon Silvers moved into second place all-time in Troy history with 7,878 yards after throwing for 345 yards against Alabama State; he passed both Sim Byrd and Brock Nutter. Brandon Silvers completed 32-of-40 passes for 345 yards, it was his fifth career 300-yard passing game and first since a 373-yard game at Idaho on Oct. 1, 2016.
• Jamarius Henderson rushed for his first career touchdown as a Trojan with a 12-yard rush in the second quarter; he rushed for four touchdowns as a freshman at Memphis in 2015.