Coastal Carolina 37, Georgia State 34
ATLANTA - In a game full of big-play touchdowns, it was Alex James' 3-yard run and Massimo Biscardi's 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter that rallied Coastal Carolina to a 37-34 win over Georgia State on Saturday.
James' TD run capped a 12-play, 57-yard drive with 9:46 remaining. Biscardi's tiebreaking field goal came with just under three minutes left and was set up by a 48-yard, Fred Payton-to-CJ Marable completion.
The Chanticleers (5-3, 2-2 Sun Belt) led 20-13 at halftime before the Panthers (2-6, 1-4) scored 21 third-quarter points to go up 34-27. Tra Barnett had two of those scores on 75- and 42-yard runs and Dan Ellington the other with a 42-yarder.
Ellington also threw a 36-yard scoring pass to Penny Hart in the first quarter after the Chanticleers had taken a 17-0 lead with the help of an 80-yard run by Marable and Payton's 25-yard TD pass to Malcolm Williams. Ky'Jon Tyler added a 28-yard rushing score for Coastal Carolina in the third quarter.
The teams combined for 997 yards offense. Marable had 128 yards receiving for the Chanticleers while Barnett rushed 161 yards and Hart had 118 yards receiving for Georgia State.
Texas State 27, New Mexico State 20
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Willie Jones III threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Texas State pulled away from New Mexico State, 27-20 Saturday night.
A sophomore, Jones started the first four games for the Bobcats before being injured against UTSA. Freshman Tyler Vitt took over at quarterback for the last three games but is out with an injury.
After the Bobcats forced New Mexico State to punt on the opening series, Hutch White popped a 45-yard punt return to give Texas State the ball at the Aggies's 28. Three plays later Jones scampered 19 yards for the touchdown. Anthony J. Taylor ran 3 yards for a score late in the quarter to put the Bobcats up, 13-0 after one.
Parker Davidson sandwiched field goals around a 5-yard run by Jason Huntley to get New Mexico State even at 13-13, but Jones found Javen Banks with an 18-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-13 at the half and padded the lead with a 39-yard strike to Jeremiah Haydel in the third quarter.
Shane Jackson returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown for the lone second-half touchdown for the Aggies.
Louisiana 47, Arkansas State 43
LAFAYETTE, La. - Trey Ragas ran for the winning score and Louisiana beat Arkansas State 47-43 on Saturday night.
The Ragin' Cajuns (4-4, 3-1 Sun Belt) trailed 43-40 when Ragas capped an 11-play, 55-yard drive with a 4-yard run to give them a 47-43 edge with 1:18 to play. The defense shut down the Red Wolves (4-4, 1-3) after that to preserve the win.
Andre Nunez threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns. Raymond Calais ran for 121 yards and a score.
Nunez threw a 64-yard touchdown to Elijah Mitchell, capping the game's first drive. Mitchell followed with a 65-yard scoring run and later, Calais exploded from the backfield and ran untouched 72 yards for a 21-14 edge. But Arkansas State kept pace, scoring three times in the half and Louisiana held on for a 31-21 lead at halftime.
The back-and-forth continued in the second half and Arkansas State scored twice in the fourth to take a 43-40 lead with 5:48 to play.
Justice Hansen threw for 270 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score for the Red Wolves.