A rainy night in Monroe, Louisiana set up an engaging, if sloppy, Tuesday night showdown between ULM and Arkansas State. Arkansas State had a terrible first half, but an injury to ULM’s starting QB leveled things a bit in the second. ULM led 16-0 at halftime, but had not had the solid rushing game that I thought they might. When their QB went down, they turned to a ground attack that was crucial in burning time in the fourth quarter. Arkansas State came close, scoring 10 points in the third quarter, and keeping ULM off the board (partially thanks to a missed FG) in the second half. State’s final drive for the win was thrown off when Troy Evans with ULM broke through for two sacks in the final three plays, pushing the Red Wolves back and ending their chances for the tying/winning touchdown.
The win puts Louisiana Monroe out in the conference lead at 3-0, with Troy at 2-0 and Louisiana Lafayette at 1-0. They head for Kentucky after getting this weekend off, so the conference leaderboard will have some time to equalize. After that, they head up to Troy for a Halloween night showdown that could very well see two teams with no conference losses (Troy has FIU and North Texas first).
Meanwhile, Arkansas State is left trying to pick up the pieces after a very disappointing start to the season. They still have six conference games to go, and most of those are very winnable games. Florida International comes to town on the 24th, which is the perfect opportunity to get off the mark in the league.
Coming up today on the Fringe, another batch of Mid-Season Report Cards, and a preview of tonight’s big Boise State at Tulsa game.