The Sun Belt weekend played out about like we probably would have expected, with the good teams winning and the bad teams losing. We did see a mild upset as Louisiana Lafayette knocked off their state rivals from Monroe in a close one. Troy has clinched the conference championship, stampeding through the league at 7-0 with just Lafayette coming up on Saturday. Since 2006, Troy is 25-3 in the Sun Belt.
Sun Belt Conference Standings
| Conf | Overall | |
| Troy* | 7-0 | 8-3 |
| Middle Tennessee State | 6-1 | 8-3 |
| Louisiana Monroe | 5-2 | 6-5 |
| Louisiana Lafayette | 4-3 | 6-5 |
| Florida Atlantic | 3-3 | 3-7 |
| Florida International | 3-4 | 3-8 |
| Arkansas State | 1-5 | 2-8 |
| North Texas | 1-6 | 2-9 |
| Western Kentucky | 0-6 | 0-10 |
This Week
Florida 62, Florida International 3- A huge congratulations goes out to UF for going 2-0 against the Sun Belt this year. Great work, Gators.
Army 17, North Texas 13- Army keeps its faint bowl hopes alive, but still has to beat Navy to get there. Meanwhile, North Texas will have to ponder another game, and a season, that got away- they led until 1:43 left to play this time.
Troy 47, Florida Atlantic 21- Troy hasn’t been able to muster much against big time out-of-conference foes this year, but they’ve had their way with the Sun Belt. This may not be the best thing for the league, but you can’t argue with Troy’s success- 4 straight conference titles, either outright or shared.
Middle Tennessee State 38, Arkansas State 14- MTSU has bolstered their position as 2nd in the Sun Belt, and is probably in the driver seat for any at-large bids that come available for bowl season (more on that tomorrow).
Louisiana Lafayette 21, Louisiana Monroe 17- This can go down as a mild upset, although the Rajin’ Cajuns had been playing well here in the second half of the season. ULL scored the first and last points of the first half, but ULM took the lead into the fourth quarter before allowing Lafayette to score the game winner halfway through. Both teams are now bowl eligible, but its starting to look like there may not be postseason homes for them.
Week 12 Power Rankings
- Troy
- Middle Tennessee State
- Louisiana Lafayette
- Louisiana Monroe
- Florida Atlantic
- Florida International
- Arkansas State
- North Texas
- Western Kentucky