In the end, the Sun Belt won only two games this weekend, but that’s more than the MAC won against FBS competition so it wasn’t all bad. They didn’t get the big upset they wanted against the BCS leagues, but they’ll take one against C-USA from opening night.
Minnesota 24, Middle Tennessee State 17: I had imagined MTSU winning this game, starting off with four or five wins and breaking into the top 25. That may not play out, but MTSU did come back from 14 down to even things out, depth and mistakes just got them in the end (Predicted: MTSU to cover 2, incorrect). Next Week: Austin Peay at Middle Tennessee State
Florida Atlantic 32, UAB 31: Lost in the excitement of the ESPN games was a great effort by FAU, who engineered a fourth quarter comeback and blocked UAB’s final field goal. Of the teams I thought would be bad in rebuilding years, UAB might be living up to the hype the most, but a road win is a big step in the right direction for FAU regardless (Predicted: UAB to cover 14. Wrong again). Next Week: FAU at Michigan State
Georgia 55, Louisiana 7: This one disappointed me as Louisiana just never got anything going. Their defense played better than the score shows, but it wasn’t pretty (Predicted: Louisiana to keep it close, 38-17. Nope). Next Week: Arkansas State at Louisiana
Clemson 35, North Texas 10: The Mean Green almost had it close at halftime, 14-7 before a last minute Clemson TD made the gap 14 at the break. Still, it wasn’t nearly as bad a loss as other teams around the south (Predicted: Clemson to win by more than the 26.5. This is getting ridiculous). Next Week: Rice at North Texas
Auburn 52, Arkansas State 56: A-State scored in every quarter of this one, a feat matched only by Troy this weekend. Sure, Auburn ran over their defense, but that’s to be expected somewhat (Predicted that ASU would cover the 31, finally got one right). Next Week: Arkansas State at Louisiana
Nebraska 49, Western Kentucky 10: Par for the course. WKU’s scores did come late, instead of against the Huskers’ first string, but this was an insane matchup for a first outing under a first year coach (Predicted: Nebraska would cover the 38.5. Barely got that one).
Troy 30, Bowling Green 27: BGSU pushed Troy to the limit, needing a last second field goal to get the job done. Good outing for Troy’s new offense, and they aren’t looking at too big of a dropoff just yet (Predicted: Troy would win, but not by the 14 Vegas thought. Nice little recovery at the end, 3-4 ATS on the weekend). Next Week: Troy at Oklahoma State
What We Learned This Week
Middle Tennessee might not be a national caliber team without Dasher, but they’re not dead in the water either.
Troy and FAU can both get it done when it counts. Good start for both teams.
Louisiana and Western Kentucky taught us nothing this weekend- getting beat that badly by big time schools doesn’t tell us much about where they are in the Sun Belt.
North Texas and Arkansas State both fared reasonably well against big name teams- maybe there’s a turnaround in store for one or both of the schools.
ULM and FIU were idle this week. ULM is at Arkansas and Rutgers comes to FIU next week.
Sun Belt Power Rankings
Really hard for these to mean much until the schools start playing each other, given the talent gap in most of these early games.
- Troy
- Florida Atlantic
- Middle Tennessee
- ULM
- FIU
- Arkansas State
- North Texas
- Louisiana
- Western Kentucky