The latest on realignment should be a WAC teleconference at 1 PM eastern- We’ll tweet along as best we can. Now back to the previews.
Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
The University of Louisiana at Monroe Warhawks came into the season as a contender for the Sun Belt title, but faded down the stretch, falling just short of a bowl invite despite finishing 6-6. They started fast, winning five of their first six league games (losing only to Troy, like everyone else), but losses to rival Lafayette and then Middle Tennessee State saw the season end at 6-6 on the year. Head coach Charlie Weatherbie was fired following the final game.
New coach Todd Berry sees the return of an experienced offense, although a quarterback battle is unfolding between redshirt freshman Kolton Browning and senior Trey Revell. Frank Goodin is back for his senior season at tailback, while four players with extended starting experience are back on a young defensive side.
The last full week of the season came by with a bit of a whimper for the Sun Belt. The Louisianas both needed upsets to get up to 7-5 and into better bowl position, but both came up short and will almost certainly call their seasons over at this point. Middle Tennessee continues to be a big bright spot for the league, earning their 9th win, which gives them the best record in the at-large bowl pool by two games. Things aren’t all done yet, as there are a few games coming up this weekend, including Western Kentucky’s last chance to send their coach on his way with one win on Thursday night.
The Mid-Season Report Cards are a subjective look using objective numbers with a look toward the remainder of the season as well. Teams are being reviewed in random order once they reach 6 games.
We got a good look at the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks last Tuesday night when they held off Arkansas State in an important Sun Belt showdown. That win put them into the conference lead, which they now share with Troy at 3-0 in the league. These league wins are vital for Monroe’s postseason chances, as non-conference games with 3 strong BCS league teams are bad for bowl eligibility.
Wins: B. ULM has gotten the job done against the Sun Belt and the 1-AA team on the schedule, but is 0-2 against Texas and Arizona State, understandably. Read Post
Ahh, a chance to take a break from staring at pages of statistics and talk a little real football. It turns out tonight is Louisiana Monroe’s 6th game too, but that just puts them on a pretty tall pile at this point. Tonight those same Warhawks welcome the Arkansas State Red Wolves for a key Sun Belt matchup. And while it’s not my style to criticize*, no post specifically involving the Red Wolves can be complete without this video (not entirely safe for work, just some language, but if that’s a problem your office probably blocks Youtube anyway).
*not true.
In all some seriousness, tonight’s game is important in the Sun Belt hunt. The conference smartly chose to put four of its best teams on display for back-to-back Tuesday night games, with MTSU-Troy last week and tonight’s game. Read Post
Week 5 was mostly quiet across the Belt, with only three games and five teams in action. Arkansas State put on the best show of the weekend, pushing Iowa to the brink on their turf, falling 24-21 in the Sun Belt’s best game this year against ranked opposition. Florida Atlantic couldn’t get off the mark, falling to Wyoming in a competitive 30-28 defeat. Back in conference play, Louisiana Monroe advances to 2-0 in the league by besting Florida International.
Tonight, a huge matchup between conference favorites takes center stage. More on that game ahead. Read Post
Another eventful Saturday across the college football landscape. The top 25 got blown apart, but we had fewer upsets overall on the non-BCS side. A handful of quick hits on the day that was, with more thoughtful recaps to come this week: Read Post
Things get interesting in the Belt this week, with a matchup of conference favorites and some quality out of conference opponents lined up as well. There are teams that will take big steps forward towards the New Orleans Bowl bef0re Saturday is out.
Well, that was a disastrous day for 2-0 non-BCS teams. BYU, Utah, SMU, Hawaii, and Tulsa all axed from the undefeated list. If you missed it last night, Hawaii went down to UNLV on a last minute touchdown, 32-31. Other late games saw Louisiana Monroe fall to Arizona State 38-14 while San Jose State got beat by Stanford 42-17.