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Monday was slow on the Fringe, so today will be fast. First out of the gate, some weekend wrapups. Sun Belt first, as usual.
Indiana 36, Arkansas State 34- Indiana survives it’s toughest out-of-conference test (yes, really), as A-State led several times but couldn’t quite close up when Indiana tried to pull away the last time. Next Week: Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State
Georgia Tech 42, Middle Tennessee State 14- MTSU’s offense continues to sputter as Dwight Dasher chucks up 4 interceptions in the blowout loss. Read Post
So, writing mid-season report cards took longer than planned (as usual), so previews will be short and fast this week. Chances are you won’t notice.
12:00 PM, ESPNU- Arkansas State at Indiana: Indiana is a very bad Big 10 team that has played a deplorable schedule- Western Kentucky and Akron, for two. A-State isn’t great, but there’s at least a chance of an upset here. Line: Indiana by 10. I’ll take Arkansas State and the 10, and say they come up just a little short, 27-24.
3:30 PM- Middle Tennessee State at Georgia Tech: MTSU certainly didn’t spring to life when Dwight Dasher returned, getting hammered by Troy last week. Read Post
We have a fun week lined up on the Fringe- gonna squeeze the weekend recaps in as quickly as possible today, then start with some mid-season report cards. Shorter ones than last year, considering that I never actually got through them last year. Those should start tomorrow, grouped by conference, with each of the teams that has finished 6 games.
FIU 28, Western Kentucky 21- FIU jumped out to a 21 point lead, then hung on as the Hilltoppers fought to come back for the rest of the game. FIU gets the conference schedule off to a good start in a wide open Sun Belt. Next Week: FIU at North Texas, ULM at Western Kentucky
Arkansas State 24, North Texas 19- Read Post
The Sun Belt weekend can be summed up pretty easily- not very good. 0-4 out of conference, although the league game came down to the wire. Mostly though, Saturday was a precursor to Tuesday’s showdown for control of the league.
Auburn 52, ULM 3- I expected the Warhawks to put up something more of a fight than [...]
The Fringe is back after a long trip to Kansas followed by another day away from a computer, so it’s time to power through the week that was so we can get on with the week coming up. The good news from a quantity standpoint is that we’re finally getting into conference play, so there aren’t quite so many games to keep track of.
For the purposes of moving quickly, not every game needs to be broken down, ie, games involving Ohio State. Attention will be focused on conference games and upsets. The What We Learned This Week sections will be abbreviated too. Without further ado, the Sun Belt:
Maryland 42, FIU 28- FIU pushes another BCS team to the brink, but can’t match the Terps late scores.
Troy 35, Arkansas State 28- Arkansas State took the lead with 50 seconds remaining in the game, but Corey Robinson engineered a 5 play, 67 yard drive to steal the game back just 28 seconds later.
Middle Tennessee State 34, Louisiana 14- The Blue Raiders came into Lafayette and steamrolled a team that was expected to compete with them for the conference title. This should be MTSU’s last game without Dwight Dasher, which sets up nicely for their championship chances.
North Texas 21, Florida Atlantic 17- James Hamilton helped the injury-riddled passing game by rushing for 122 yards, leading the Mean Green to its first win of the season and first win ever over Florida Atlantic.
ULM 21, Southeastern Louisiana 20- ULM needed a 4th quarter touchdown to reclaim the lead and the win from their FCS competition.
South Florida 24, Western Kentucky 12- USF led the whole way in this one, which concludes WKU’s four games against the BCS, with only league games left from here on in.
What We Learned This Week Read Post
First, a programming note: Starting Thursday morning, I will be venturing to Manhattan, Kansas to see UCF play Kansas State (and hopefully not lose by 30). If all goes according to plan, the weekend previews will still appear at their regularish time on Thursday and Friday, but may be missing any late breaking news. Twitter will probably be quiet too, since I’ll be playing fan all weekend. Now, on to the Sun Belt’s dreadful weekend.
Things went badly for the Belt Saturday- they couldn’t have gone much worse. Blown leads, blowout losses, and zero wins out of conference. I’ll try to make this quick…
Army 24, North Texas 0- North Texas was forced to start backup QB Derek Thompson after the primary starter went down last week with a dislocated hip, but Thompson was knocked out early with a broken leg. Riley Dodge, who played QB but moved out to WR this year, was brought back over to QB the rest of the game, but was understandably unsuccessful. Army picks up its first shutout since 2005 in their most complete game of the season. Next Week: North Texas at Florida Atlantic, Army at Duke
UAB 34, Troy 33- Read Post
Weekend previews are going to be short and sweet this week, because I’m way behind and there are a ton of games this weekend. All games Saturday, times Eastern, rankings are Coaches Poll, and lines courtesy of Vegas.com.
12:00 PM, CBS College- North Texas at Army: Both teams fell just short in home games last week to fairly similar competition, although Army had to make a furious comeback just to be in the game. This should be a fairly even matchup, but Army looks to have the upper hand. Line: Army by 5.5. For me, that goes in the ”too many” pile given the close games both teams have been in so far. I do think Army should win this one, but on the order of 20-17.
4:00 PM- Troy at UAB: Big rivalry game, and a crucial one if UAB is going to break out of its winless start. But I don’t think they will, Troy has looked much better so far this year. Line: Troy by 3.5. I’m comfortable predicting that the Trojans win this one by a touchdown, 24-17, even on the road.
5:00 PM, Big 10 Network- Indiana at Western Kentucky: A nice Big 10 home game for Western Kentucky, but even though Indiana is far from a powerhouse, they should still be superior to WKU. This won’t be the week for the Hilltoppers first big win. Line: Indiana by 13. Indiana was off last week, but beat their FCS opener by a bundle. I think they probably win this one quietly but effectively, 30-7.
7:00 PM- Middle Tennessee State at Memphis: Read Post
The Sun Belt has their first league game on Saturday, and two of the schools are just now starting their seasons. Nobody gets a week off and everybody plays on Saturday, so here’s what to look for (all times Eastern, lines as of Thursday morning on Vegas.com).
12:00 PM, ESPNU- Florida Atlantic at Michigan State (Detroit): The Owls head north again, a bit farther this time, after last Thursday’s big upset over UAB. Their offensive attack looked good in Birmingham, but a Big 10 defense is going to be a big step up in competition. Line: Michigan State by 28. I think the Spartans will win comfortably, but Western Michigan did put up 14 on them. I see this one going more like 31-10.
3:30 PM, CSS/Regional TV- Arkansas State at Louisiana: Arkansas State is coming off a good offensive performance against Auburn, while both teams allowed over 50 to SEC schools last week. This one may come down to which team’s defense comes to life this week. Line: Louisiana by 2. Games against bigger and better schools are really not a good place to judge a team, but the Red Wolves still looked the better last week. So I think they win this outright, 34-24.
7:00 PM- Rice at North Texas: Read Post
We still have 27 teams that haven’t lost a game, so they’re still contenders to bust the BCS. I was getting pretty sure that Boise State was coming off the list until Virginia Tech gifted them more than enough time to take the win, and I’m glad they did. But instead of trying to profile all 27, we’re just going to check in on the guys from last week’s list and add a few to fill it back in to 10. We bid a fond farewell to Middle Tennessee State and Northern Illinois, and also to Navy who wasn’t on the list but should have been. They may still have great seasons, but they won’t be in the BCS picture.
Since we’re calling it a watch, we’ll name it for the week coming up. The top 25 (later) is named for the week gone by. It makes no sense, I know.
Like last week, we’re skipping Boise State, TCU, and Utah and sticking with 10 teams that could make a run, or at least win enough games to get noticed before the schedule tears them down. For now, these are presented in no particular order.
Read Post
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 Read Post
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