Sun Belt Whiparound – Oct. 12, 2013

Today marks the second Saturday in a row in which WKU won’t play. But, have no fear, for there are some SBC games to keep an eye on.
Idaho (1-5) @ Arkansas St. (2-3, 1-0) – While not an overall important SBC game, this game should be of particular interest to WKU fans, as Arkansas St. sits in a tie for first place with Louisiana in the Sun Belt. Idaho will join the Sun Belt next year, so it will also be interesting to see what kind of early-series-storylines can playout. Unfortunately though, if ASU does drop the game, it wont count against them in conference record, which would help WKU out greatly. The Red Wolves like to throw the ball, and ASU starter Adam Kennedy has just under 1200 yards through the air on the season. ASU also has four receivers over 100 yards, three over 200, but only one that has surpassed the 300 plateau. Expect to hear “Kennedy to Julian Jones,” a good bit. The Vandals also like to throw the ball, and while they only have one win, their starting QB, Chad Chalich, has eclipsed the 1200 yard mark. While the Vandals have spread the passing wealth a little more (five receivers come into the game with over 100 yards), Chalich also has himself a favorite target, Dezmon Epps, who has 402 yards on 38 receptions. Don’t be surprised if you hear that combination a lot as well. The Vandals love to air it out, but they have trouble scoring points, and they come into the game 120th (out of 125) in the country in points per game at just over 15.5.
Troy (3-3, 1-1) @ Georgia St. (0-5, 0-3) – Poor poor Panthers. While last week wasn’t really a fair fight against Alabama, Georgia St. has yet to lose a game against equal competition (including dropping a game to FCS Chattanooga 42-14). There was a glimmer of hope a couple weeks ago when the Panthers took an undefeated Jacksonville St. team into overtime in the Georgia Dome, they’ll look to rekindle some of that home cookin’, and play spoiler as they look to give the Trojans a second conference loss, all but eliminating them from SBC Championship contention. The Panthers have threats both on the ground and through the air, as they have a 200+ yard rusher (Travis Evans, 7th best rusher in the SBC) and a 500+ yard receiver (Albert Wilson) who averages just over 100 yards through the air a game, which leads the SBC. Troy comes into this game 16th in the country in passing, averaging around 320 per 4 quarters. Not surprisingly, Trojan QB Corey Robinson leads the conference in passing yards per game, and comes into the contest close to 1550 total yards passing. And while eight Trojan receivers have over 100 yards, Robinson has two favorite targets, Eric Thomas and Bryan Holmes, with the former receiver atop the Sun Belt (along with WKU running back and nation’s leading runner) in TDs and an average of 9 points per game (and a total of 9 TD’s, all through the air), and the latter receiver less than 15 receiving yards away from breaking 400 on the year.
Good luck, GSU.
Louisiana Monroe (2-4, 0-1) @ Texas St. (3-2, 1-0) – This is, in my opinion, the most interesting matchup of the SBC weekend. On the one hand, you have the Warhawks, who lost their best quarterback the program has ever seen in Kolton Browning for the year, and are coming off a game where they couldn’t get anything going in the back half of the game after only being down by 4 points, and losing by 21. On the other, you have an SBC newcomer, who seems to be holding their own, and are in a football rich state (not that Louisiana isn’t), and in time can only get better. If ULM is going to win this game, they will have to hold Texas St. to very few points, because there is no way the Warhawks will out score them. The Bobcats are top 50 in the country in points against (24 points allowed per game), and with a young QB at the helm who is making just his second career start today in Brayle Brown. ULM does have offensive weapons though, most notably Rashon Ceaser, the only ULM receiver over 400 yards. For the Bobcats, they (much like the Hilltoppers) are a ground attack, and have 9 TD’s between their top two rushers, Robert Lowe (302 yards) and Chris Nutall (237). The Bobcats like to use two quarterbacks, both named Tyler, Ardnt and Jones, but the pair’s interceptions outnumber TD passes.
So there you have it WKU fans, some SBC action to hold you over until Tops vs. Cajuins on Tuesday. What game are you looking forward to? What do you expect to happen?
Stand up and cheers.