Sun Belt Sports Blog

It was a rather decisive week in the Sun Belt Conference in at least one key respect: Middle Tennessee proved it is clearly superior to a Western Kentucky team that’s unlikely to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

For the last few years, the WKU crew has punched its ticket to March Madness and then stayed a few extra days in a high-class hotel. The program elevated by Darrin Horn in 2008 and then sustained last year by current coach Ken McDonald set a standard for Sun Belt success by not only reaching the coveted event, but by winning its first round game. (The 2008 team won twice and moved to the Sweet 16 before falling to UCLA.) Entering this season, the Hilltoppers once again figured to be the class of the league along with South Alabama, but after this discouraging 10-point stumble, the folks in Bowling Green, Ky., will have to tamp down expectations.

A lot.

It’s incredibly rare - not to mention bizarre - when two conference foes play each other twice within a six-day span during the regular season. It’s natural to have one meeting at the end of the regular season, quickly followed by another clash in a conference tournament, but the notion of playing the same team twice in January is almost unheard of. Western Kentucky was already smarting after losing to Middle Tennessee on Monday in Murfreesboro, Tenn., but after absorbing that 47-46 defeat, the Hilltoppers at least had a chance to hit the hardwood again - this time on the friendly floor of E.A. Diddle Arena - and split the season series with the Blue Raiders. A win against Middle Tennessee would not only provide a sweet measure of revenge; far more importantly, it would enable Western Kentucky to move up the Sun Belt standings and gain a better seed for a conference tournament that’s still several weeks away.

After 40 more minutes against Middle Tennessee, however, WKU’s visions of redemption were shattered by the men from Murfreesboro.

Desmond Yates - on the verge of becoming the leading scorer in MTSU basketball history - set a winning tone for coach Kermit Davis’s Blue Raiders on Saturday afternoon. By scoring 13 points in the game’s first eight minutes and change, Yates - who finished with 28 - forced the Hilltoppers to direct all their attention in his direction. Once this happened, the Blue Raiders’ complementary players were able to emerge. MTSU point guard James Washington III was able to slice through WKU’s defense and score 18 points in a supporting role, while wing player Montarrio Haddock scored a very efficient 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

At the other end of the floor, MTSU’s success seemed to weigh heavily on Western Kentucky’s backcourt. Hilltopper forward Steffphon Pettigrew did his job with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, but on the perimeter, guard A.J. Slaughter - who dearly misses Orlando Mendez-Valdez, a zone-busting guard who graduated last year - labored on his way to 20 points. Slaughter did score, but not in a way Ken McDonald would have wanted him to. Those 20 points were the result of only five field goal makes on 16 total attempts. That low shooting percentage (under 32 percent) was in many ways the product of pronounced timidity against Middle Tennessee’s frustrating 2-3 zone. While the Blue Raiders regularly got the ball into the paint, Western Kentucky didn’t begin to attack the basket and make a rally until the final few minutes of regulation.

The past week’s scoreboard is simple: Middle Tennessee State, two victories. Western Kentucky, two losses. The Sun Belt standings are cluttered, but one thing’s for sure: Western Kentucky isn’t going to dominate the league it has ruled for the past few seasons.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Central Michigan 44, Troy 41 (2 OT)

Yes, Troy’s most recent bowl game ended the same way its previous bowl game did. However, the Trojans have nothing to regret about this particular postseason loss.

One season ago - in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl - a sloppy Troy team stumbled late in the second half and dropped a 30-27 overtime decision to a decidedly mediocre Southern Mississippi squad. When a blocked field goal in overtime sealed Troy’s unhappy fate, the 2008 Sun Belt champions had reason to kick themselves as they traveled back to their Alabama home.

This time - as the 2010 GMAC Bowl lingers in the mind’s eye - coach Larry Blakeney and Co. have no reason to be the slightest bit ashamed, even though a blocked field goal killed them once more.

Troy and Central Michigan staged a classic duel at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. In the preview for this game on the Sun Belt Fans blog, we said that this bowl game had a chance to evoke memories of the 2001 GMAC Bowl, a remarkable and rousing affair in which Marshall overcame a mammoth deficit to top East Carolina by a 64-61 score in double overtime.

Well, well, well: This year’s GMAC showdown very nearly equaled the 2001 version on a number of levels. Back in the early part of the just-ended decade, two NFL quarterbacks - Marshall’s Byron Leftwich and East Carolina’s David Garrard - flung the football for hours on end in a gridiron epic. On the first Wednesday of 2010, two signal callers who might also break into the big time - Troy’s Levi Brown and Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour - traded punches and matched scores well into the Alabama night.

LeFevour spent much of the game throwing to favorite target Antonio Brown, a wonderful receiver who caught 13 passes for 178 yards and took a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown precisely when the Chippewas - down 31-19 - were sagging in the fourth quarter.

Brown spent most of his night tossing the pigskin to receiver Jerrel Jernigan, a spinning, side-stepping stud who undressed CMU’s defense to the tune of nine catches for 154 yards.

LeFevour threw for 395 yards. Brown accumulated 386 passing yards.

LeFevour completed 33 passes, Brown 31.

LeFevour piloted CMU to 27 first downs, while Brown led Troy to 31 first downs.

LeFevour presided over a 504-yard performance by his offense. Brown saw his Trojan teammates rack up 572 yards.

LeFevour led his team on a go-ahead touchdown drive that culminated with a four-yard touchdown pass to receiver Bryan Anderson with 1:17 left in regulation, giving CMU a 34-31 edge.

Brown led his team on a tying field goal drive that ended with a 46-yard boot from Troy kicker Michael Taylor. The clutch kick tied the score at 34-all with just 31 seconds left in regulation.

LeFevour led Central Michigan to an easy touchdown in the first possession of the first overtime “inning.” Brown directed Troy to an equally easy touchdown on Troy’s possession in the first overtime sequence.

It wasn’t until the second overtime that one of these quarterbacks - both among the very best in their conferences’ respective histories - would finally flinch in a 41-41 tie.

Brown - who excelled for most of this clash - had Jernigan open on a 3rd and 9 at the Central Michigan 14, but the throw was high. One play later, the Chippewas brought back haunting bowl game memories for Troy’s coaching staff and players, blocking a 31-yard attempt by Taylor and recreating the scene of last season’s sad story against Southern Miss.

All the Chips needed to do to break the MAC’s 14-game bowl losing streak was to hold onto the ball, and that’s exactly what Central Michigan managed to do. When CMU kicker Andrew Aguila’s 37-yard field goal split the uprights in the second bonus stanza, Troy’s hope of giving the Sun Belt two bowl winners in one season fell agonizingly short.

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. For that matter, it wasn’t for a lack of execution, either.

Troy and Levi Brown were awesome, but Central Michigan and Dan LeFevour did the Trojans one better. The 2010 GMAC Bowl might have evoked bitter recollections from the Trojans, but after participating in a classic such as this one, the 2009 Sun Belt champions should hold their heads very high.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

There’s no better place to throw a party than
New Orleans, and if you can do so on national television, so much the better.

Dwight Dasher had a great time in the Big Easy on Sunday night, and as a
result, the second-best team in the Sun Belt won a championship after all. Middle Tennessee
State claimed the New Orleans Bowl
title with a 10-point pasting of Southern Mississippi, giving the Belt three
wins over Conference USA
in the last four editions of this particular postseason game.

Everyone who watched this game - whether inside the Louisiana Superdome or
sitting on a living-room couch - didn’t have to wonder about the key to this
conquest for coach Rick Stockstill’s squad. Five days before Christmas,
reindeer named Dancer, Prancer and Vixen might have been looking on in awe as a
new “Dasher” gave Middle Tennessee fans the best stocking stuffer
they ever could have hoped for.

The 2009 New Orleans Bowl was going to be a showcase of two offensive
minds, USM coach Larry Fedora and Middle Tennesssee offensive
coordinator Tony Franklin. Quite clearly, the 60 minutes inside the
Superdome indicated the extent to which Franklin’s
formula allowed his quarterback to flourish.

Dasher eviscerated the Golden Eagles in every way imaginable. He threw for 162
yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, but that collection of feats
was nothing compared to his 201-yard rushing performance, which posted two more
touchdowns on the scoreboard for the men from Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Dasher’s dynamic running ability - despite a recurring ankle injury - allowed
the sensational signal caller to top Vince Young for the most rushing yards
ever accumulated by a quarterback in a bowl game. More importantly, it enabled
MTSU to overcome a 14-0 first quarter deficit that was produced by an abundance
of nerves. One year after Southern Miss toppled Troy in the very same game, Dasher stood up
for his conference brethren by answering the call in Cajun country.

Another important element of this game - which shouldn’t be overlooked in the
midst of Dasher’s dominance - is that when the hero left the stage to tend to his
balky ankle, Middle Tennessee had another capable performer waiting in the
wings. MTSU backup quarterback Brent Burnette was able to fill in for Dasher
and throw a 23-yard touchdown pass to receiver Chris McClover at the end of the
third quarter. The scoring strike gave the Blue Raiders a 28-20 lead
and bought time for the MTSU training staff to work its magic on the
sideline.

Southern Miss crept within two points at 28-26, but a rejuvenated Dasher -
whose ankle needed constant attention throughout the proceedings on Sunday
night - reeled off two straight touchdowns to put the game out of reach. Yes,
the main stud in Rick Stockstill’s stable put the finishing touches on a bowl
win, but the timely contribution of Brent Burnette should not be forgotten.

Middle Tennessee State
might have finished second in the Sun Belt in 2009, but after winning a bowl
game and finishing at 10-3 for the year, there’s no question that the Blue
Raiders should be enjoying a first-place feeling at Christmastime.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Troy vs. Central Michigan - Wednesday, Jan. 6, 7 ET, ESPN - Mobile, Alabama

The GMAC Bowl - formerly the Mobile Alabama Bowl - has been around for 11 seasons. One game in this postseason pageant’s history towers above the rest, and that’s the kind of contest Troy and Central Michigan will try to replicate on what could be a wonderfully wild Wednesday.

In order to understand the potential possessed by this tilt between Larry Blakeney’s Trojans and coach Butch Jones’s Chippewas from the Mid-American Conference, one has to travel back in time to the 2001 GMAC Bowl.

Eight seasons ago, two NFL-caliber quarterbacks - Byron Leftwich and David Garrard - stood on the same field, as Leftwich’s Marshall team stared down Garrard’s East Carolina crew in the highest-scoring bowl game ever staged. The contest was sloppy - both teams scored two defensive touchdowns - but as the action unfolded and worked its way toward a clamorous conclusion, the out-of-the-way bowl in little-known Ladd-Peebles Stadium (the Superdome or the Rose Bowl it isn’t) acquired awesome dimensions as a college football classic.

East Carolina exploded out of the gate for the game’s first 24 points and a 38-8 lead at halftime. Many teams mail in their bowl games and fail to respond to early adversity (the past few GMAC Bowls have proved this; Ball State and Bowling Green both rolled over against Tulsa in the 2009 and 2008 editions of this contest), but the Thundering Herd decided to unleash some lightning when the third quarter started. Down by 30, a troubled team Marshalled its resources and posted 28 third-quarter points to get back into the game.

ECU running back Leonard Henry - who rushed for 195 yards that night - rumbled into the end zone from 55 yards out to give the Pirates a late 51-42 lead and seemingly blunt the Herd’s comeback attempt, but Marshall was able to score nine points in the game’s final two minutes to send the tussle into overtime at 51-apiece. The Herd could have won the game on a PAT in the final seconds, but the kick missed, thereby extending the proceedings to the delight of fans that were hooked on the action.

After both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime sequence, Leftwich - who threw for 576 yards, a bowl game record - hit Josh Davis on an eight-yard scoring strike after ECU settled for a field goal. Yes, after producing bowl-game records of 16 total touchdowns (including overtime) and 102 regulation-time points, Marshall and East Carolina finally decided a winner. The Herd outpointed the Pirates, 64-61, in a double-overtime dandy none of its observers will ever forget.

That’s the kind of game Troy and Central Michigan can replicate, because these two conference champions - the Trojans from the Sun Belt, the Chips from the MAC - own the quarterbacks who can sling and fling the pigskin with distinction.

Troy’s Levi Brown is one of the greatest signal callers the Sun Belt has ever seen. Brown - the 2009 Sun Belt Player of the Year - has thrown for more yards (3,868) than every other quarterback in the country except for Houston’s Case Keenum, and he blew away everyone else in the Belt in 2009. Brown was impressive in 2008, throwing for over 2,000 yards while accumulating 15 touchdowns against just three interceptions, but in 2009, the field general for Troy has been singularly spectacular.

On the other side of the divide, however, stands a gunslinger that can match Brown as a thrower and eclipse him as a runner.

Dan LeFevour has dominated the MAC far more than Brown has bested the Sun Belt. Central Michigan’s senior quarterback has eclipsed 3,000 passing yards in three of his four seasons in Mount Pleasant, Mich. LeFevour has thrown 101 touchdown passes in his four seasons, and produced a 6-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his past two seasons. LeFevour has always piled up prolific stats, but this year represented the superstar’s best body of work. LeFevour topped the 3,000-yard mark after falling short of it in his junior campaign. Far more importantly, however, LeFevour registered his highest-ever completion percentage - 71.1 - and threw for 27 touchdowns against just six picks. Moreover, LeFevour ran for 14 more touchdowns to lead CMU to its third MAC title in the past four seasons. If Troy and Levi Brown have created a culture of success in Southeastern Alabama, Dan LeFevour and Central Michigan have made just as much magic in the Midwest.

Now, these two lauded quarterbacks will face off in a game that could conjure visions of the 2001 GMAC Bowl. If a pair of college football superstars can light up the night sky, fans of the Trojans, the Chippewas, and really good football will have their fill in a bowl battle that’s not to be missed.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Middle Tennessee State vs. Southern Mississippi - Sunday, Dec. 20, 8:30 ET, ESPN - New Orleans, Louisiana

During the bowl season, most national pundits focus on the upper-tier conferences, specifically the competition between the Big Ten and the SEC. However, when December 20 rolls around, a small-scale but significant showdown in the Louisiana Superdome will say a great deal about the chops of the Sun Belt Conference.

Last year, the Football Bowl Subdivision’s lowest-profile league absorbed a body blow, and the team that dealt the punishment was none other than the same Southern Miss squad that will return to the Big Easy for this year’s New Orleans Bowl. The Golden Eagles and head coach Larry Fedora were able to stay with - and eventually upset - a Troy team that figured to give the Belt a third straight win in this event. Following Troy’s 2006 win over Rice and Florida Atlantic’s 2007 trouncing of Memphis, Larry Blakeney’s bunch - which had played LSU on even terms in Baton Rouge during the 2008 regular season - expected to cap its ‘08 campaign with a Nawlins knockout of its Conference USA foe.

Instead, Troy tripped up and quite literally put the “miss” in Southern Miss.

The Trojans led USM, 27-17, late in the third quarter, but failed to dent the scoreboard the rest of the way. Needing just a field goal in regulation, Troy’s powerful offense couldn’t string together enough first downs to move the ball into scoring range. Forced into overtime, Troy got a stop from its defense, which limited the Golden Eagles to a field goal, but when kicker Sam Glusman’s 28-yard field goal was blocked by USM’s Michael McGee, a game Troy had controlled for large stretches had suddenly fallen into the laps of the men from Mississippi. That final missed field goal punctuated a nightmarish evening in which Troy frequently flourished, but could never land a decisive blow. As a result, the Sun Belt’s prestige took a tumble.

Now it’s Middle Tennessee State’s turn, in 2009, to encounter the Eagles in the hope of bolstering the Belt.

When MTSU takes on Southern Miss, the presence of Blue Raider coach Rick Stockstill will be valuable for the Sun Belt’s second-best team, but it’s the matchup of the play callers that will occupy an even more central place in the proceedings. Two offensive gurus will bring high-level expertise to a lower-tier tussle.

Middle Tennessee offensive coordinator Tony Franklin worked last year at Auburn before Tommy Tuberville grew impatient with him. Franklin’s no stranger to the Sun Belt, having developed Troy’s offense in 2006 and 2007 before landing the coordinator gig at Auburn for the first half of the 2008 season. Franklin is largely responsible for unlocking the athletic gifts of MTSU quarterback Dwight Dasher, and this non-conference collision will test Franklin’s ability to crack a more physical and formidable defense.

On the other side of the ball, USM’s head coach is also its main offensive guru. Larry Fedora spent time earlier this decade as the offensive coordinator at both Florida and Oklahoma State. He struggled at Florida but found himself when he moved to the Big 12, where he got to mentor and develop OSU’s talented quarterback Zac Robinson.

As an added bit of intrigue, Fedora - like Franklin - served as offensive coordinator at a Sun Belt school before pursuing other pastures. From 1999-2001, Fedora donned the headsets and dialed up plays for–yes, you guessed it–Middle Tennessee. Now on a Conference USA squad, Fedora will be trying to beat back a second Sun Belt bunch in consecutive seasons, and defend the New Orleans Bowl title he claimed last year at Troy’s expense.

Middle Tennessee State is unhappy it lost to Troy earlier this season, but the Blue Raiders definitely want to make a statement against the team that toppled the Trojans in last year’s New Orleans Bowl. Sun Belt prestige hangs in the balance, as two men familiar with the conference will see who has the better answers on a play sheet. The competing craniums of Tony Franklin and Larry Fedora will have much to do with the outcome of a contest that will settle some debates and more clearly define some conference comparisons in the lower tiers of the FBS.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Arkansas State 24, Western Kentucky 20

It was all set up. The opportunity existed in plain sight. The sweet taste of victory stood, open and attainable, for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

After an 0-11 start to their season, after losing 19 straight games dating back to 2008, the boys from Bowling Green, Ky., wanted to send off lame-duck head coach David Elson with a win, and deny the big bagel known as “oh-and-twelve.” With one minute left in the third quarter of Thursday night’s game at Smith Stadium, Western Kentucky led an underachieving Arkansas State squad, 20-3. Surely, this time, the tonic of triumph wouldn’t flow through WKU’s fingers.

Alas, not even a 17-point lead with 16 minutes remaining in regulation was enough for the hapless Hilltoppers.

Arkansas State scored a touchdown with 31 seconds left in the third stanza to creep within 10 points, but after WKU’s defense produced a pair of stops on its own side of the field, the home team still led, 20-10, with seven minutes remaining, and had the ball near midfield with a chance to run clock, play field position, and make the visiting Red Wolves drive the length of the field just to get within three points.

Elson’s offense - merely needing to avoid a catastrophic mistake - couldn’t get out of its own way.

WKU quarterback Kawaun Jakes was intercepted by ASU’s Nick Nelms, who took a pick 43 yards to the Hilltopper 4, setting up a touchdown that pulled Arkansas State within three, at 20-17. But that wasn’t the end of the insanity for a devastated collection of kids in home jerseys on Senior Night.

On the ensuing possession, Jakes fumbled while being sacked by ASU’s Stanley Wakwe. Defensive end Alex Carrington recovered the loose ball for the Red Wolves and scooted 27 yards into the end zone for the game’s winning points. WKU couldn’t muster anything on two subsequent possessions, and the 0-12 nightmare was complete. A come-from-ahead loss ruined a team’s hopes of winning one game in the 2009 season. Arkansas State finishes at 4-8 on the year.

Florida Atlantic 28, Florida International 21

The Owls did indeed clinch a winning conference record, going 5-3 in the Belt with a hard-earned seven-point win in Miami against the Golden Panthers. The story of this winning FAU finale was running back Alfred Morris, whose 158-yard performance (on 25 carries) earned him the 2009 Sun Belt rushing title, with a grand total of 1,392 yards. It was Morris’s pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs that broke a 14-all tie and revived the team’s offense after a scoreboard drought of just under 35 minutes. Florida Atlantic gained a 14-0 lead eight seconds into the second quarter, but after getting shut out for the remainder of the second stanza and the entirety of the third quarter, the Owls needed answers, and Morris was the man who provided them.

The Golden Panthers - scrappy enough to come back from that early 14-point deficit - climbed a mountain at FIU Stadium, only to tire once they tied the visitors from Fort Lauderdale. FAU ends its season 5-7 and short of a bowl, while FIU ends its campaign with a 3-9 record and a 3-5 conference mark.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Arkansas State @ Western Kentucky - Thursday, 7 ET, no TV

The
big drama in this contest is easy to identify: The homestanding
Hilltoppers, in their final game of 2009, will try to avoid the big
bagel, an 0-12 mark that would extend a 19-game losing streak to 20 and
leave a bitter taste in the WKU locker room. This contest marks the
final game for lame-duck coach David Elson, who was fired midway
through the season despite having signed a lengthy contract extension
in January of this year. Knowing that their leader has been mistreated
by the Western Kentucky administration, the Hilltoppers - while
underequipped on the field - have played extremely hard for their coach
under difficult circumstances. WKU lost by only one score in each of
its last two games, a pair of roadies at Louisiana-Monroe (21-18) and
Florida Atlantic (29-23). A lot of people in the college football world
will be pulling for Western Kentucky in this game. The Hilltoppers hope
to send off their coach with the happy ending David Elson deserves.

Florida Atlantic @ Florida International - Saturday, 7 ET, ESPN360.com, GamePlan

When
FAU plays FIU in Miami, two Sun Belt programs based in Florida will be
looking to gain an edge on the recruiting trail and carve out some
extra bragging rights. Another unique aspect of this game is that the
visiting Owls - who will journey from Fort Lauderdale to the southern
tip of the Sunshine State - can actually secure a winning Sun Belt
record (5-3) with a victory, despite the fact that their overall record
will prevent them from going bowling. The loss of quarterback Rusty
Smith has marred a season that started with such promise for Howard
Schnellenberger’s program, which had reached bowl games in each of the
past two seasons. This year’s 4-7 campaign - which will fall short of
.500 even with a win on Saturday - has at least been brightened by the
play of backup signal caller Jeff Vancamp, who has answered the bell a
lot better than FAU fans had a right to expect. With a strong showing
in the finale, Vancamp - just a junior - can create substantial forward
momentum heading into 2010. He’ll try to do so against a Golden Panther
team which sits at 3-8 and is trying to end the regular season on its
own high note at FIU Stadium.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer

Arkansas State 30, North Texas 26

The Red Wolves finally cracked the win column with a deceptively decisive four-point win over the Mean Green, who ended their season on Saturday in Jonesboro, Ark. Coach Steve Roberts and ASU collected their second Sun Belt win of the season after rolling to a 27-0 first-half lead and then holding on in the fourth quarter. Yes, Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin did throw three interceptions, but each of them came after the Red Wolves had already acquired their 27-point bulge. Another similarly misleading aspect of the 30-26 final score was that North Texas - without timeouts and at an extreme tactical disadvantage - tacked on a window-dressing touchdown with just 1:25 left in the game. When ASU recovered the ensuing onside kick, a not-so-nerve-wracking win had finally been secured. Arkansas State has one game left in its 2009 campaign, while North Texas ends its season at 2-10.

Florida Atlantic 29, Western Kentucky 23

The Owls moved to 4-3 in the league despite their 4-7 overall record. Quarterback Jeff Vancamp wasn’t precise or consistent in this contest, but the backup to injured star Rusty Smith was able to deliver a dagger when it counted. With FAU holding a slim 22-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Vancamp hit Lester Jean on a 47-yard scoring strike that gave the Owls a two-possession cushion. Up 29-20 with only 6:59 left in regulation, Florida Atlantic was able to steer the endgame phase to its advantage at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

FAU allowed a Western Kentucky field goal with 4:59 remaining, as the Hilltoppers battled mightily in an attempt to win their first game of the season. Because of Vancamp’s vertical passing exploits, however, Western Kentucky merely climbed within six points instead of taking an outright lead. When FAU running back Alfred Morris (25 carries for 122 yards) pounded out 24 yards in the final five minutes of regulation, the Owls were able to run out the clock and prevent WKU from seeing another possession. The 0-11 Hilltoppers saw their losing streak increase to 19 games.

Middle Tennessee State 38, Louisiana-Monroe 19

There won’t be a share for second place in the Sun Belt this season. Monroe was looking to tie Middle Tennessee State at 6-2 in the conference, but the Blue Raiders had other ideas. Coach Rick Stockstill’s team strode into Malone Stadium and whipped the homestanding Warhawks to finish at 7-1 in the Belt and 9-3 for the season, while ULM dropped to 5-3 in the league and 6-6 for all of 2009. The difference in this game wasn’t necessarily interceptions in and of themselves, but the fact that MTSU did something with them. Monroe picked off Blue Raider quarterback Dwight Dasher twice in the first half, but an impotent ULM offense hamstrung by inconsistent quarterbacking from Trey Revell was unable to find the end zone after an opening-game touchdown march.

Middle Tennessee, on the other hand, took full advantage of the takeaways it plucked from both Revell and backup Cody Wells. With the visitors leading 21-13 with 4:55 left in the third quarter, MTSU’s Alex Suber picked off Revell and raced 56 yards to the ULM 9. Shortly thereafter, Dasher breezed into the end zone from nine yards out, and the Blue Raiders affirmed their control of the contest by snagging a 28-13 lead. When ULM coach Charlie Weatherbie called on Wells to replace Revell, the outlook didn’t brighten for the Warhawks. If anything, Middle Tennessee turned out the lights. Jeremy Kellem snared a 58-yard pick-six from Wells to make the score 35-13, and end the competitive phase of this second-place showdown.

Troy 48, Louisiana-Lafayette 31

They had to sweat, and there might even have been times when they questioned their very sanity, but the Troy Trojans persevered to win the outright Sun Belt title.

In a game with three distinct phases, Larry Blakeney’s team rallied in the fourth quarter, throwing down a 24-point surge to eclipse Ricky Bustle’s Ragin’ Cajuns, who ended the season at 4-4 in the Belt, and 6-6 overall. Troy rolled to a 24-0 lead in the game’s first 18 minutes, as the league’s most prolific offense did whatever it wanted at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La. Before anyone’s seat was warm, it appeared that the visitors from the state of Alabama had the outright Sun Belt crown already locked up in the deep freeze.

But then the homestanding underdogs heated up in a big way. ULL’s starting quarterback Chris Masson threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Luke Aubrey to pull the Ragin’ Cajuns within 11 points at 24-13, less than five minutes before halftime. When the Cajuns then stuffed Troy on a 4th and 1 from the ULL 3, Bustle’s boys took even more confidence to the locker room. That continued accumulation of positive vibes was clearly manifested in the third quarter, as the Cajuns’ defense shut out Troy and used a 91-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Brad McGuire to Ladarius Green to take a 25-24 lead into the fourth and final stanza. Just when Troy’s path to Sun Belt perfection looked to be free of remaining obstacles, an upstart outfit from Lafayette delivered a supreme shock to the Trojans’ system. Quarterback Levi Brown faced one final and formidable challenge that was as much psychological as it was tactical.

Sure enough, the best signal caller in the Sun Belt delivered darts when his team needed them.

After engineering a field-goal-scoring drive and enabling the Trojans to retake the lead at 27-25, Brown put his foot down with two touchdown throws that put the game away. A 14-yard scoring strike to Tebiarus Gill gave Troy a crucial two-possession cushion at 34-25 with 10:44 left in regulation, and a 26-yard lightning bolt to Jerrel Jernigan pushed the visitors’ advantage to 41-25 with 4:47 to go. Troy scored 24 straight points, only to then allow 25 in a row from the Cajuns, but when this rollercoaster ride entered its business end, Levi Brown took full ownership of the proceedings… and also the Sun Belt championship, which rests solely in the hands of its reigning superpower.

By: Matt Zemek|
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

North Texas @ Arkansas State - Saturday, 3 ET, no TV

These two teams, as they come to the end of the line in 2009, could strongly relate to each other. Both the Mean Green and the Red Wolves are feeling blue after finding a seemingly endless amount of ways to lose close games. UNT and ASU have both played hard this season, but like so many losing football clubs, they shy away from pressure and flinch at crunch time. Neither Todd Dodge’s roster nor Steve Roberts’ recruits have been able to avoid turnovers on must-score drives, or batten down the hatches on defense when absolutely necessary. North Texas took Ohio - an 8-3 team still in contention for the Mid-American Conference title - to overtime before falling by a point, while Arkansas State pushed nationally-ranked Iowa to the brink in Iowa City before dropping a 24-21 decision. These teams have shown they can compete, but they almost invariably fall short. All that remains for these ballclubs is to persevere when the clock ticks down in the final minutes of regulation. The team with more staying power and mental strength will come out on top in Jonesboro, Ark.

Western Kentucky @ Florida Atlantic - Saturday 4 ET, no TV

The Florida Atlantic Owls won’t make a bowl game as they did last season, but Howard Schnellenberger’s team can still attain a 5-3 conference record, which would provide a considerable share of satisfaction. The road to 5-3 begins at home for FAU, who will welcome Western Kentucky to Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

For WKU, the task is simple: Get rid of that “0″ in the win column, and snap an 18-game losing streak that caused coach David Elson to be fired earlier this year. The plight of some of the Sun Belt’s lower-division teams, such as 2-9 North Texas and 2-8 Arkansas State - isn’t exactly pleasant, but when compared to the hapless Hilltoppers, those problems don’t seem so small. The whole college football community, and football lifers of all ages and dispositions, would like to see WKU break through before this season ends. One of the saddest stories in the world of the gridiron is to see a team walk off a field in Autumn without tasting triumph on even one occasion. FAU might have a decent conference record, but the Owls have won only one home game in 2009; Western Kentucky has a puncher’s chance, and the Hilltoppers only need their aim to be true for one 60-minute segment.

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Middle Tennessee State @ Louisiana-Monroe - Saturday, 4:30 ET, ESPN360.com, GamePlan

Middle Tennessee State’s Tuesday night tilt at Troy, on Oct. 6, turned out to be the Sun Belt game of the year, but the second-biggest game of the conference season will take place this weekend in Monroe, La. This battle between the homestanding Warhawks and the visiting Blue Raiders at Malone Stadium will determine the second-place team in the league, and if Louisiana-Lafayette can topple Troy, MTSU will be playing for a share of the Sun Belt title. The big key to this game will be the ability of ULM to contain and frustrate Blue Raider quarterback Dwight Dasher. Coach Rick Stockstill’s signal caller is MTSU’s leading rusher, as well as its leading passer. Dasher has accumulated more than 300 all-purpose yards in each of his past three games, and in his last two outings against Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State, he’s thrown for six touchdowns with only one interception. With ULM lacking consistency from starting quarterback Trey Revell - who suffered a damaging finger injury against Arkansas State on Oct. 13, and hasn’t been the same since - it will be up to coach Charlie Weatherbie to coax a top-flight performance from a Warhawk defense that needs to do some ballhawking against Dasher. If ULM can produce turnovers and create short fields for Revell, the Warhawks can gain a share of second place in the Sun Belt. If not, Middle Tennessee will stake its claim to second place… and possibly a piece of first.

Troy @ Louisiana-Lafayette - Saturday, 7 ET, no TV

It’s the final stop on the road to the New Orleans Bowl for Troy, which has the league’s top slot locked up, but not yet the outright title. Perhaps Louisiana-Monroe will make the matter moot with a victory over Middle Tennessee State, but the Trojans will want to close their season in style and not worry about the action elsewhere in the state of Louisiana. It’s true that MTSU-ULM starts two and a half hours before this tilt at Cajun Field, but Troy might as well avoid the temptation to watch the scoreboard.

Lafayette, in search of a winning season under coach Ricky Bustle, will want Troy to be distracted. That element of the day’s competition might loom larger than anything else, because if Troy’s focused and fit, the Trojans usually deliver darts and daggers into the hearts of their foes. The man who usually releases the wounding weapons for Larry Blakeney’s ballclub is quarterback Levi Brown, who has routinely torched Sun Belt defenses in 2009. Brown struggled in early-season non-conference games against Bowling Green and Florida, and he also found tough sledding in a recent contest against Arkansas as well, but in Sun Belt games, Brown’s been virtually spotless. The senior - who has thrown for over 3,500 yards this year - has tossed 15 touchdowns in conference games, and only one interception… an interception which came in a 47-21 blowout win last week against Florida Atlantic.

Lafayette will have to get Brown to throw a few more picks, or pluck fumbles from the breadbaskets of the Trojans’ backs and receivers. Without a stream of takeaways, and without a subpar performance from the visitors from Alabama, it will be hard to see how the Ragin’ Cajuns can prevail… and potentially deliver a piece of the league title to the men from Middle Tennessee State.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Florida International @ Florida - Saturday, 12:30 ET, ESPN360.com

It’s late November, the time when college football title contenders are supposed to be tested in their pursuit of gridiron glory. When the chill of Autumn deepens and the shadows grow longer on Saturday afternoons, the top teams in the United States are confronted with the crucible all champions must pass through, in order to lift the crystal trophy in early January.

Well, so much for romantic notions of what college football is supposed to offer. None of those soaring statements apply to this contest in Gainesville, Fla.

Instead of playing a legitimate opponent, Florida’s traveling the paycheck route, as the Gators are offering Florida International a hefty six-figure sum to come into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, receive a butt-kicking, and depart with a better athletic department budget in tow. The only drama in this Swamp slaughter will be the length of time Urban Meyer gives to Tim Tebow. Will the Florida coach try to prop up Tebow’s Heisman campaign and fatten up the stat sheet for No. 15, or will Meyer quickly go to backup John Brantley with an eye toward 2010?

Army @ North Texas - Saturday, 4 ET, no TV

This game will offer a fascinating contrast in styles. The Black Knights, under coach Rich Ellerson, will travel to Denton, Tex., with their triple option offense, a staple of modern-day service academy football in some form or fashion. (Navy runs the triple option, while Air Force has run the wishbone for decades and still uses a predominantly run-first approach.) North Texas counters with a pass-happy attack brought to you by the Dodge Gang of Todd (the head coach/father) and Riley (the quarterback/son). Many more significant games will be played across the United States on Saturday, but few might be as entertaining as this particular tussle.

Florida Atlantic @ Troy - Saturday, 4:15 ET, ESPN360.com, GamePlan

Many teams who have just endured a 36-point shellacking might hang their heads the following weekend. Not so for the Troy Trojans and head coach Larry Blakeney. If “the other Troy” can turn back Howard Schnellenberger’s Owls at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, the pride of Southeastern Alabama will return to the New Orleans Bowl and repeat as Sun Belt champions. Troy was overwhelmed by Arkansas’s SEC speed and power last weekend in the Ozarks, but now, against an FAU team that’s been plucky but inconsistent over the course of this season, the Trojans and quarterback Levi Brown should find smoother sledding. If Troy shrugs off the 56-20 loss to Arkansas and rolls up its sleeves this Saturday, Blakeney’s boys should be holding Sun Belt hardware when the day is ultimately done.

Arkansas State @ Middle Tennessee State - Saturday, 4:30 ET, ESPN360.com

This game shapes up as a mismatch in all respects: physically, tactically and emotionally. Middle Tennessee has generally outflanked and outworked opponents in 2009, with quarterback Dwight Dasher proving to be equally adept as both a runner and passer. Rick Stockstill’s Blue Raiders are hard to defend, and their defense - which registered five sacks against Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 14 - is attacking opposing quarterbacks with conviction. MTSU is clearly the second-best team in the Belt behind the leaders from Troy, and unless the home team stumbles this weekend at Floyd Stadium, the Men of Murfreesboro (Tenn.) should frolic against the Red Wolves, who limp into town after suffering a 17-point setback against Florida Atlantic. Unless Arkansas State can rally and improve across the board, coach Steve Roberts’s team will have a very tough time being competitive for four full quarters in a daunting road environment.

Louisiana-Monroe @ Louisiana-Lafayette - Saturday, 7 ET, no TV

The two Louisiana hyphen schools will have at it in Lafayette, La. Coach Charlie Weatherbie leads his Monroe roster against Ricky Bustle’s collection of competitors at Cajun Field. One of the noteworthy details surrounding this Bayou battle is that it’s Lafayette’s first home game in four weeks; the last time ULL played in its own ballpark was Oct. 24 against Florida Atlantic. A weary group of Cajun road warriors got knocked around on a three-game road trip that produced a 1-2 record, but if Bustle’s boys can refuel thanks to the wonders of home cooking, ULL could knock ULM out of a second-place Sun Belt tie with Middle Tennessee State.

Monroe might be 5-1 in the league, but after barely beating 0-10 Western Kentucky at home last weekend, the Warhawks aren’t flashing their finest football. They’re distinctly vulnerable as they head into Lafayette’s corner of Louisiana. ULM quarterback Trey Revell has been markedly inconsistent since his return from an injury; if ULL can hound Revell into mistakes and contain ULM running back Frank Goodin, the Ragin’ Cajuns could become all the rage… and will receive a thank-you card from the Middle Tennessee football family.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer