Sun Belt Week Five 2012

Well I’m not feeling any better about the prospects of winning the conference. That isn’t because the win over FAU was bad. It is because the rest of the Belt looked so good this week. Let’s take a tour shall we?

MTSU 49 v Ga Tech 28

Ah this was probably the headline of the week. Somehow, someway the Blue Raiders went over to the deep south and whooped up on a former ACC champ and looked good doing it. The running game is looking beastly, as Benny Cunningham ran for 217 yards and five scores. That is right, ya’ll. The guy with the crazy rushing stats plays for MT and not GT. I made fun of them earlier this season, but it looks like they have a nice little squad now. Formidable foe?

Troy 31 v South Alabama 10

Oh those Jags. They just aren’t having a good year. Even after picking off Corey Robinson three times, they couldn’t get out of their own way. They simply cannot pass the ball. We play them Nov 10th. Can’t wait. Should be a defensive feast before Thanksgiving.

Louisiana Monroe 63 v Tulane 10

So when did ULM go out and get an explosive offense? They don’t just look scrappy anymore. They were in a shootout with Baylor before WVU made it cool. Kolton Browning threw for 253 yards and three scores and DaVontae McNeal added 114 yards and one score on the ground. Most impressive was the defense . . . if you think stopping Tulane is impressive. They are last in the nation in scoring offense, total offense, and rushing offense. They rank 108th in passing offense. So that’s nice.

ULM is top 20 in passing, total offense and scoring offense (322, 519, 42) by the way. I’m a little scared. Our defense stood up to K-State and Troy but if this ULM team puts us in a shoot out? Well I don’t thin we have enough bullets.

Florida International 20 v Louisiana Lafayette 48

How the mighty have fallen. Seems without TY Hilton in their fold they can’t beat the likes of lowly ULL. No seriously, FIU can move the ball some — nothing amazing but they are moving it — but only scores about 26ppg. That’d be a winning formula if they had any kind of defense. They allowed ULL 501 yards including 187 on the ground. ULL is looking decent and is 2-0 in the conference and 3-1 overall. FIU is 0-1, 1-4. I think the conference power has re-focused in Louisiana and left Florida behind.

Western Kentucky 26 vs Arkansas State 13

Hey now. Remember how we all thought ASU was going to continue their run Hugh Freeze had them on? Well it hasn’t quite happened just yet. Western Kentucky is the class of the conference (at least until we see them against ULM) and battled back to beat ASU on the road after being down 13. Something tells me Malzahn doesn’t have the same kind of magic without guys like Cam Newton and Darren McFadden . . .

I don’t know how WKU is winning these games. I haven’t been watching closely but they look like they are the kind of team that wins ugly. They are the most dangerous kind of squad because when they do when they do it while making you think you could have done better. Which leaves you feeling regret. Call their style the Bane method.

Next Week’s Matchups:

Arkansas St visits FIU on Thursday Night (10.4.12) on ESPNU
ULM travels to MTSU –ESPN3
Tulane will get beat at ULL –ESPN3
We take on Houston in Houston!! (NO TV!?)

Conference Standings:

ULL 2-0, 3-1
WKU 1-0, 4-1
MTSU 1-0, 3-1
Troy 2-1, 3-2
North Texas 1-1, 2-3
ULM 0-0, 2-2
ASU 0-1, 2-3
FIU 0-1, 1-4
USA 0-1, 1-4
FAU 0-2, 1-4