SBC Saturday 10/24

Earlier in the week, the Sunbelt finally had monumental conference games that would really start adding separation among the 'belters; the Red Wolves were able to snap a 2 game losing skid to the Cajuns and won Tuesday night in Jonesboro, then the Mountaineers absolutely crushed the Eagles, ending their 11 game winning streak in SBC play.

Now App State and Astate both sit alone at the top, both 3-0 in conference play (albeit Mountaineers have a much prettier looking overall record of 6-1).

However, we still have further conference games this Saturday so without further adieu, let's take a quick look at what to expect!

Battle of the 'Cats: Who's Going to Stay in the Conference Race?

First off, yes the Texas State promotions department is billing this as "Two Cats Teams"...I just spiced it up by adding battle. With that said...

..while technically not an elimination game whoever loses is going to be in a really deep hole after today. Despite injuries and a coach resignation in the season the bobcats are 3.5 point favorites at home (I've seen some sites only having Texas State as a 1.5 favorites), which I find surprising (also when you consider that the Bobcats are giving up nearly 50 points a game). While Texas State has been putting up the bigger numbers offensively than USA, it hasn't been resulting in scores (only scoring 14 against Houston and the 14 of the 27 scored against the Cajuns were late scores). I think jags are looking to be the more stable and balanced team whereas Bobcats look to be a squad fixing to implode.

USA-24

TxSt-17

Can the Vandals Score Conference Victory #2?

First a history lesson; the Vandals won on the road last week at Troy for the first time since 2011. If Idaho can beat the Warhawks today at the Kibbie Dome, it'll be the first time they have won back-to-back games since the 2009 season! And truth be told they have a real decent shot at it; ULM has just had a miserable season so far; it's been once decimated with injuries, losing the last 4 games and being outscored 178-69 since pitching a shut out against Nicholls State in week 2. It's homecoming at the Kibbie Dome, it'll be the first time Idaho has played in Moscow in nearly a month and coming off a very emotionally charging victory-Vandals look to be the more motivated, healthy team at the moment.

Idaho-27

ULM-21

Pillow Fight of the Week: Troy vs Aggies

The hits have just kept on coming for the New Mexico State Aggies; while certainly not even dark horse for the SBC Crown, their was much expectation at some sign of improvements in Las Cruces and while they haven been able to move the ball effectively and score (if you take away the Florida and Ole Miss games, Aggies have been averaging nearly 30 points a game and 416 yards) they have shown an inability at closing out games. Troy on the other hand is still trying to find it's footing with first year coach Neal Brown at the helm; while certainly not mentioned to be contenders for the conference either, nobody would've expected the clunker performance they gave in the lost at home to Idaho last week. Brown stated in his post game remarks he was very disappointed by this teams "lethargic" performance.  He made it abundantly clear the Trojans just weren't very motivated; even if they come out flat again, I think at this point the Aggies are just too befuddled at the moment to win this game.

Troy-31

NMSU-23