Sun Belt Struggles

[hapapp]

It's not outside the realm of the possible that the SBC might go winless today. At this moment, only Troy not losing (tied the last I looked).

Unfortunately, this year the SBC might be living up to its perception.

[Rick0714]

Some tough match-ups today. GaSo showed well, Troy needs to show up!

[Saint3333]

All but one entered today as underdogs, most two TD underdog.

No real surprising results.

[AppSt94]

Been skipping around between games but I thought ULM played pretty good run defense. Always around the ball.

[appbio91]

Troy does not look good. They might pull it out but damn....
Looks like no one at the game either.

[AppSt94]

The early part of this season has been crazy. South Carolina looked horrible in wk 1 and beats Georgia. Va Tech wins in the horseshoe and loses at home to ECU. It's been hard to evaluate which teams are good as of yet. I am not sold on Ga Southern yet. They are a lot more balanced on offense this year but there isn't much film on them yet. Coaches will now have some good film on this offense to find the weaknesses. They are plenty physical, but they have mental breakdowns. Also, I think they may have some good talent starting, but our depth is better. IMO

[EastHallApp]

Warning: the following results are not for the squeamish.

Sun Belt this season vs.:

All FBS: 2-15

Other G5: 1-6

P5: 1-9

Average margin vs. All FBS: minus-18

13 of 15 losses by double figures

FCS transitional Abilene Christian beat Troy and lost by 1 @ Ga. State.

[NewApp]

Warning: the following results are not for the squeamish.

Sun Belt this season vs.:

All FBS: 2-15

Other G5: 1-6

P5: 1-9

Average margin vs. All FBS: minus-18

13 of 15 losses by double figures

FCS transitional Abilene Christian beat Troy and lost by 1 @ Ga. State.

That's all good news to me as it looks like there is no reason we can't be competitive in the Belt right off the bat.

[The Annoying Peasant]

It's not outside the realm of the possible that the SBC might go winless today. At this moment, only Troy not losing (tied the last I looked).

Unfortunately, this year the SBC might be living up to its perception.

The last sentence astounds me. A loss in the final seconds to a BCS school, a 2 yr program to AF by 10, to #14 SEC Ole Miss, another 2 year program to SEC Miss St, to SEC LSU, another 2 year program to Navy, everybody beats Idaho, and UTEP beat NMSU which was about the only equal footing game on the schedule. The only disappointing loss was Troy.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

To quote Confucius in his 2012 bestselling book, Thoughts on Football "Is it better to be the big fish in a very small pond or a fish learning to swim in a medium sized pond, not drowning but not setting any records, but with a good possibility of being a leader soon enough?"

My other thought - If we don't win some of these games, baring injury of players, we have a lot more work to do than most think.

[Saint3333]

The story of the day in the SBC is Troy's loss to Ab. Christian. This from the outside appears to be a coach that is past his prime. He has been at Troy for 24 years, 175 wins, and had some great 1AA teams and five SBC titles, but this will be his fourth straight year under .500. By all accounts he has been a great coach.

[WVAPPeer]

I'll have to agree that I am a little disappointed in the SB showing so far - Let me say that I HAVE ONLY WATCHED PARTS OF SEVERAL GAMES - ULM completely dominated WF and really didn't allow LSU to run all over them so I would say they have the best defense I've seen - I must say that GaSO has had the best offense, I did expect ULL to be better than they have shown and Troy has looked terrible. I would say GA State has played better than most expected. Arkansas State looks good doing whatever they do but not really getting it done. Although the scores from yesterday for some of the games were not bad most were like our Michigan game and basically over by halftime ---
All in All, from what I have seen so far, I feel good about APPs chances this season to finish much better than the experts predicted - I am not down on the SB at all, but I do feel a little better about our upcoming games ---

[Saint3333]

I still think we are in the 4-6 win range for the season, but that outlook should firm up over the next two weeks. I watched the GS, Ark St., and USA games yesterday and watched ULM, GA St., and ULL games in prior weeks. It is nice to have the opportunity to scout these teams each week as a fan.

[YesAppCan]

It is nice to have the opportunity to scout these teams each week as a fan.

Amen!

[appst89]

It's not outside the realm of the possible that the SBC might go winless today. At this moment, only Troy not losing (tied the last I looked).

Unfortunately, this year the SBC might be living up to its perception.

The last sentence astounds me. A loss in the final seconds to a BCS school, a 2 yr program to AF by 10, to #14 SEC Ole Miss, another 2 year program to SEC Miss St, to SEC LSU, another 2 year program to Navy, everybody beats Idaho, and UTEP beat NMSU which was about the only equal footing game on the schedule. The only disappointing loss was Troy.

But as you have so often said in the past, perception is reality. The perception is that the Sun Belt is terrible. Yesterday's results support that perception regardless of the circumstances.

People are going to think whatever they want to think and facts will not dissuade them if they are determined to believe what they believe.

[EastHallApp]

It's not outside the realm of the possible that the SBC might go winless today. At this moment, only Troy not losing (tied the last I looked).

Unfortunately, this year the SBC might be living up to its perception.

The last sentence astounds me. A loss in the final seconds to a BCS school, a 2 yr program to AF by 10, to #14 SEC Ole Miss, another 2 year program to SEC Miss St, to SEC LSU, another 2 year program to Navy, everybody beats Idaho, and UTEP beat NMSU which was about the only equal footing game on the schedule. The only disappointing loss was Troy.

Go back and look at those results in my earlier post again. The league has been terrible for the first three weeks from top to bottom.

[Gonzo]

Troy's loss is the only embarrassing one. The other 9 were just tough games that happened to line up.

I still think ULL's blowout loss to a CUSA team last week was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to the conference this year.

We're going to win some ball games this year. USA, ULM, and GaSo will be tough.

[Saint3333]

So far only ULL has really disappointed.

The rest have played about as expected.

[Goapps15]

A big problem I have noticed with Troy is each of their last 3 or 4 recruiting classes have been loaded with JUCO players (over 50%). This is not a successful way to sustain and build a program.

ULL has been a disappointment, however they got walloped at the end of last year by USA and ULM when they lost their QB.

Arkansas State has a huge game this weekend vs Utah State. Very big game for the Belt.

[T-Dog]

As long as the SBC teams play SEC in OOC, no one will break through. The MAC play B1G in their OOC and they've had New Years Bowl teams. At the end of the day, 12-0 beats 9-3 in the eyes of most everyone, no matter the schedule.

I saw some quotes from Blakeney, Troy's 67-year-old coach. He sounded old and tired.