Sun Belt Football Week 3 Recap
WEEK THREE REVIEW
SCORES
TCU 38, Louisiana-Monroe 17
FloridaInternational 17,Central Florida10
Louisiana-Lafayette 38, Nicholls State 21
Alabama41,North Texas0
Virginia Tech 26,ArkansasState7
IndianaState44,Western Kentucky16
Arkansas38,Troy28
The centerpiece of week two in the Sun Belt Conference was once again quite easy to pick out of a lineup of scores. Florida International is simply taking the college football world by storm, at least in the realm of the non-BCS, non-Mountain West conferences.BoiseStateand TCU rule the roost among non-BCS schools, but after that, Florida International has made the next biggest splash in theUnited States. Of all the non-Boise, non-TCU teams in the “lower class” of college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision, FIU is clearly putting its stamp on the 2011 season.Houston, Northern Illinois,Toledo,Fresno State,Hawaii,Nevada– these teams have all stumbled or, at the very least, looked wobbly for portions of the young season. Florida International has not.
The Golden Panthers, up against defending ConferenceUSAchampionCentral Florida, were facing a team with an elite defense and a high-powered sophomore quarterback, Jeff Godfrey. UCF is a program that has been floated over the past several months in connection with the Big East Conference. The Golden Knights beatGeorgiain last season’s Liberty Bowl and returned most of their high-impact players. If any team from the Sun Belt, Mid-American, C-USA, and Western Athletic quartet of conferences was expected to do big things this year, it wasCentral Florida. However, Florida International wrested the stage – and a victory – from UCF on Saturday inMiami.
What was particularly impressive about this feat for FIU is that the Golden Panthers did the deed with very little offense. FIU’s defense was spectacular, not just solid, in this clash. The Golden Panthers limited UCF to just 300 total yards, but what was even more noticeable about this gem from FIU’s defense is that head coach Mario Cristobal so clearly taught his players to contain Godfrey as a runner. Godfrey is a lethal scrambler, but on this night, he collected just 41 rushing yards on 19 attempts, or just 2.2 yards per attempt. FIU eliminated the big play from UCF’s arsenal and kept the Golden Knights’ offense straitjacketed for the entire proceedings. FIU forced two UCF turnovers while not giving up the ball on its own end. Moreover, one of those recovered fumbles turned into a scoop-and-score by Isame Faciane. Both offenses scored just 10 points, but FIU’s defensive prowess clearly made the difference in this battle of champions.
FIU quarterback Wesley Carroll was decidedly unspectacular – he hit only 15 of 29 passes on Saturday – but his ability to play turnover-free ball made a huge difference for Cristobal’s crew. This was just a one-score win for the Golden Panthers, but it bears mentioning that they led by two scores for the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter. UCF didn’t pull within seven points until the 1:52 mark of regulation on a chip-shot field goal. FIU ran out the clock to preserve an authoritative and thoroughly deserved triumph. One wonders what will be the next conquest for FIU; one also wonders how long Cristobal will remain the coach of a Sun Belt program before moving on to greener pastures.
Elsewhere in the Belt, Louisiana-Monroe gave TCU a strong first-half run before weakening in the second half. The Warhawks trailed by a scant 21-17 margin at halftime, a result of their ability to exploit TCU’s porous secondary. However, the Horned Frogs made solid halftime adjustments and blanked the Warhawks in the second half. Still, this was a very encouraging performance that ULM head coach Todd Berry can use as a source of motivation for the rest of the season.
ArkansasStatelimited Virginia Tech to just 26 points. Unfortunately, that stellar outing from the Red Wolves’ defense wasn’t enough to win. That’s because Tech held ASU to just seven points. Still,ArkansasStatecoach Hugh Freeze has to be thrilled with the effort level and the resilience his team displayed on the road against an elite opponent.
On the minus side for the Belt, Western Kentucky – which battled hard in earlier games this season – flatly fell apart againstIndianaStateof the Football Championship Subdivision. The Sycamores walked intoBowling Green,Kentucky, and trampled all over WKU. The Hilltoppers turned the ball over four times and allowed over 200 rushing yards toIndianaState. The embarrassing performance will stick with coach Willie Taggart this week, and it will definitely inhibit WKU’s ability to gain on the recruiting trail.
Matt Zemek.
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer
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