Sun Belt Sports Fans

WEEK FIVE REVIEW

SCORES

Arkansas State 26, Western Kentucky 22

Tulsa 41, North Texas 24

Louisiana-Lafayette 37, Florida Atlantic 34

Duke 31, Florida International 27

Middle Tennessee 38, Memphis 31

Troy 24, UAB 23

The main story from week five in the Sun Belt Conference was
a downer. The defending champion in the league proved unable to fend off a
bottom-tier opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Florida International
had taken down Louisville of the Big East; moreover, it had done so on the
road. The Golden Panthers then ambushed defending Conference USA champion
Central Florida, giving credence to the notion that their 2010 season was no
fluke. However, just when everything was falling into place for the title belt
holders in the Sun Belt, an unexpected plot twist emerged. Star receiver T.Y.
Hilton suffered an injury, and FIU’s defense buckled in a shocking 36-31 loss
at home against Louisiana-Lafayette. A home game against lowly Duke, one of the
least successful programs in modern college football over the past two decades,
was supposed to get FIU back in the win column.

It didn’t work out that way.

Even with Hilton playing at increased speed – though not at
100 percent – Florida International fell short against Duke. The Golden
Panthers’ defense, so flinty and formidable in the middle of September, has
been unable to stop the passing game over the last two weekends. Duke signal
caller Sean Renfree was able to beat FIU’s back line of defense more often than
not, and as a result, the visitors from the ACC were able to overcome a 27-17
deficit, scoring the winning touchdown midway through the fourth quarter and
then holding on for the win. Florida International didn’t drop another
conference game, but this team’s psyche needs to mend in the coming days. The
arrival of regular Sun Belt competition following several weeks of
non-conference preliminaries will test the Golden Panthers in a profound way.

If you look around the rest of the league, the amazing
aspect of week five in the Belt was that almost every game went down to the
wire. With the exception of North Texas against Tulsa, every contest was a
humdinger decided in the final moments of competition. Arkansas State scored a
go-ahead touchdown with 43 seconds left in regulation to avoid an upset at the
hands of Western Kentucky. League-leading Louisiana-Lafayette kicked a 26-yard
field goal at the gun to fend off Florida Atlantic. Middle Tennessee scored
with 11 ticks left on the clock to elude a tension-filled overtime session
against lowly Memphis. Troy trailed Alabama-Birmingham by nine points with six
minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans – stunned last year by the
Blazers on a last-play Hail Mary – scored 10 points down the stretch to gain
sweet revenge against UAB. It was a wild ride for the Belt on the first day of
October. It’s hard to shake the notion that the entirety of the conference
season will be similarly wacky. The Sun Belt has “volatility” written
all over it in 2011, as was the case in 2010.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer