Week 9 Five pack- Other 5

AAC: Battle of QBs: Justin McMillan (TULN 92-160, 1229 YDS, 9 TD) visits Malcolm Perry (NAVY 124 CAR, 792 YDS, 14 TD). Both teams have been spanked by Memphis this season. Navy win 27-24.
CUSA:  Brenden Knox will rush for at least 125 yards and his Marshall Herd will hold off Ty Storey and the his WKU teammates 22-19
MAC: I'm going to go with Drew Pitt the Ball St Cards again this week. This time they'll hold off Nathan Rourke and the Ohio Bearcats 27-26.
MWC: Fresno St led by QB Josh Reyna is coming off a big offensive win over UNLV. Colorado St  needs this game to stay in contention in the Mountain Division . Marvin Kinsey Jr will get 100 yards, but that won't enough as his Rams will fall to the Bulldogs. 30-20.
Sunbelt: Kaleb Barker (143-223, 1670 YDS, 16 TDs)  leads the Troy Trojans into Atlanta for a shootout that Dan Ellington, the Georgia St QB, will win in a 27-26 squeaker.

Oct 25: 

 AAC: SMU gave up a 96 yard pass play TD with five minutes left but survived Houston 34-31 to remain undefeated. I didn't think the game would be that close.

Oct 27

McMillan led a he!! of a Tulsa comeback  but Navy scrambled into position for a late game winning field goal that made the final score 41-38.
Rohrwasser kicks 53-yard FG for the #herd to survive #wku 26-23. 
Nathan Rourke and the Ohio Bobcats put the brakes on Ball St three gave winning streak in a 34- 21 victory. 
Patrick O'Brien CSU (23-42, 322 YDS, 2 TD) handled Fresno St 41-31
 Tra Barnett GAST (34 CAR, 242 YDS, 2 TD) rolled the Trojans 52-33 
I was 3-2 for the week

Early 2019 Sunbelt football season predictions

East Division
1. Appalachian State-  Zac Thomas(QB)
2. Troy- BJ Smith (RB)
3. Georgia Southern- Monquavion Brinson (DB)
4. Georgia State- Brandon Wright (P)
5. Coastal Carolina- Malcom Williams (WR)
West Division
1. ULL- Ja’Marcus Bradley (WR)
2. ULM –  Caleb Evans (QB)
3. Arkansas State-  Kirk Merritt (WR)
4. South Alabama- Tyree Turner (DB)
5. Texas State- Bryan London II (LB)

 Ark St and ULM  will  make ULL work for the West title. In the East App St is easy to like, but Troy U always finds a way. I'll stick with my predictions and add some notes  as the 2019 season nears.
Aug 16- This is goofy from ULL coach Billy Napier: Every scholarship member of the football program will now be required to make a donation of at least $50 to the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Fund (RCAF)
Sept 1:  Not big stats but a W: Ellington finished with 139 yards passing, 61 yards rushing and three total touchdowns for Georgia St in its huge upset of the Vols. ULL and  South Bama played decent in losing efforts to , respectively, Miss St and Nebraska. CCU's D cracked in the second half in a loss to E.Michigan (MAC)

New Year football notes in the state of West Virginia

  #danaholgorsen ,61-41 WVU record, is leaving WVU for Houston U (AAC)  to replace Applewhite as HC and will be the highest paid  Other 5  (Group of 5) coach at 5yr -20M . I guess it's all about the Benjamins because why would you leave a Power 5 job in which you've been moderately successful. WVU tied for third with Iowa St in the Big 12 this season.
#RichRodriguez, one time WVU HC, will be the next Ol Miss OC.

Marshall DC Adam Fuller is leaving the  #Herd to take the same gig at #memphis

He will replace Chris Ball who was was recently named head coach at Northern Arizona.

jan 4, 2019

WVU hires  Troy's #NealBrown , who's learned O from the same guys, Mumme & Leach, as Holgorsen did. Fickell , the Cincy U coach, was considered for the job, too, , but Tony Gibson , the WVU DC wasn't. Brown 's  2017 Troy squad upset LSU.

jan 14, 2019

#tonygibson will be the NC St safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator. He replaces Ted Roof, who left to become Appalachian State’s DC.
 jan 29, 2019
 USC hired #GrahamHarrell , North Texas OC, who also followed Kingsbury as a quarterback for Texas Tech and developed his coaching style in the  Mike Leach's Air Raid offense. I wonder who replaces Harrell at NTX. 

april 30, 2019

Boston’s #FenwayPark will host a new bowl game starting in 2020 featuring football teams from the ACC and AAC conferences.

May 29 2019

#MaxDurschlag, a long snapper,is leaving Appalachian St for South Carolina. he is coming on as a walk-on, so he'll be eligible to play immediately in 2019.

June 6 2019

jarrett Doege, QB, transfers from Bowling Green to WVU.  Doege's brother Seth played for Neal Brown, the new West Virginia head coach, when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech from 2010-12

Oct 12 , 2019

Holgorsen is off to a rough if not terrible start (2-3) as  Houston's HC  with kids fleeing for the transfer portal. They host Cincy in the AAC opener today.
WVU is( 3-2, 1-1) but it's next three games are against Iowa St, OU, and Baylor.

August 21, 2021

I dug up an old blog just to chat about the MD/WVA opener @ College Park, MD, the Terps' home. West Virginia  28–22–2 leads the rivalry series which started in 1919 and has had several breaks. A lot of the rivalry is based on recruiting battles between neighboring states. The daily weather forecast for western MD is more like WV and Ohio than the rest of the state of MD. I'm calling this year's matchup a tossup because both teams are coming off so-so seasons. Starting  QBs: Tua's brother for the Terps and Jarret Doege for WV.

sept 1, 2021

#hoops They love Huggy in your state. He got a 2 year extension. Plus in 2024-25 season, he can choose to assume an appointment of at least two years in public relations and development along with other duties within the athletic department if he is no longer the coach. 

sept 21, 2021

WV hung on against VTech to take home the Black diamond trophy. If they hadn't, it would have been a brutal week for HC Neal Brown. They travel to Norman, OK this weekend for a b12 matchup.

sept 28, 2021

OK took a tumble in the polls after needing a last-second field goal to beat West Virginia 16-13. Who new WV could play D?

nov 1, 2021

 After blowout losses to Iowa State the past three seasons West Virginia beat ISU 38-31. 

In other B12 news, #GaryPatterson exits TCU immediately after 20 season despite being asked to finish the season. Jerry Kill will serve as interim HC. For those thinking about Cincy's post season hopes this season, his 2010 Horned Frogs(MWC), made history as the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl during the BCS era, and finished that season 13-0 edging Wisky(B10)  21-19.

Jan 15, 2022

 Todd Graham, who started his coaching career on Rich Rodriguez's staff at West Virginia as a linebackers coach in 2001, resigned as the HC of Hawaii(MWC). Rainbows' players were calling him a verbal abuser, a tyrant, and a hypocrite during a state senate hearing, but he'll get his buyout dollars.  Hey Hawaii, lotsa luck finding a HC who doesn't yell at his players. 

On a side note, I wonder if Rich Rod brings Graham to Jax St as it transitions to the CUSA. 

Jan 22, 2022

Maybe now we're seeing why Graham left town? June Jones rejected Hawaii's HC offer because he wouldn't have control over who was on his coaching staff.

Jan 23, 2022

Rainbows hired Tommy Chang, one of their former QBs to be their HC. He knows the MWC from working as a position coach at Nevada from 2017 to 2021 and had just started as an assistant with Colorado St.

April 13, 2022

JT Daniels transfers from GA to WV and reunites with Graham Harrell, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at West Virginia. Harrell was the USC OC in 2019 when Daniels was the Trojans QB .

June 2, 2022

 LSU AD Scott Woodward about the back and forth between Saban and Jimbo

“I’m not going to get in between two hillbillies fightin’ from West Virginia. That’s a no-win situation,”

June 8, 2022

Jerry West,  Rod Thorn, and possibly Oscar Robertson will usher Huggy into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 during enshrinement weekend in September (Sept. 9-10).

Aug 17, 2022

Pretty wild how the SEC doesn't have official soccer. WVU /Herd Sept 24 soccer matchup. A year Marshall followed up a national championship season in 2020 by making the 2021 NCAA Tournament and losing in the opening round to Providence. Below is a Metro news poll. 

Dec 16, 2022

Purdue is set to hire Graham Harrell, West Virginia OC, as its OC, the first major move under new coach Ryan Walters, the former Illinois DC. 

May 9, 2023

Good think Huggy is in the HoF already. He's apologized for his radio comments about the Cincy/Xavier rivalry, but IMO it ain't that bad. 

"Any school(Xavier) that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn't do it, my God, they can get away with anything,"

Interviewer Cunningham then responded and said, "I think it was 'transgender night,' wasn't it?"

Huggins then said, "What it was, was all those fags, those Catholic fags, I think."

He then added: "They were envious they didn't have one,"

June 18, 2023

I tweeted this yesterday about Huggins: Did the sensitivity training lead to the DUI yesterday? I'm kidding!!! I'm ok with Huggy. 

Now it appears he may resign. 

July 9, 2023

Short version: Huggy's reps are claiming that his wife texted WVU that he was resigning, and that's not a formal resignation.  This is likely about $$$. Both sides need to put this to bed. Hey Huggy, I like you, but your time is over. Plus, now you don't have to serve time in WOKE re-training learning how to pretend you buy in to all its inanity.

April 15, 2024

looking back WVU: Adam Fuller has been the DC at FSU since 2020. Graham Harrell has been OC at Purdue since 2023.

Sunbelt 2018/19 Hoops Hunches

1) Georgia Southern Eagles: My favorite named player , #TookieBrown , will keep the Eagles near the top
2) Georgia State Panthers: D’Marcus Simonds is the main man.
3) Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns hung with Kansas and beat Tulane early this season
4) Appalachian State Mountaineers- Justin Forrest 19.2ppg and crew have weathered a tough OOC schedule.
5) Troy Trojans: Varnado has been solid.
6) UL Monroe Warhawks: Travis Munnings has been decent but will need some help.
7) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers: Cuthbertson 20.4 PPG
8) South Alabama Jaguars needs O.
9) Texas State Bobcats:  Nijai Pearson is the player to watch.
10) Arkansas State Red Wolves: Rough  out of conference start except for Ty Cockfield 21.1ppg
11) UT Arlington Mavericks- Rebuilding
12) Little Rock Trojans- Good luck to Coach Darrell Walker, a former NBA player, in finding some O.

jan 8, 2019

 Texas St held of Georgia Southern 73-70 to open league play and hung tight in a 73-69 loss to conference leader Georgia St.

jan13, 2019

 Tre Nottingham and Nijal Pearson scored 16 points apiece and #TXST (14-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) defeated #appst. It may be time to get join the Bobcats' pack.  GST, UTA, ARLR, Troy, and ULL also won yesterday.

jan 18, 2019

Texas St (15-3 4-1), my pre-season  sunbelt -9th team , blew by ARLR LAST NIGHT as Tre Nottingham scored 24 points and Nijal Pearson added 19 . Other winners: UTA, GAST, and Georgia Southern

jan 23, 2019

Texas State (5-1) Nijal Pearson had 29 points and 11 rebounds and TXST went on 30-0 run to beat Ark St 77-64 on Jan 19. Varnado's 3-pointer  with 1.7 seconds on the clock gave Troy the victory over  Georgia State (5-1)
feb 1, 2019
 Zac Cuthbertson had 29 points and Devante Jones scored 25 in Coastal Carolina.'s win over ULM.
Tyrell Johnson scored 20 points in 16 minutes for App St in its 104-77 romp over ULL.

Feb 3

It's getting crowded at the top of the Sunbelt heap. 

Georgia State  (7-2) D'Marcus Simonds scored 29 points in a win over Georgia Southern

Texas State (6-3) #BrianWarren scored  30 points in a 83-77 OT win over UT Arlington(6-3)

 Coastal Carolina (6-3) #ZacCuthbertson scored 24 points in a win over ULL

Feb 9
Good Friday night for the Louisiana schools: ULM beat Georgia Southern and ULL beat Georgia St

Feb 10

Texas St remains tied for first with UTA for first- he!! of a season. NPearson scored 17 points  for TXST in the win over CCU remaining tied with UTA  beat appst.
Feb 16
Both Georgia schools got big Friday night Sunbelt wins:  Malik Benlevi scored  26 points as Georgia St defeated South Alabama 90-81,and Tookie Brown and Isaiah Crawley scored 16 points apiece as GA Southern rolled over South Bama to a 76-51. TXSt 9-3, GA St 9-4, UTA 8-4, GS 8-5

feb 22

TX St fell to ULM(7-6)  which allowed Georgia St , a winner over AppSt (4-9) ,to move into a tie for first with them at 10-4. Tookie Brown had 17 for  Georgia Southern(9-5) in its win over CCU (6-7). UTA(8-6) lost to ULL (7-6)

feb 24

Brian Warren scored  33 points for TXST(11-4) in its OT win over ULM and took sole possession of first place when  Ga St(10-5) lost to Coastal Carolina. Ga Southern (10-5) get 28 points for Tookie Brown in its win over AppSt.

Mar 2

TXST(12-4) hasn't folded  and beat Troy to stay one game ahead of Ga St (10-5), a winner over Ark St thursday night  in the Sunbelt race. UTA(10-6) beat South Bama. GA Southern (11-5) was idle.

March 9

Two intrastate games , GA St/Georgia Southern and UTA/TXSt , will determine the regular season Sunbelt winner. UTA is 11-6, the other three teams are 12-5. TXSt had a bad loss to South Bama last week buthas had a he!! of a surprising season.

 March 10

 Kane Williams scored a career-high 23 points helping Ga Southern beat Ga St to clinch the Sunbelt title because TXST lost to UTA

march 13

Nice second half from South Bama in a rd1 win over Ark St  ULM knocked off App St. Troy and Ark LR didn't qualify, and the top four teams get double byes.

March 15

 South Bama is shaking up the Sunbelt T. Rodrick Sikes made one of two free throws with four seconds left to give USA a 70-69 win over ULL. Michael Ertel had 20 points as Louisiana-Monroe crushed Coastal Carolina 80-50.

March 16

TXST halted South Bama's Cinderella move with 79-67 win while Georgia Southern beat ULM. TXST plays GA St and GA Southern faces UTA today.

March 17

Malik Benlevi tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Georgia State to a 59-46 win over Texas St who scored only fifteen points in the first half. Brian Warren scored 21 points as Texas-Arlington beat Georgia Southern 67-58 and prevented all Georgia SunbeltT final.

March 26,2019

 I thought he was Georgia St lifer: Coach  Ron Hunter, fresh off a dance loss to Houston on Friday in, took the #Tulane (AAC) opening.

April 1, 2019

#chrisbeard , the Texas Tech HC , is big news these days. It wasn't long ago he had Arkansas -Little Rock fans ecstatic when they beat Purdue in rd1 of the 2016 Dance then fell to Iowa St in rd2

april 7

  #PhilCunningham took #troy to the dance in 2017 and now he's out. Wow!  They hired  Scott Cross, who some success at UTA through the 2017-18 season.
App State hired  Dustin Kerns , who led Presbyterian (Big South) to  solid 20-16 season and a CTI  invitation after a weak 11- 21  record in 2017-18. It's not the greatest resume.

april 15

 Georgia State hired Tennessee assistant Rob Lanier, a longtime assistant for Rick Barnes at Texas and Tennessee, as it's new HC. He was the HC at Sienna (MAAC) from 2001-05.

O5 or non-Power 5 edged the B10

#akron (MAC) scored three DST TDs in a 39-34 win over NW. #alvindavis had two pick 6.
#temple (AAC) dominated my Terps from the jump in a 35-14 win
Blake Barrett threw for for 411 yards and 2 TDs  in #USF (AAC) comeback win over Illinos 25-19  and probably wasn't an upset
#troy (Sunbelt)  24-19 win over Nebraska may have Coach Frost thinking he should've stayed at UCF.
However, these three MAC teams, Miami of Ohio, Ball St, & Kent St, were rolled, respectively, by Minnesota, Indiana, and Penn St.

Sunbelt 2018 football predictions

SunBelt East
Appalachian State and Troy led the  Sun Belt in scoring defense last year and should keep these squads vying for the East slot in the Championship game. The Nov 24 matchup could decide who moves on.  Georgia State and  Georgia Southern tend to find their footing by mid season and could be bowl eligible. Maybe Marvin Sanders, the new DC at Coastal Carolina, makes a difference

West
 Arkansas State's  high-powered offense  led by quarterback Justice Hansen and a  strong receiving corps are the best bet for  the West title game slot. Caleb Evans, ULM QB , will keep the Warhawks  in contention. South Bama has highly touted freshman QB, Cephus Johnson. Keep your eyes on  Ishmael Davis DL, Texas State, for comeback player of the year.  ULL remains in rebuild mode.

Aug 18

Some early ESPN Sunbelt focus Friday, Sept. 14
Georgia State at Memphis  (AAC)   coverage-(ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNews)

Aug 30

In an article about the Sunbelt  which has twelve teams in most sport but only 10 football teams , I found this.   .  Texas-Arlington and Ark- Little Rock do not currently field football teams, though there has been some discussion about Little Rock reviving its long-dormant program.

Sept 2.

#appst knocked off Michigan on 9/1/07 when they were 1AA and took PennSt to the limit  yesterday 9/1/18 before falling 45-38 yesterday- He!! of a game. South Bama took La Tech  to the final minutes before falling 30-26. Meanwhile Ga St and  ULM barely survived 1AA opponents.

sept 6

Can #appst bounce back from the tough loss at #psu and beat #charlotte (CUSA) who barely survived Fordham. Yes Jalin Moore  will gain 100+ for APP in a win.
oct 10- #appst started out slow last night but Zac Thomas got threw 2 TDS and the D was solid in a 35-9 win over Ark St.