Scattershot O5 ramblings week 7

#herd vanished in the second half in a loss to #mtsu will they re-appear in force at #ODU Saturday. Will either team play D in the Tulsa/USF AAC matchup? Can Navy bounce back from the strafing Air Force gave them? Ok, App St and Jalin Moore are you ready to take control of the Sunbelt? #hawaii comes to the continent to tame the wounded BYU Cougars- this is smelling like OT. #Niu tames the Ohio Bobcats and becomes the team to beat in the MAC. Drop your ramble before G+ closes its doors in the next twelve months.
Oct 12: AppSt took care of Ark St, but Ga Southern is hanging with them in the Sunbelt. The Eagles got off to a 15-0 lead including a safety then held on as TX ST failed on a two point conversion late in the 4th quarter.
EAST               CONF
Georgia Southern 3-0
Troy                 3-0
Appalachian State 2-0
Oct 13- #AFA hung with #SDST but lost 24-17 in its return to MWC action. #USF did all the 4th quarter scoring including the winning FG with two seconds to go in its win over #tulsa in AAC action
Oct 14: Navy lost to Temple (24-17), an improving AAC team team that has ability to knock off UCF in a few weeks,  .
In the MWC, Hawaii couldn't tame the BYU Cougar in a 49-23 loss. #fresno and utah st are getting stronger
#NIU 24 Ohio 21, and how about Miami (Ohio) moving to 3-1 in MAC play
In the CUSA, FIU scored 11 unanswered 4th quarter points, and Olin Cushion III intercepted an MTSU pass in the end zone  to secure a  24-21 win

O5 in Ohio 9/22/18

The Tulane (AAC)  Green Wave  will recede quickly in Columbus  to the  Bucknuts who will have the reserves in by the 4th quarter. Ohio St 51 TUL 16
Ohio (MAC) barely beat Howard (1AA) and got smacked by UVA so I see them falling at Cincy (AAC) 34 -17.
It's now or never for Miami (Ohio ) HC Chuck Martin in a MAC matchup at Bowling Green, Ohio. MO will  remain winless and not contain  Doege who will toss a few TD passes to his fellow BG Falcons in 28-20 victory.
#nevada (MWC) visit #toledo (MAC) at the Glass Bowl in an aerial contest between NEV QB
T. Gangi 55-100, 753 YDS, 6 TD, 4 INT and TOL QB M. Guadagni 24-37, 487 YDS, 5 TD, 1 INT.
Nev 34 TOL 33
Sept 23: Yes, I under-estimated most of the MAC teams yesterday,particulary Toledo  who rode 6TDs, four passing, two rushing passes from Mitchell Guadagni  to a 63-44 win over Nevada. Ohio had Cincy on the ropes until late in the 4th Q in a 34-30 loss. 
Ragland tossed two TDS and ran one one in a MO's  38 -23 conference win over BG.
Tulane scores its six points in the 2nd Q in a 49-6 loss to Ohio St

Florida Matchups in O5 play Sept 21-22

#fau  (CUSA) will rely heavily on rushing yards from Singletary in an upset bid at #ucf (AAC), but  I don't think the Owls will contain Mckenzie the UCF QB for long.  UCF 30 FAU 20
#fiu (CUSA) doesn't have enough O to stay with Miami Fla  in their first mmeting since the brawl twelve years ago. Yes, I know FIU is averaging 40 plus points a game but that was against Umass , ODU, and Indiana. Miami 34 FIU 16
#NIU (MAC) travels to FSU (ACC) and faces a Noles team that's a mess. Marcus Childers will toss a TD pass  and keep the Huskies in the game but they'll fall 20-17.
For new readers O5 , the Other 5 , is my label for the non -power football conferences., #aac, #cusa, #mac, #mwc , #sunbelt
sept 22: This says it all about UCF 56 FAU 36 . McKenzie Milton  UCF
21-32, 306 YDS, 3 TD , Devin Singletary  FAU 25 CAR, 131 YDS, 3 TD
sept 23:  FIU QB Morgan tossed two  TDs to Worton for FIU in the the 4Q but that was too little, too late to recover from a 31-0 deficit.Miami 31 FIU 17. NIU QB Childers passed for two and rushed for one TD but that was far from enough in a 37-19  defeat to the Noles

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.

CUSA football suffered Sunstroke, etc

A few years ago the CUSA  was raided by the AAC so they raided the Sunbelt . Yesterday was a rough day for CUSA and the Sunbelt delivered some of that pain. #MarcusOutlow  rushed for
20 CAR, 140 YDS, 2 TD in Coastal Carolina's romp over #UAB and #CalebEvans passed for 165 yards and two TDs in a 21-20 ULM win over #USM. Also Zac Thomas  passed for
14-14, 295 YDS, 3 TD as App St  trounced Charlotte in a nice recovery from the OT loss at Penn St last week.
MWC  had a decent day as the hot Cole McDonald of Hawaii threw 4 TDs in a win over Rice, and UNLV  steam rolled UTEP. However FAU beat Air Force (MWC)
WKU suffered the worst loss of the days as Maine, a 1AA team, edged them 31-28. Marshall,  La Tech, and MTSU handled their 1AA opponents.
UTSA fell to Baylor of the BIG 12,
FIU squeaked by ODU in   a CUSA conference matchup

Week 3 Sept 13- #ODU  will get it's first win @Charlotte this afternoon. Expect the ODU QBs to look for Duhart who's averaging about 24 yards a catch. I'm a little surprised the #herd at South Carolina  game was postponed rather than moved to an earlier date
sept 15: Charlotte won so I'm off to a bad start. Sunbelt's weekend started out  rough with GA St getting crushed by Memphis (AAC) and it could get worse. ULL faces Miss St, GA Southern faces Clemson, & ULM plays TAMU.

CUSA 2018 football predictions

EAST
Florida Atlantic- Kiffin  is looking for a Power 5 job ,and  former Nole  De Andre Johnson may be a his key.
Marshall's D held opponent under 20 PPG and returns nine starters  but #herd fans can only hope Doc has a cures for the O's woes.
Middle Tennessee: All rest on QB Stocksill if they can run with the big dogs in the East.
Florida Intl: Butch Davis has a lot of holes to fill, but the Panthers will be a tough foe  by the middle of October.
Old Dominion Monarchs- Wilder is a decent HC, but I'm not sold on the Monarchs' talent.
Charlotte has eleven D starters returning.
Western Kentucky- Year 2 w/o Coach Brohm and more holes to fill.
WEST

UAB's solid QB Erdely and a stellar rushing attack will lead the Blazers to the West title.
Louisiana Tech has a solid D and big hopes for QB J'Mar Smith.
North Texas - Nice job in 2017 by Fine and the Mean Green lads, but you can bet the West will exploit NT's weak O-Line
UT San Antonio: Josiah Tauaefa returns to the D and the Roadrunners need him
Southern Mississippi has great talent but keeps getting stuck when trying to turn the corner
UTEP Miners' Rebuild continues with new HC Dimel.
Rice : Good luck new HC Bloomgren!

8/17/18

#USM senior QB #KwadraGriggs, who started seven games last season, was suspended indefinitely  Saturday for a "student conduct matter." It appears transfer Jack Abraham will get the  starting job.

8/23/18

#WKU will host Cincinnati on 9/20/25 and visit them  on 9/26/26. They've never matched up on the field espite being  about three hours apart.

8/27/2018

Going to be a long season for #rice . Jack Fox kicked a 23-yard field goal as time expired to help Rice beat Prairie View

9/15/18

Glimmer of hope for the Cusa. #northtexas qb Fine led the Mean Green to romp over Arkansas.

9/26/18

Focusing on CUSA conference games. Love the #herd behind I Green at #wku. NTEX will be Fine hosting LA Tech. UAB handles Charlotte. #FAU will pull it out at end at #MTSU. UTSA gets by UTEP.
I don't trust ODU coming off the VA Tech win against ECU (AAC)

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.