2019 Sun Belt Football
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2019 Sun Belt Football Mercedes-Benz Superdome For Immediate Release • Week 1 • August 27, 2019 1500 Sugar Bowl Drive • New Orleans, LA 70112 Contacts: Keith Nunez ([email protected]) SunBeltSports.org • @SunBelt • #SunBeltFB Scottie Rodgers ([email protected]) Appalachian State • Arkansas State • Coastal Carolina • Georgia Southern • Georgia State Louisiana • ULM • South Alabama • Texas State • Troy STANDINGS Conference Overall EAST DIVISION W-L Pct For Opp W-L Pct For Opp Home Away Neutral Streak Appalachian State 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Won 6 Coastal Carolina 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 4 Georgia Southern 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Won 3 Georgia State 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 7 Troy 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Won 1 WEST DIVISION W-L Pct For Opp W-L Pct For Opp Home Away Neutral Streak Arkansas State 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 1 Louisiana 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 2 ULM 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 2 South Alabama 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Won 1 Texas State 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Lost 3 THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE AROUND #SUNBELTFB Thursday, August 29 Campbell at /RV Troy 5 p.m. • Sun Belt Conference football kicks off the Texas State at 12/11 Texas A&M 7:30 p.m. Broadcast: ESPN+ 2019 season with all 10 teams in action. The conference’s Week 1 slate features matchups Broadcast: SEC Network Series: First Meeting on the ESPN family of networks – one on ESPN, Series: Texas A&M leads 2-0 two on ESPNU, two on the SEC Network, four on Last Meeting: Texas A&M, 44-31 (2005) SMU at Arkansas State 6 p.m. ESPN+ and one on ESPN3. Broadcast: ESPN+ Saturday, August 31 Series: SMU leads 2-1 • Appalachian State opens the season receiving votes in both the Associated Press and Amway RV/RV Mississippi State vs. Louisiana 11 a.m. Last Meeting: SMU, 44-21 (2017) Coaches powered by USA Today Sports Top 25 Site: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans polls. The Mountaineers received five points Broadcast: ESPNU Georgia Southern at 6/6 LSU 6:30 p.m. in the AP Poll and four points in the Amway Series: Mississippi State leads 4-0 Broadcast: SEC Network Coaches preseason polls. Appalachian State Last Meeting: Mississippi State, 56-10 (2018) Series: First Meeting earned the Sun Belt’s second-ever Top 25 ranking last season – 25th in the Oct. 21, 2018 AP Poll. The Mountaineers’ ranking tied the highest- South Alabama at 24/RV Nebraska 11 a.m. Grambling State at ULM 7 p.m. ever ranking for a Sun Belt team with Troy’s Broadcast: ESPN Broadcast: ESPN3 ranking of 25th in the Nov. 13, 2016 AP Poll. Series: Nebraska leads 1-0 Series: ULM leads 3-0 Last Meeting: Nebraska, 48-9 (2015) Last Meeting: ULM, 48-10 (2013) • Troy received one vote in the Amway Coaches Poll to make it three-straight seasons for the Trojans appearing among the teams receiving Georgia State at /RV Tennessee 2:30 p.m. All Times Central and Subject to Change votes in that poll. Troy’s two votes in the Broadcast: ESPNU preseason edition of the 2018 Associated Press Series: Tennessee leads 1-0 Poll was a program first in the initial AP Poll. Last Meeting: Tennessee, 51-13 (2012) • The Sun Belt opened with five wins over the first week of the 2018 season. That marked the Eastern Michigan at Coastal Carolina 2:30 p.m. conference’s best opening week since winning Broadcast: ESPN+ seven wins in 2014 and six wins in 2016 as an 11- Series: First Meeting team conference. • A total of 68 Sun Belt football student-athletes East Tennessee State – Appalachian State (4), Arkansas State (13), at RV/RV Appalachian State 2:30 p.m. Coastal Carolina (14), Georgia Southern (7), Broadcast: ESPN+ Georgia State (2), Louisiana (6), ULM (8), South Series: Appalachian State leads 31-14-1 Alabama (4), Texas State (8) and Troy (2) – have Last Meeting: Appalachian State, 21-7 (2003) already earned their undergraduate degrees and are playing college football this fall while pursuing second diplomas. 2019 SUN BELT FOOTBALL WEEK 1 AROUND #SUNBELTFB 2019 WEEKLY AWARDS • The Sun Belt has proven itself against Power Five conference opponents in recent history, The 2019 Sun Belt football weekly awards for posting eight wins in the last eight seasons and at least one win in seven of the last eight Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the seasons. Five of the league’s eight Power Five wins have come on the road. Week and Special Teams Player of the Week begin on Monday, Sept. 2. 2011 – North Texas 24, Indiana 21 (Denton, Texas) 2012 – ULM 34, No. 6 Arkansas 31 [ot] (Monroe, La.) and WEEKLY AWARDS HISTORY Western Kentucky 32, Kentucky 31 [ot] (Lexington, Ky.) A look at the most recent weekly award winners from 2013 – ULM 21, Wake Forest 19 (Winston-Salem, N.C.) each school entering the 2019 season: 2014 – ULM 17, Wake Forest 10 (Monroe, La.) 2016 – South Alabama 21, Mississippi State 20 (Starkville, Miss.) School Player (Award) Date 2017 – Troy 24, No. 25 LSU 21 (Baton Rouge, La.) Appalachian State Akeem Davis-Gaither (D) 11/26/18 2018 – Troy 24, Nebraska 19 (Lincoln, Neb.) Arkansas State Justin McInnis (ST) 11/26/18 Coastal Carolina Evan Rabon (ST) 10/23/17 • The Sun Belt looks to keep its winning ways going in non-conference play after posting the Georgia Southern Shai Werts (O) 10/29/18 best non-conference winning percentage (regular-season and postseason games) of any Kindle Vildor (D) 10/29/18 Group of Five conference in 2018. The league’s 24 non-conference victories were the most in Georgia State Penny Hart (O) 10/16/17 conference history, eclipsing the 22 wins in 2016. Marterious Allen (D) 10/16/17 Louisiana Raymond Calais (O) 11/12/18 W L Pct. ULM Caleb Evans (O) 11/5/18 1. Sun Belt 24 20 .545 South Alabama Tra Minter (O) 11/26/18 2. Mountain West 29 25 .537 Texas State James Sherman (ST) 9/10/18 3. American 27 28 .491 4. Conference USA 26 36 .419 Troy Tyler Sumpter (ST) 11/18/18 5. Mid-American 19 35 .352 • For the first time as an Football Bowl Subdivision Conference, the Sun Belt boasted three WEEKLY AWARDS WINNERS teams – Appalachian State (11-2, 7-1 Sun Belt), Troy (10-3, 7-1) and Georgia Southern (10-3, 6-2) – with double-digit wins in 2018. All three won their bowl games. OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Sept. 2 ................................................................................................................................... • Arkansas State is in select company with Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson as one of four Sept. 9................................................................................................................................... Sept. 16 ................................................................................................................................. Football Bowl Subdivision programs that have made eight bowl appearances and won at Sept. 23 ................................................................................................................................ least four conference championships over the past eight seasons. Sept. 30 ................................................................................................................................ Oct. 7 ..................................................................................................................................... • The Sun Belt also looks to continue its success in the postseason as well, boasting the Oct. 14 ................................................................................................................................... best three-year (2016-18) bowl winning percentage among all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision Oct. 21 ................................................................................................................................... conferences. Oct. 28 .................................................................................................................................. Nov. 4 .................................................................................................................................... Nov. 11 .................................................................................................................................... W L Pct. Nov. 18................................................................................................................................... 1. Sun Belt 11 5 .688 Nov. 25 .................................................................................................................................. 2. Big 12 14 10 .583 Dec. 2 .................................................................................................................................... 3. Atlantic Coast 18 14 .563 4. Big Ten 15 12 .556 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK 5. Mountain West 10 8 .556 Sept. 2 ................................................................................................................................... 6. Conference USA 12 10 .545 Sept. 9................................................................................................................................... 7. Southeastern 17 17 .500 Sept. 16 ................................................................................................................................. 8. American Athletic 8 13 .381 Sept. 23 ................................................................................................................................ 9. Pac-12 7 15 .318 Sept. 30 ...............................................................................................................................