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2024 Sun Belt Football: Week 7 Recap, Week 8 Preview
73 Plays6 months ago
Brian and Matt return to talk over Georgia Southern's huge 23-3 comeback against Marshall on Saturday night, Louisiana defeating Appalachian State and keeping the Mountaineers in the basement, and all of the week 7 action around the conference.
Then the two look to make picks on the upcoming week of action and more in this week's edition of Warm Weather Fans!
Email questions/comments for the show to warmweatherfans@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Updates
00:00:14
Speaker
What's up, everybody? Welcome back into Warm Weather Fans, The Sunbelt Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Stone. Joined just this week by Matt Migas. Zeke Palermo is currently under the weather, ah which he told us earlier today. But Matt, before I throw it over to you, I kind of want to do the plugs up top this week. ah Just want to remind everybody, we are now on YouTube. so Go to youtube dot.com slash at warm weather fans. You will see video versions of all of our episodes up there. We are also on TikTok. I try to get at least one to two ah clips updated on that. And then obviously, you know, our X account at warm weather fans. Check us out there. And then if anybody ever has any questions or comments, you know, wants to have a question,
00:01:01
Speaker
read or answered by the members of the show. You can do so at warmotherfans at gmail dot
Weekend Recap and College Football Preview
00:01:08
Speaker
.com. But Matt, how's it going to today? Man, I'm doing well. Really, really fun weekend of college football. there's and There's a lot to get to in the Sunbelt as we enter week eight, which is just absolutely insane.
00:01:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a little sad that we're this far down the road as far as college football goes. But we're we're fully in the swing of conference play. And we got a lot of good games this this last weekend to talk about and then in the upcoming
Coastal Carolina's Challenges
00:01:36
Speaker
weekend as well. So let's go ahead and get started here. ah Not a great game to talk about, but Thursday night, ah James Madison faced off with Coastal Carolina.
00:01:47
Speaker
um Frankly I Think it's time and I think Tim Beck kind of came to this conclusion during the game as well I think it's time that they give somebody else a shot at quarterback for Coastal Carolina um Ethan Vasco started this game off I believe he was three of four for like 60 yards and he ended the game five of 18 one touchdown two picks including a pick six and The Chanticleers lose 39 to 7 on the road against James Madison. This was just an ugly performance, and we've talked about ah over the past few weeks, Vasco's up and ups and downs at quarterback. But this was pretty much the full encapsulation of that, where he throws a long touchdown. um I think they either put him up 7-0 or tied at 7-7. And then he goes, what, 2 of 13-14 the rest of the game?
00:02:45
Speaker
um which is just totally unacceptable at this level of football. So what do you think they should do with the the quarterback spot moving forward? Yeah, it it was an interesting game, right? It's one of those where he starts off solid um and then had a couple bad drives, including that pick six and thinks just kind of snowballed away from him. Next thing you know, it was 29 to seven at the halftime break. and that's hard to come back from as on the road. Um, so, you know, not a, not a great performance from coastal, a really strong performance from James Madison, who's now five and one. Look, if you're coastal, I don't know. I don't know where you turn because unless Tim bet can openly admit that he made a poor decision. Do you have a better quarterback on the roster?
00:03:39
Speaker
maybe Maybe not but I don't know how much longer you can stomach this like one good game one Absolutely terrible game kind of pattern that Vasco's been on this season So if it's Noah Kim or whoever else on the roster that he just wants to have basically an open competition ah This week in in practice and get them ready for next week with a new quarterback Like I think that's the route you have to take because he Vasco I think more than any other quarterback has some of the, I don't want to say the highest ties because I don't think he he has like an Alonzo Barnett seven touchdown performance in him, but he has some pretty good games under his belt, but he is just so, it is so like up and down hills and valleys that I don't know how much longer you can kind of tolerate this if you're actually trying to compete.
00:04:34
Speaker
So i think you I think you have to kind of make a determination now. You're four and one, you're one and one in the conference. Do you want to compete for the East or do you just want to try to spend this year developing a quarterback? Because they jump they got off to such a hot start that it feels like it would be a total waste to do you know one of these things where we basically just take the season to kind of gauge what we have at the position and then we you know figure it out in the offseason and next year.
00:05:03
Speaker
But i don't I don't know of a way that you can realistically compete when your quarterback can go, what, three of 14 after the first quarter of play. like what What do you do with that?
00:05:17
Speaker
ah that's so That's a really tough spot ah for for Tim Beck to be in a guy who's not very experienced as a head coach. It's only his second season. um And look, you know, not to knock Coastal, they are still 4-2. They've had a pretty solid start to the season, but I agree. um Time might be running out for Ethan Vasco because that quarterback play is just not going to cut it.
00:05:39
Speaker
Yeah. So maybe, maybe they look to the portal or, or, you know, maybe they have a good
Old Dominion vs. Georgia State
00:05:44
Speaker
recruit. They feel good about coming in this year or something like that, but you know, whether it, like I said, whether it be Noah Kim or, or whoever else that's in that quarterback room, besides Vasco, I think you just have to give somebody else a shot at starting a game and, and getting in the field and the flow of, of the offense and not just being jammed in there, you know, cold down 20.
00:06:06
Speaker
two or whatever and that being like hey figure it out like I don't I don't know so I will say Alonzo Barnett turned in another really good performance in this one 16 of 28 199 yards passing ah three touchdowns George Petway, 13 carries, 89 yards. JMU just dominated this game after after the Vasco touchdown pass. I mean, there's there's truly no other way to put it. I mean, again, they had to pick six. They picked Vasco off a second time before he got yanked. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get yanked earlier than he even did. To to get to what, five of 18 means
00:06:44
Speaker
There was probably a streak of seven or seven six or seven consecutive passes that he just thrift on. It's crazy that he got the amount of opportunity he did, to be quite frank. so Yeah, it's going to be tough like Coastal Carolina, you know, being honest, they they have issues at the quarterback position, which we've detailed over the last couple of minutes. But ah honestly, they don't really have a ah running game that you can kind of lean on the way that they did when Chadwell was there. Their defense is not really anything to be overly excited about. um They have like one or two decent pieces, but that's not
00:07:21
Speaker
that's two one or two out of 11 guys. And that's just, right it's not basketball. Like you can't just say, hey, we've got two really good players on defense. Like that's gonna lift us to victory. It's like, that's not how football works. There's too many positions and and moving parts for that. So James Madison with the victory is now five and one and one and one in the Sunbelt. Coastal Carolina drops to four and two and is now one and one in the Sunbelt, like Matt said. All right. So starting on Saturday's games,
00:07:49
Speaker
I think we found out other than Southern Miss, Georgia State is the doormat of the conference. um Georgia State is to Southern Miss is the Eastern equivalent of Southern Miss, where if you need to get right spot and you need to pick up a win and and turn kind of the team's confidence around, you play Georgia State.
00:08:12
Speaker
right back on cue. So Old Dominion beats them 21 to 14. We've talked about how Old Dominion, you know, kind of is the team equivalent of Ethan Vasco, where it's just, it's all over the place. There's zero consistency. They they looked fairly good in this one. ah Joseph the quarterback honestly led both teams in rushing with 98 yards. So he's he's got a bit of scrambling ability, gives them kind of an added another dimension.
00:08:39
Speaker
um Christian Valer another terrible performance to be quite frank 22 of 40 so he's almost completing like barely over half of his attempts 211 yards in a touchdown and They just couldn't get anything going. We're we're a long way from from Zeke saying Freddy Brock's gonna shred Georgia Southern and now we're we're deep in the Georgia State rabbit hole of you guys might not win another game in this year the way that this is looking I Yeah, you know they they've looked a little rough. um Obviously they're having some quarterback issues right now too because the last touchdown pass that they got late in the fourth quarter wasn't even thrown by Belair is that Gibson came in and he was six of six for 49 yards and a touchdown. So there could be a competition on their hands. ah Look, I thought Freddie Brock.
00:09:32
Speaker
Had a decent game, only got 12 carries, but he got 40 yards out of it. But yeah, the Colton Joseph really had a strong performance. He wasn't a great passer, 14 of 23, 141 yards, had a touchdown and a pick. Like you said, ran for 98 yards and really kept Georgia State defense honest. It wasn't a pretty game by either team, but Old Dominion made one or two more plays and that ultimately ended up ah be in the difference. be and I agree with you, ah Georgia State's in a rough spot.
Sunbelt Struggles
00:10:02
Speaker
um I still think Old Dominion's in a pretty rough spot as well. Southern Miss, they're obviously down there. um And I'm gonna give you a fourth team that might surprise some people. App State's down there and in 2024. They're down there.
00:10:24
Speaker
They're, they're, they're not good. Um, which is crazy see that I've been saying that because ever since they joined the conference in 2014 app state has been dominant. They're not good. No. And I'm not sure how you fix it. so To be quite honest, everybody, everybody says fire Sean Clark and yeah, I mean, maybe, but is is that going to fix it?
00:10:49
Speaker
Well, let's let's let's table that discussion when we when we get to the Louisiana game because I have I have a couple of thoughts on that game specifically and how it kind of shapes what app state should do um from that perspective. But ah just talking about this game, you mentioned Zack Gibson. I remember when he was playing I think it was under the previous head coach at Georgia Tech. It wasn't Brent Key. It was whoever the the really terrible head coach was. His name is escaping me at the moment. But i he was pretty rough for the Yellow Jackets because they were in the process of transitioning from the option. But I think he's got to be better than Valer at this point. Valer has just shown
00:11:34
Speaker
to be inaccurate. He's turnover prone. I mean, I just don't I don't know what he kind of gives you at this stage like that. You you have to keep running them out there. It's kind of the same thing as fast go a little bit where you're like, how many weeks do we have to see the exact same story play out before we kind of learn what the industry is? So ah again, you know, much like Coastal,
00:11:59
Speaker
I guess Georgia State's definitely in a different spot than Coastal though. they don't They don't have any aspirations of representing the East in the title game. So I think you do just take this season and try to figure out the quarterback spot and just keep throwing bodies at it and just seeing what you have because whatever they're doing now is not working and it's not getting any better so I think yeah I think that's what you have to do is is just keep plugging away and and just hoping that somebody sticks because you know Gibson looked good in his limited duty I think you need to give him the start and probably the rest of the season just because
00:12:37
Speaker
through five games, the layers just proven to not be it. So they need a spark on the offensive side of the ball that's not named Freddie Brock, ah you know, especially at the quarterback spot because they they're struggling to throw the ball consistently and their defense isn't good either. So, you know, it's kind of one of those things. It's like you almost might as well transition to an air raid type of scheme because you need to score points. Your defense can't get stops.
00:13:04
Speaker
The only reason this game is as close as it was is Old Dominion is not really all that talented on ah offense. So, you know, if Joseph's not making things happen with legs, they don't really have much else going for them. So, yeah, this is going to be a tough season for Georgia State. I mean, we kind of knew that coming in, but it's.
00:13:21
Speaker
it's It's really fallen apart after upsetting Vanderbilt. um it's It's really kind of all gone in the tank since then. But Old Dominion improves to 2-4 and is now 1-1 in conference play. Georgia State drops to 2-3 and is now 0-2 in the Sunbelt. Next one here.
00:13:38
Speaker
You will Monroe pulls away from Southern Miss late. We all saw this coming. I mean, I guess the surprising thing is it took until the fourth quarter for them to kind of put some real distance between them, but I'll say this.
00:13:54
Speaker
ULM is limited by what they can do at the quarterback spot. I guess this is a recurring theme for this episode, which is if if these guys had decent to good quarterbacks, we would be talking about a lot of these teams and the offenses differently. But Armenta was good, but it's one of those things where The stats don't really show you how limited he is and the types of th throws he can make. you know the The receivers for ULM, frankly, aren't all that talented. so Again, they rely on defense, run the football, time of possession, being physical, and and that's basically all they can do. because
00:14:35
Speaker
you know again are meant to, you know, I could go back to the JMU game a week ago. I mean, some of the throws he was missing, it was, they weren't just like missing, there were like 10 feet over a receiver's head. And it was, it was kind of ugly, some of the throws. So ah again, great for them to win this game, obviously huge for them to be five and one three and oh in the Sunbelt. But If something is going to put a cap on kind of this Cinderella season that they've had so far, it's, again, the quarterback spot, which is they they've not really shown the ability to be able to throw the ball when they need to consistently. But they're five and one. Yeah, they're they're they're going to have to figure that out because one dimensional teams never last. um Granted, they're they're five and one, which is incredibly impressive.
00:15:24
Speaker
But I mean you there's you can only ask a mod hardy to do so much for so long ah Before opposing teams are gonna figure that out And again, he had a really nice game 121 yards on 15 carries average eight yards of carry gets two touchdowns had 53 yard receiving as well You know a really complete performance from a freshman running back, but again, like I said You start to do people now have six games of tape on a mod hardy. I somebody with a good defensive coordinator is going to say, that's all they do. Take him out of the equation and they're they're done. um So yeah, I mean, I agree with you. I don't think the receivers are are super talented, but Armenta is going to have to figure out a way to make them at least a little bit most multidimensional um if they want to continue the success down the back stretch of their schedule.
00:16:23
Speaker
Well, you you mentioned it. If a defensive coordinator you know with six games of tape can
Texas State’s Strong Performance
00:16:28
Speaker
figure out what their you know how to how to put it kind of into this offensively, that would be great. However, unfortunately for other teams, there aren't a lot of great defensive coordinators in the conference.
00:16:40
Speaker
So, and and ULM probably has the best one when it's all said and done. there There just frankly aren't that many good defenses in the conference as it is. So, it's a lot of points, it's throwing the ball a ton, but it's not, hey, we're going to play, you know, 10 to 3 football games. That's just not really the formula for winning in the conference. And it's also not a thing that we see very often, which kind of makes ULM what they're doing even more kind of spectacular, which is
00:17:11
Speaker
Again, these teams don't play defense a lot of the time. So you' you're just, you're you're in a track meet for 60 minutes and ULM has just slowed games down. Again, pounded the rock, kept the kept Armenta from having to throw the ball too much because, um you know, there there have been some really ugly throws he's uncorked this year. So again, credit to Brian Vincent and crew, but yeah, the if anything puts a cap on this season, it's gonna be what the quarterback spot looks like. but ULM 5-1, 3-0 in the Sunbelt, Southern Mist drops to 1-5 and it's now 0-2 in the conference. Shane Zeke wasn't here for this one. He would have been you know the cock of the walk to talk about Texas State absolutely drubbing Arkansas State 41-9.
00:18:03
Speaker
This was ugly for Jalen Raynor and the the Red Wolves. ah Jordan McLeod was nearly perfect. He was 24 of 29 for 320 yards and four touchdowns. Basically, Arkansas State, you know, we I wouldn't say we thought that their defense turned a corner the way that they played against South Alabama, but there were sort of signs of encouragement. And this is just, we're back to square one. Like we demolished, we demolished a building and we're back to the foundation of they just simply don't have a good defense. And there's not really a lot to do about that. So that's the thing is, you know, there are levels to the conference where, you know, you can play a South Alabama to a 18 to 16, you know, rock fight.
00:18:49
Speaker
one week and then the next week you're going to be struggling to put up 10 points against. Frankly, not a very good Texas State defense. All things considered, but the Arkansas State is just not on their level and it really showed in this one. Yeah, it was. It was a complete performance from ah from Texas State. I mean they got everything rolling. Jordan McLeod was was impressive. Is my almighty was great. Just the defense.
00:19:17
Speaker
locked down ah a decent offense in Arkansas State and you know just kept their foot on the gas, which is something that I've questioned if Texas State was able to do um and and they did it. um But look, you know ah one one thing to point out about Arkansas State is if you look at their three scoring drives and there were all three field goals, one commonality that they have is that they were all 50 yards or more.
00:19:45
Speaker
So Arkansas State was moving the football and then just not punching it into the end zone, which is a problem, especially as they get late into the meat of their Sunbelt schedule um and in the Western division. Dominant win by Texas State, one that I think they needed for for confidence. oh And look, you know, they've they've got a ah big test looming around the corner on ah on October 29th, that's going to be a lot of fun. Certainly. ah Yeah, Texas State, you know, it sometimes it's hard to get a grasp on them. But I think all in all, when everything's said and done, I mean, they're one of the four best teams in the conference. So they should be putting these types of beatings on lesser teams like the Arkansas States of the world, where
00:20:39
Speaker
You know, frankly, Jalen Rayner's been all over the map this year and and he's sort of been... Would you say he's been disappointing? I think he has for, you know, being what, reigning freshman of the year ah in the Sunbelt. Do you think he's kind of taken a step back a little bit or do you think it's just the players around him aren't really helping him out?
00:21:02
Speaker
I think it's probably both. Um, cause I mean, you look at his numbers, his numbers are horrible. Um, I think it's just one of those things where, you know, you look at the way that he's played, right? And we talked about Arkansas state, you know, were they for real or, you know, was this just kind of a,
00:21:28
Speaker
Oh, wait and see type of thing. Um, the, the biggest thing would you in the Rainer to me is that he's turned the ball over a ton. He already has six interceptions. That's an interception, a game. Um, he's been sacked 10 times. So his offensive lines, not really protecting him. And then, yeah, like you said, he's not getting really much help anywhere else. Their leading rusher has 207 yards.
00:21:51
Speaker
Like they're, they're, they're averaging 3.1, they're averaging 3.1 yards per carry as a team. Like that's just not good enough. Well, that that's always kind of been their deal under Butch Jones is like they just don't run the ball all that well. um And I don't know if it's I don't know if that's by design with the way that the offense is set up. I don't know if the offensive line can't get a push up front to make that happen or if they just don't have the horses at the running back spot to make it a reality. But that's kind of always been the deal, even going back to
00:22:24
Speaker
what was it, Bonner, Logan Bonner, and and those types of guys like a while back, they just they are forced to throw the football to no end. And, you know, there are games where it looks great. And, you know, you don't have any questions. And then there's other times where it's like, hey, if we were able to even generate four yards to carry on the ground like that would be a huge help and they they just can't go they can't seem to make it happen plus on the other side of things it would help out the defense if they weren't
00:22:56
Speaker
you know moving so quickly whether it be on scores or three and outs you know if you're able to run the ball and at least give your defense a little bit of a rest to defense that frankly isn't very good i think that would help them out as well and play complimentary football a little bit but there this has kind of been the the formula under butch jones is like i know he found rainer last year and that was all great But again, our questions coming into the season were, ah is the defense going to be any better was like a one, the question a one, like, because everything kind of hinged around that. Like Rucker is a good receiver. You've got some other pieces.
00:23:34
Speaker
Jaquez cross is sort of all over the place like sometimes he's good and sometimes you just don't know where he's like missing like he's on a milk cart. You have no idea where he went. So ah it's just one of those things where it's like, you can't be a totally one dimensional offense and make things work. And we've seen that with the teams that have been great the last couple years with Troy and app and all those other teams that have, you know, Louisiana, again, all the teams that have competed for conference titles, Coastal Carolina, like in the last couple years have been able to run the football and throw it. And we haven't really yet seen a team in a while that just are like, Hey, we're just gonna throw the ball 50 times again.
00:24:17
Speaker
then we're going to win the conference. Like you really have to be stacked at the pass catcher spot and at offensive line. And we're back for that all to work out. And we just haven't seen it. So I'm not surprised. It kind of hasn't panned out. But, um, Texas state is now foreign to good wind from them to an O in the conference. Their, their hopes of representing the, the West and the Sunbelt title game are still alive. Even if their college football playoff hopes have been dead for a while.
00:24:45
Speaker
Arkansas State is three and three and now one and one in the conference.
Louisiana vs. App State Analysis
00:24:49
Speaker
um Getting into this next one here, Matt, I know you were covering LSU Ole Miss, which was a crazy game in itself on Saturday night. So I don't know if you went back and and rewatched Louisiana and app. um I have a couple of thoughts because I watched I want to say the first quarter and a half and then when when Georgia Southern went down 23-3 and we were throwing, and now we'll get to that game in a minute, but when when Georgia Southern was throwing swing passes on like third and eight down 20 points in the third quarter, I flipped it over to the Louisiana game for a bit just to see how things were going.
00:25:26
Speaker
Joey Aguilar was a not good in this game like I don't know what's happened to him like I don't know if the space jam aliens have come down and made him touch a magic football that sucked all his talent out but he threw four picks in this game he threw two of them that were extremely ugly one he was rolling to the right And tried to, I don't know if he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds or he was trying to hit a guy right before he went out, but he threw it right to a defender. Don't really understand that. And then at the end of the game, when they were trying to drive to kind of make it a respectable, he hit a Louisiana defender right between the numbers with one. So we talked, you touched on a little bit.
00:26:07
Speaker
And we've talked about the last couple weeks. I'm kind of surprised, frankly, that Sean Clark still has a job at this stage. Like it's crazy to me when every Sunday slash Monday passes and it's like he's still employed and he's giving quotes to the media about how they're going to figure things out. And I'm like, this kind of sounds like Doug Peterson with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And it's just like.
00:26:30
Speaker
Hey, we we got to do something. And you're like, wow, that's that really inspires. Right. Right. um Look, I don't think that this was a a truly pretty performance by your team. No, I know a lot of people. I know a lot of people say, oh, well, you know, the Cajuns Defense Force five turnovers. And and that's great. But that's what you want. But at the same time. App State, you didn't put the game away until a minute left.
00:27:01
Speaker
Uh, I guess what we can agree is a pretty app state team. Um, but that's not comforting. If you're, if you're a Cajun fan, uh, you know, you jump out, you have a 17 seven lead with two minutes left in the second quarter.
00:27:16
Speaker
that state goes on a 70 yard drive in 90 seconds to make it a three point game going into the break. You trade field goals in the third quarter, like just not a, you never put it away. um And you know, I said this to a colleague the other day and I still can't buy it.
00:27:38
Speaker
I look at this game with app and I look at the game with Southern Miss and I know that the game was Southern Miss was a little more dominant than what the final score indicated. However, I feel like the Cajuns are winning games because of what their opponent didn't do yeah more than what they're doing, if that makes any sense.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah. No. So one of the, one of the things I had a question for you about, because again, I watched probably all in all, I would say two and a half quarters of this one. I haven't watched a ton of Louisiana this year because typically they con, they conflict with when Georgia Southern's playing. And I'm like, I know Matt's watching this game intently, so I don't need to double up on it.
00:28:36
Speaker
I don't know why the Louisiana defenders didn't want to tackle Kanye Roberts but they did not seem like they wanted to meet him in the hole and I don't really understand like what the problem was. I mean it was like he would get the ball and he would come up and then the Louisiana defenders almost seemed like they were like taking a step back like when he would come through and I was like Is this a normal thing that Louisiana does do they do this a lot? Because if so, that's a reason for concern right there So typically they're they're a pretty solid tackling team um The game against Tulane Tulane kind of exposed their their tackling issues, right? um And then it cleaned up like forest a little bit it got cleaned up against others and then it reared its head again again that on a
00:29:31
Speaker
on Saturday night. Look, Kanye Roberts is a great running back. He's one of those guys that he's going to get his. So I'm not surprised that he went over the century mark. ah But I agree with you there. There were some moments where I don't think that the Cajuns defense wanted anything to do with him.
00:29:50
Speaker
ah And that that's a little bit concerning, especially since you're two weeks away from playing Jordan McLeod and Ishmael Almaty. I don't love that. But um look, you know all in all, this is a team for for the Cajuns. AppState is a team that you have struggled to beat.
00:30:12
Speaker
in their in their time in the Sunbelt. I think you've beaten them three times in their time in the Sunbelt. And so anytime you can get a win over them, it is good, right? that that's a That's a confidence boost, but it wasn't a pretty win but by any stretch. And again, I know, oh, five turnovers. Again, great. I love to see that the defense got five turnovers.
00:30:36
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is you got five turnovers and very easily could have lost the game. Yeah. That that's my concern going forward. Do you similarly.
00:30:52
Speaker
What are, if you have any, what are your biggest concerns ah with the offensive side of the ball? um It just seems like, i it's weird because it feels like Louisiana has, and I know, I think I've touched on this, maybe it was beginning of this year, maybe it was the end of last year. It seems like Louisiana's biggest weakness throwing the football is that they don't have like a go-to guy. Like they have a collection of players that can all contribute.
00:31:20
Speaker
but when it comes time, you know, you need to convert like a tough third and eight. It's like, I don't know. Is it, is it Lejond? Is it Carter? Is it, you know, it's like, I don't really know. Like it can just be anybody on any given night. So correct offensively, what, what concerns you sort of about what they've done, I guess this year and where, where could you potentially see like an issue? There's no, dude,
00:31:48
Speaker
like like kind of Kind of like you just alluded to, right? A third and eight, who are you going to? where' is Where's that, hey, I'm going to run a slant route across the middle and I'm going to get you the first down. They don't have that. ah I think they wanted it to be J.
00:32:05
Speaker
And I think times last year it was Jacob Bernard who's had a really good career, right? He he reminds me so much of of Hunter Renfro of Julian Edelman. Just a tough kid to make the catch.
00:32:20
Speaker
oh But for for whatever reason, whether it's match ups or good play by defenses, he just hasn't been open a ton. um And and you know Harvey Broussard's kind of become like your go-to playmaker along with Lance Lejeune. And even in the running back room with Ray Washington and Tyler Perry and Bill Davis, who each had really good games on Saturday against that.
00:32:47
Speaker
there's no alpha, right? there There's no main guy and then three really good guys that can also get the ball. And I think that the teams that have the most success in the Sunbelt have that guy. Cause even a couple of years ago when the Cajuns had Trey Ragus, Melissa Mitchell,
00:33:18
Speaker
and Raymond Collay. The first year that you had the three, it was tre raiss Trey Trey Ragus was the dude. And then you had two really good backs under him. And then when Trey left and Raymond Collay left and the came in, it was Elijah Mitchell.
00:33:41
Speaker
Chris Smith, so on, so forth. You always had a dude. And I just don't see this team having having that top guy right now. Yeah. Well, yeah yeah, that's fair. I mean, i I've long kind of thought that that's that's the only thing for me that kind of holds Louisiana back from, you know, like you said, teams of years past with Louisiana, ah just making that kind of jump and into sort of the next tier with like the, you know, the truly great
00:34:14
Speaker
uh Sunbelt teams so we'll we'll see you know if if that's you know sustainable if that can if they can you know make that work but uh you know some some games it looks like hey no issues here and then sometimes it's like you know it's a it's a process like getting a drive sustained and stuff like that because it becomes you know like we said you get a penalty you get a holding call now you're in now you're in second 15 or whatever it is and now we we have to you know really chip away at this so we'll we'll see how that all pans out but
00:34:49
Speaker
We'll see if somebody kind of emerges or you know if it if it just continues to be kind of wide receiver by committee. But ah with this, Louisiana is now five and one and it's two and O in the Sunbelt. App State is now two and four and is O and three in the
Georgia Southern’s Comeback
00:35:03
Speaker
conference. who Who would have thought that that would have been happening ah before the season started? I don't think anybody. um All right, last game of the night here. ah This one was insane. So Matt, let me let me kind of take you through what happened, right?
00:35:19
Speaker
Okay, so first off, we we were, at least I was, waxing poetic last week about Braylon Braxton and what he's able to do ah for Marshall.
00:35:31
Speaker
Marshall, being Marshall and Charles Huff being who he is, decides, you know, that was a really good game. Braylon Braxton, you start the game on the bench. Stone Earl gets to play. So Stone Earl starts this game. ah He leads them to six points in the first quarter. um they they don't really They can't really convert in the in the red zone. they They keep stalling out. So they're settling for field goals. It's six to three after the first quarter.
00:36:00
Speaker
Braille and Braxton comes in and three of the first four drives he was on, he generates 17 points and then they yank him right back out of the game and put Stonerle back in. Who again, generated I think so you know six points the entire game. So you've got that. He's basically kind of wasting their time on offense.
00:36:25
Speaker
um However, on the on the defensive side, the they dominated Georgia Southern for the first 55 minutes of this game, to be quite frank. JC French was not good, despite like what his stat line says. like They seemed very reticent and scared to like push the ball down the field. Like I said, they they were down 20 at one point, and the reason I flipped it over to the Louisiana game was because it was third and eight they're down 20 points they're throwing swing passes out ah out of the backfield to their running back and getting tackled for three yards and i'm like that's fine if you're just not going to try to win the game but i've got i've got other games you can watch there's right oh oregon and ohio states on another channel lsu old missus on one channel heck there's better sunbelt games on at the moment so for a little bit i flipped it over
00:37:16
Speaker
ah to another game because I was like, if you guys are just going to wave the white flag, that's fine. Like, you know, whatever. So the fourth quarter starts. and uh jc france is scrambling and he gets ear hold it because it was targeting but they didn't throw the flag nor did they review it for targeting so he goes out with a concussion they get a safety and in the last five minutes they they scored 21 unanswered
00:37:48
Speaker
to win this game over Marshall which is one of the most insane win probability charts you will ever see is I'm pretty sure Marshall hit a 99.9% on it and then there's just like a straight line down like when Enron was on the stock market like that's what it looks like so Yeah, Dexter Williams comes in. He leads Georgia Southern to 16 points ah because they were down 23 to five. um Or no, sorry, 18 points. They were down 23 to five. ah Yeah, it it was it was just insane. like Again, Marshall, Braylon Braxton had, I think, two fumbles. But here's my question for you, Matt. This is my like litmus test.
00:38:38
Speaker
If you had a guy, your team has 23 points on the board. The guy you've put in has two fumbles, but he has 17 of the 23 points generated. And the other guy has not turned the ball over, but he only has six points in his seven drives that he's had. Who would you rather have in at that point? The guy that's generated 17 points. Correct. So that's...
00:39:05
Speaker
I don't think Charles Huff wants this job. I don't think he wants to keep this job. He might not. He very well might not. um but Because things have just gone downhill in Huntington. His first year they go to the New Orleans Bowl and then they come into the Sun Belt and things just kind of are all over the place. um So yeah, I mean, you could be very accurate. After a year or two, he was maybe like, ah, you know, I kind of miss Alabama. Maybe, maybe Kaitlyn DeBoer needs a defensive line film watcher. I don't know. oh God. Herbie Smart needs an analyst in that room.
00:39:50
Speaker
Right, that guy might make more than than Charles Huff does at Marshall, to be completely honest. oh God, what ah what a nice life to to be an analyst at an elite program like Alabama or Georgia.
00:40:03
Speaker
I mean, for sure. 200K, do this much work. Like, come on. yeah oh Get a national championship ring. Like, okay. Where where do I sign? ah But anyways, um yeah, look, just for poor decision-making. Look, I know that Bray Jackson had two turnovers and and you don't want that, but at the same time, if he's the one that is scoring the football,
00:40:30
Speaker
Keep him in the game. Right. I mean, look at Garen Nussmeyer. Garen Nussmeyer, through three and a half quarters Saturday night, he admittedly said it postgame. It was the worst game of his career. He was bad. But LSU never went away from him. He kept pushing. His receivers continued to trust in him.
00:40:59
Speaker
And what happened? He threw a fourth and five touchdown pass with 30 seconds left, which go back and watch that play on the all 22 look. Where the hell does Aaron Anderson come from? I don't know.
00:41:15
Speaker
That was, that was a master class. And then, and then the third of Cairo over time to win it, which by the way, not tooting my own horn. Um, I was in the end zone when that happened. I have a great video of the touchdown and the ensuing celebration. Absolutely awesome. Uh, but no, getting, getting back to the, the Sunbelt point here, it's the perfect.
00:41:43
Speaker
idea of it's not over till it's over. here I mean, Marshall has Georgia Southern dead to rights and Georgia Southern just kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. They benefited from support coaching decisions by Charles Huff and Marshall, you know, slapped in the face in the end and Georgia Southern gets out with a, with a win and says, thank you very much on, on their way back to Statesboro.
00:42:11
Speaker
Well, that, okay, so there's a lot of things, and and normally in this in this type of case you would say, Clay Hilton outcoached Charles Huff. No, Charles Huff outcoached Charles Huff, but it was like... all right It was like bad Charles Huff outcoached himself because, ah okay, again, the Braxton point, we don't need to belabor that. But the other thing too is AJ Turner, I don't know if he, for some reason he is the break glass in case of I need a big play emergency.
00:42:44
Speaker
But he was getting whatever he wanted on the ground. When when he and Braxton were in the backfield and they were like running read option, Georgia Southern couldn't figure out what to do. like AJ Turner finished with 14 carries for 97 yards. like it Common sense would say, hey, maybe we need to give this guy more volume. And they just are like, nope, we have Ethan Payne for that.
00:43:10
Speaker
So I'm just like, i don't I don't know what to make of this because any normal team would say, hey, we found something that's working. Let's keep doing that. And Charles, I was like, nope, don't want to do that anymore. so it Again the last thing to Dexter Williams came in in place of of French who? um Hilton reiterated I think the press conference earlier this week or maybe it was yesterday Monday ah He was like JC French's our quarterback. That's all fine and well and good But if he's like not making it through the concussion protocol and he got hit pretty solid I'm not really all that upset if Dexter Williams has to play against JMU on Saturday um correct so
00:43:51
Speaker
And he threw a ball. Derwin Burgess to win the game, caught this ball amazingly, totally covered up. One hand just extended out in the end zone, caught it as he was going to the ground and just like brought it to his body. And then um I think, again, it was Stone Earl came out on the following possession. They're down one point. They just need to get into the focal range. He immediately throws an interception to Mark Stampley and that's the end of the game.
00:44:18
Speaker
so Yeah, this was an all-time disaster class from Charles Huff and the Marshall ah football team and Obviously people on social media are not happy about it as people on social media typically aren't happy in general um But I totally see their point you can't blow a 21-point lead with six minutes to go like it's just
Game Previews for Week 8
00:44:42
Speaker
it's something that can't happen and they they took their better quarterback out, they took their foot off the gas and got really conservative with their play calling in a spot in multiple spots where you could probably have uncorked one pass or put Braxton back in and let Nip scramble and he would have gotten 20 yards and put you in field goal position, but they just didn't do that. So
00:45:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I'm sort of I'm sort of hesitant to give credit to Georgia Southern because I feel like Marshall did everything in their power to shoot themselves in the foot and Being down 20 points in the fourth quarter and coming back is not something that's sustainable Especially this weekend with who they have to play, but this was a good win for them. ah Clay Hilton needed this I think there was a stat he is He was 0-3, I think, coming off of buys in his coaching career at Georgia Southern, which, how does that happen? You have an entire week to prep for your next game and ah you guys are just like slacking off, I guess, in the off time. But yeah, he really needed this because they need to have a season where they can at least sell to the fans, hey, we were in contention for a bit in the East and we didn't totally dissolve like we did in 2023.
00:46:00
Speaker
So again, good win for them. Georgia Southern is now 4-2 this season, 2-0 in the conference. Marshall drops to 3-3 and is now 1-1 in the Sunbelt. um So let's transition over to ah week 8. We can make picks on this.
00:46:18
Speaker
um We can sort of just, so we're recording on Tuesday the 15th, we can kind of just say that the Troy South Alabama thing's awash because it's ongoing right now, but also South Alabama currently leads 19-0 over Troy, and it's about to be half. So again, the the Troy whatever, a reparation season for being good the last couple of years rolls on where they're gonna be lucky to win another game with sort of the performances they're turning in this season. um So that's already out the window, because again, we're I wrote my picks down in our spreadsheet ahead of time, but I mean, I can i can wipe it off too, it it's fine. um Let's talk about Thursday, tonight, the night people are hearing this. Georgia State is traveling to Marshall,
00:47:11
Speaker
to Joan Edwards Stadium, the Joan. Marshall is a 9 point home favorite over under 51.5. I'm taking Marshall because if Charles Huff A doesn't win this game and B doesn't And ah frankly, a bad Georgia State team, their own backside, but he's going to be out of a job come Saturday morning. So I think this is something that needs to happen. You cannot lose to both Georgia Southern and Georgia State in back-to-back weeks, especially the way that last week went.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I'm going to take Marshall here. They're at home and I think that they're going to bounce back after a tough loss. ah Rely on AJ Turner, let Braylon Braxton play and and just win the damn game.
00:47:58
Speaker
stop being cute stop trying to put inferior players in I don't know if you made a you couldn't have made a deal with stone earl before the season even because Griffiths the guy that ran away Griffiths the guy that walked away from the sport of football was the supposed starter so this isn't even a situation of like, you know, Florida to State with DJU where they're like, well, I don't know, we promised him he would play. It's like you didn't promise Stoneroll anything as far as I i know. So it's weird that that you keep letting an inferior quarterback play in games where you absolutely need to win. So, yeah, if they're smart, let AJ Turner get the bulk of the carries, let Braylon Braxton take the bulk of the snaps ah from the shotgun and just stop making it harder on yourself than it needs to be. All right.
00:48:47
Speaker
noon Louisiana on ESPN you Louisiana is traveling the Conway to take on Coastal Carolina Louisiana is a four and a half point road favorite over unders 56 and a half um I don't feel great about it because you guys typically play down to competition but I will take Louisiana minus four and a half um I I just Coastal Carolina's quarterback situation is just a mess. um And they don't have the running game that say like App State does with Kanye Roberts where you guys, ah defenders are not gonna wanna tackle somebody. So i I'm gonna take Louisiana and just kind of cross my fingers and hope that you guys have finally like a get right game. and I know yeah and know you're five and one, but you you kind of need to get a full, like you said, a full game offensive.
00:49:41
Speaker
You gotta play complementary football. um I'm gonna take the Cajuns as well on the fact that if you look at Coastal's schedule and results, they have given up 20 or more points to every opponent that they've played. And that includes William and Mary, by the way.
00:49:58
Speaker
Um, so look, I think the Cajuns will be able to score on this defense. Um, and I think that the Cajuns defense will be able to make plays, especially if Ethan Vasco continues to stay on the downside of his season long plateau. Um, I'm thinking cages, but it's four and a half.
00:50:17
Speaker
All right. Um, three 30 ESPN plus Texas state is traveling to old Dominion to take on the monarchs. Texas state is a 10 point road favorite over under 61 and a half. I, I'm pretty sure I did this last week.
00:50:33
Speaker
I'm going to do it again. I'm going to take the under of 61 and a half. I think Texas State probably runs away with this one, but I just don't see how old Dominion is going to be able to score enough to to stay anywhere near that that total. So I'm going to take. I'm going to take the under as well, but look, here's the thing. Texas State has proven you know they have this really great complete game.
00:51:03
Speaker
And now they're going to skip a little bit. And look, Old Dominion, Old Dominion is one of those sneaky teams. You just never know. um They're at home. they They got a close win last week that maybe gives them a little bit of confidence. I don't think Old Dominion wins, but man, I think that they can make things really interesting.
00:51:29
Speaker
But I think, and this is sort of supporting both of our picks, but I think in order to make that happen, this game has to be like 3127. Like I don't think you can, or like 2721, like I don't think you can get I don't think Old Dominion has the the guys, quite frankly. I mean, like joe Joseph, Colton Joseph, that's all well and fine. Like, I'm glad he scrambled and gives them another dimension. Elsewhere, I just don't see where they have the horses to put up, you know, i implied, what, 2021 or something. So, like, I just don't see it.
00:52:09
Speaker
I agree with that, but at the same time I took the under because I don't think Texas State's going to be able to replicate the the type of offensive performance that they had against Arkansas State. yeah So yeah, I mean, I could see a 31-17, 31-24 type game. um It's going to go one or two ways. Old Dominion's going to keep it close or Texas State's going to absolutely run away with it.
00:52:35
Speaker
yeah 4 o'clock ESPN plus James Madison is traveling to Statesboro Georgia Southern is a ah James Madison is a nine and a half point road favorite over unders 58 and a half um I'm gonna take the under um I Don't know This is typically the type of game where if Georgia Southern has like a really, you know spirited comeback against Marshall
00:53:07
Speaker
This is typically the game where they get steamrolled, but I don't know I don't know who's starting at quarterback for one because JC French is dealing with a concussion So I don't know which quarterback we're getting Um, I don't know if they're going to come out flat or if they're going to play like they care again because they didn't have a bye week to just, I don't know, nap or whatever the hell Georgia Southern does on by weeks. Um, so take, take a hand, take a fistful of Ambien like the Thursday before the game and just take, go take a so have a sleep in.
00:53:41
Speaker
like I don't I don't know what it is they do before game before uh after during bye weeks like it seems like they just play like video games and then they're it's like Friday and they're like oh shoot we got to get ready for a game tomorrow so I'm gonna take the under a 58 and a half I think It goes one of two ways. Either Georgia Southern has to contain James Madison's offense or James Madison beats them like they just beat Coastal Carolina and it's like 31 to 10 or 38 to 10. But I just don't see way that both of these teams are going to play a shootout game with the kind of the state of Georgia Southern's offense. So I was going to take Georgia Southern until you told me the JC French might not play.
00:54:22
Speaker
of I knew he got banged up, but I wasn't sure where his injury outlook was. ah Without JC French, I think i have to take like I have to take James Madison here. Okay. Yeah, that's fair enough. i don't I don't knock anybody for doing that just because there's so much uncertainty at this point. And frankly, like Georgia Southern Ryan Applin the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern He will just have entire quarters that are just stinkers like calling plays like it'll be a whole quarter where you're just like well that sucked at the end of it and you're just like well Against a better team than Marshall. We would be down 40 at this point instead of 21. So ah Yeah um Anyway last game of the night
00:55:09
Speaker
Arkansas State is traveling to Hattiesburg to take on a one in five Southern Miss team seven o'clock ESPN plus Arkansas State is a seven point road favorite over under 55 and a half. I'm taking Arkansas State minus seven. and ah It just continues southern miss just frankly isn't very good. um I don't think they can put up points on a regular basis I think if Jalen Rayner is finally gonna get back into the positive touchdown to interception Ratio, this would be the week to do it ah because right now he's looking at four touchdowns and six picks on the season um I think Cory Rucker is gonna have a big game. So yeah yeah, give me give me Arkansas State
00:55:51
Speaker
Same, ah they need to bounce back performance and I think they get it against a really bad Southern Miss team that is just waiting for the right opportunity to Fireball. Again, we're we're talking about it. I'm kind of surprised it didn't happen at their last bye week. I don't know what the AD could possibly see that he feels like they could do. um right But we talked about it last week. It's honestly like,
00:56:20
Speaker
Unlike App, where you're like hoping to get a bump from an interim coming in and and like firing guys up and and motivating them, like Southern Mistress frankly isn't isn't good enough for that to even happen. so I guess they're just like, we'll just write it out and then quietly put out a press release at the end of the season and say, hey, he won't be returning.
00:56:40
Speaker
is he's not Yeah, he's got to be. there There's no, he can't survive a two and 10, one and 11 season after the season they had last year and and look their fans in the face and ask for donations, you know ah donate to the athletic department. All right, so that is week eight coming up. ah Matt, do you want to let everybody know where they can find you on socials? And then I will do the same and we'll get out of here.
00:57:08
Speaker
Yeah, you can media at me guys Matt looking forward to another great weekend of college football. Texas and Georgia play each other another great weekend of Sunbelt football as well. Occasionally during Conway and that's always a fun one.
Conclusion and Social Media Info
00:57:25
Speaker
Yeah, you can find me on ah X at Watch the Stone. Again, check out all of our warm weather fans, um social media outlets, our YouTube account as well. We're trying to grow all of these things. ah If you want one solid link that takes you to all of these things that we talk about in our bio on X,
00:57:46
Speaker
There's a link tree that has all of our outlets. You can click on any of that stuff, take a look at it. um We will be back next week. Hopefully Zeke is is better and feels better and, you know, good enough to join us. Thanks for everybody. This has been another episode of Warm Other Fans, The Sunbelt Podcast.