Well we officially have already concluded week one of SBC college football action and for the most part, it went right about as expected (Notable exception for the Cajuns and an extremely dishonorable mention to Georgia State). So with opening remarks out of the way, lets kick off week one's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"!

THE GOOD:
Appalachian State

The Mountaineers took care of business and then some, with a 49-0 throttling of the Howard Bison in Boone. QB Taylor Lamb went 17-26 for 226 yards and 4 TDs and his fellow teammate Marcus Cox carried the ball for 105 yards and 1 touchdown. While this doesn't come as a surprise nor is it necessarily a "huge" win, App State got the 'W' and now turn the attention to a little bit more of challenge in week 2, Clemson.

South Alabama:

The only other Belt member to score a victory in week 1, the Jaguars weren't as flashy as the Mountaineers, who at one point were down to the Bulldogs in the Third quarter. However, USA squad were able to compose themselves and pull away starting late in the third to secure an 11 point victory. UAB transfer Cody Clements was 'OK' in his debut in Mobile, completing 14/25 for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns, however also threw 2 picks (including one returned for a Gardner Webb TD).

Louisiana Lafayette:
Though the Cajuns were unable to secure the victory, Louisiana (at Lafayette) still showed incredible composure and fortitude, coming back from three touchdowns down to tie the game late, 33 all. Unfortunately 4 turnovers along with very costly and timely penalties doomed the Cajuns and Kentucky was able to sneak away with a 40-33 lead. Coach Hud after the game: "... I'm very disappointed that it didn't happen, but of all of our first games in the past five years, this one shows me more promise for a season by the way this group battled, the resiliency that they showed. They never quit." If Louisiana (at Lafayette) can fix there troublesome spots on Defense and cut down on the mistakes, they seem to be poised for another huge season.

THE BAD:
Troy

Now don't get me wrong; being in the 'Bad' section doesn't necessarily mean everything was down right terrible. Considering this was Neal Brown and his staff's first game along with the fact that the Trojans were only down by 14 at half , their's no doubt the Trojans overall showed some significant future promise. Just in the end, the fumble and interception along with barely having the ball for over 18 minutes was just some of the many obstacles Troy faced against NC State that they couldn't overcome. With Charleston Southern coming to town next weekend, I imagine Brown and company should be able to greatly correct many of the mistakes and fundamentals needed.

Texas State:
The Bobcats certainly tried to keep up with the Seminoles, but Florida State proved to be too much for Texas State, getting outscored 38-7 in the second half. I think an impressive stat for the Bobcats was the fact they only suffered one penalty for 5 yards the entire night; on top of that Texas State succesfully converted 3/5 4th down conversions on the night. While the offensive output wasn't enough and the defense couldn't stop the FSU attack, I bet that with a fine tuning against Prairie View A&M next week, we'll see a vastly consistent Bobcat squad come week three with their big showdown against Southern Miss.

Georgia Southern:
The band REM said it best once, "Everybody hurts...sometimes." The Eagles and their proud fanbase had to endure a hard pill to swallow during the 44-0 shut out they endured Saturday night. Georgia Southern turned the ball over 5 times (four of those coming from back up QB Favian Upshaw) and were out-gained on the grid iron 544-224. It'll certainly be a day the Eagles fans will want to forget and the team certainly needs to with a feisty and confident Western Michigan squad rolling into Statesboro next Saturday.

ULM:
A pretty cut and dry case for this particular game; the Warhawks had an extremely tall order to fill in stopping Nick Chubb along with the imposing early favorites in the SEC East, the Georgia Bulldogs. After getting blanked early, ULM was finally able to put points on the board, but never really were able to threaten Georgia's comfortable lead. It might be a blessing that the game was ended early due to lightning, with reports that they may have already lost three players to the season from this one game alone. Fortunately ULM should be able to rebound and get into the win column next weekend in Monroe against a lowly Nicholls State squad.

Arkansas State:
Everybody usually wants the bad news first right? Well their's plenty if you're a Red Wolf fan. Highly touted QB Fredi Knighten just looked awful throwing wise last night; his passing numbers were a mere 8/23 for 86 yards and two interceptions, and once again had fumbling issues which gave up another score. For an offense who's philosophy is to score frequently and fast, the points were few and far between, only managing 6 the entire night. On the flip side, the defense showed significant improvements, which included 5 QB Sacks on the night. Much like the Cajuns, Red Wolves had way too many penalties (8/88 yards) and turnovers (4) and with Missouri looming next week, Fredi and crew need to patch up the holes FAST.

Idaho:
The Vandals already were having quite the tumultuous fall camp heading into the season, thanks head coach Bobby Petrino starting feud with the media in Moscow. Then to open the 2015 season up, they had quite the home opener challenge with solid MAC program Ohio. Though Idaho statistically was able to keep up with Ohio, Idaho couldn't equate stats with points and wound up losing the game 45-28. Though having three turnovers certainly didn't help the cause, Idaho just didn't seem to click as an overall unit. Now losers of 11 of the last 12 games, the Vandals now have to contend with the mighty SC Trojans next weekend.


THE UGLY:
New Mexico State
I really hate putting the Aggies here (especially after the ordeal they went through after the game), however unlike with the other teams we discussed in the bad section that showed some positive signs, NMSU really had nothing positive to take away from their matchup against the Gators. The Aggies only managed to notch 8 first downs in entire game, and sputtered out 200 yards in the game; the Gators tripled that over 600 offensive yards during the 61-13 rout. If any positive could come from this game for the Aggies, perhaps it was the fact that they still were able to put 13 points on the board, including at beautiful 31 yard, back corner TD reception. Despite the overall nightmarish ordeal NMSU faced in Ganesville (both on and off the field) I'm feeling pretty confident about their chances next weekend when they host Georgia State in Las Cruces.


Georgia State:
....We all know what happened. I'm not gonna dwell on stats or key moments; we have ragged and ragged on this program since they first came into the belt back in '13, but they have REALLY hit an all time low this past Friday. After struggling with the 49ers, I don't see the Panthers winning let alone being favored in ANY of the remaining games this season.

I'd put Ga Southern in the ugly section. No other way to describe.

Ok our 2 turnovers were from a guy who Absolutely DRILLED our QB. NOBODY in our league or possibly any league would have held onto that ball..

The 2nd turnover was very late in the game when it was clearly over and it was with our Back ups in...

(09-06-2015 03:11 PM)SBEagle Wrote:  I'd put Ga Southern in the ugly section. No other way to describe.

That was the ugliest I've seen us play since @ app in 2009. Horrible offensive effort. Plenty of blame to go around on this one. Hope we can compete in the belt this year.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Good analysis. A lot of bad and ugly to go around.

One good point for NMSU: No intercepts for QB Tyler Rogers (team had one on a WR option pass). Last year as a soph Rogers led the Western Hemisphere in interceptions per pass. If he can cut down on the INTs NMSU's offense will be productive. Now, will it be productive enough to overcome the defense?- who knows?

Looking forward to home opener against Ga State.

Good news for the rest of the conference is that it looks like it will be a little more wide open than it was last season. This isn't the same Georgia Southern team we had in 2014. We will get better, especially when Kevin Ellison comes back in week 3. But I don't see us running the table again.

We didn't believe you would, but thanks, very kind of you to let us know. Watch out when to walk through doors.

Well thought-out and nicely written with the exception of the obviously gratuitous name-baiting (at Lafayette). What's up with that?

I'm going to keep the issue on a short leash this year for both Cajun fans and others who wish to derail threads instead of staying on-topic.

(09-06-2015 04:59 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  We didn't believe you would, but thanks, very kind of you to let us know. Watch out when to walk through doors.

Were you born this way or did you acquire through life experiences?

Putting up with GS fans since 1995, you make the call.

(09-06-2015 07:52 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  Putting up with GS fans since 1995, you make the call.

Born that way

Come on your fellow fan has the nerve to assume the rest of the conference has a chance to win because GS looks to be down, in reality there are a minimum of three SBC schools that will be better this year than last.

Someone needs to knock some of your fans back to reality. Thought yesterday would have done so, but I should have known better.

(09-06-2015 08:06 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  Come on your fellow fan has the nerve to assume the rest of the conference has a chance to win because GS looks to be down, in reality there are a minimum of three SBC schools that will be better this year than last.

Someone needs to knock some of your fans back to reality. Thought yesterday would have done so, but I should have known better.

I know what you meant but I really think the wording was incorrect by his/her comment. I don't think he meant it that way. I could be wrong, just ask my wife.

Maybe so, I shouldn't assume all GS fans are "GSU Eagles" I guess.

(09-06-2015 03:11 PM)SBEagle Wrote:  I'd put Ga Southern in the ugly section. No other way to describe.

We belong in both the bad and the ugly sections this week. I'm anxious for week 2. Not sure if I'm going to like what I see, but holding on to hope that week one was somewhat of an aberration.

(09-06-2015 08:20 PM)sidslidkid Wrote:  

(09-06-2015 03:11 PM)SBEagle Wrote:  I'd put Ga Southern in the ugly section. No other way to describe.

We belong in both the bad and the ugly sections this week. I'm anxious for week 2. Not sure if I'm going to like what I see, but holding on to hope that week one was somewhat of an aberration.

Me to

The refs in Morgantown ---- naw we just got our buts handed to us.

If that wasn't ugly then I don't know what is. Bad doesn't quite describe how much of a dumpster fire that was.

(09-06-2015 08:24 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  The refs in Morgantown ---- naw we just got our buts handed to us.

They missed an obvious offsides call that everyone in the stadium was shocked they didn't call. Their crowd didn't even really cheer when they got the INT on that play until they came out and said it was a turnover.

Other than that, no real complaints about the way they called it.

Idaho was better than the score.
The pick that ended up a touchdown was a good throw and bounced off the receivers shoulder.
being down 21- 0 in the first quarter hurt the fans more than the team.
Many fans were ready to call it a season and ready to fire everyone in the athletic department.
The team fought on scoring twenty eight points and mostly looked solid.
Idaho would look solid on D then bam give up a big play .
Part of it I hope was the new defense .
Our running back looked good (a little under used) and run blocking.
Linehan completed 75% of his passes and Epps our number one receiver looked good as ever.
Limit the big plays run more we can be a decent team .
I'm optimistic but not unreasonable in thinking that.