Bill Connelly's mega offseason previews: Sun Belt West
Louisiana, far and away the top team in the Sun Belt West, could make a run at an undefeated season with 21 starters returning.
Louisiana, far and away the top team in the Sun Belt West, could make a run at an undefeated season with 21 starters returning.
Which teams aced their selections, and which made more questionable picks? We break it down.
Rich Rodriguez, the former head coach at Arizona, Michigan and West Virginia, was named Louisiana-Monroe's associate head coach and offensive coordinator.
Louisiana-Monroe hired former Auburn coach Terry Bowden as its next head coach.
This week's Bottom 10 gives a special shoutout to the Oregon Ducks, who were going to be the just-good-enough team to make Ryan McGee take the Pac-12 seriously. Now, they're seriously good enough for his latest list.
Louisiana-Monroe coach Matt Viator is out after five seasons at the school.
— Corey Rucker set the NCAA FBS record for a freshman with 310 yards receiving and caught four touchdown passes to help Arkansas State beat UL Monroe 48-15 on Saturday.
The Big Ten had a lot of issues this past week, dealing with everything from canceled games to gripes about clapping on the sideline.
A big welcome to the State of Michigan to the lineup, and are we seeing the makings of a new bowl game?
Louisiana-Monroe's game at Arkansas State scheduled for Saturday has been postponed because of COVID-19 concerns and tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12.
The Wolverines join the Bottom 10 after being upset by Michigan State, and we get the return of the MAC.
J.D. King ran for a career-high 196 yards and a score, Rashad Byrd had a tackle at the 1-yard line in the closing seconds, and Georgia Southern held on for a 35-30 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night.
With the return of the SEC, we're back to our full, 10-team rankings, and two College Football Playoff teams from last season are tied for the Coveted Fifth Spot.
Deion Hankins rushed for three touchdowns and UTEP held Louisiana-Monroe to 7 yards rushing in a 31-6 victory on Saturday.
Tyler Vitt threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score in the first half to lead Texas State to an 38-17 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in a Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday night.
Christian Anderson and Jakobi Buchanan ran for two touchdowns apiece and Army beat Louisiana-Monroe 37-7 on Saturday.
Mike Collins, set to enter his fifth season as Louisiana-Monroe's defensive coordinator, stepped down on Wednesday, 10 days before the team's opener at Army.
UL Monroe hopes to resume football practices early next week after nine new positive tests earlier this week cause the school to suspend activities.
We don't know what this college football season will hold, but as long as several major conferences remain committed to playing, let's look at what we learned from their updated schedules.
The Sun Belt conferences has approved a football schedule that includes eight league games and as many as four nonleague games for this season.
The SEC presidents and chancellors on Thursday approved a 10-game, conference-only football schedule for the fall that begins on Sept. 26. The SEC title game is scheduled for Dec. 19.
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns and coach Billy Napier lead the way in the Sun Belt's West Division.
EAST | CONF | OVR |
---|---|---|
Coastal Carolina | 8-0 | 11-1 |
Appalachian State | 6-2 | 9-3 |
Georgia State | 4-4 | 6-4 |
Georgia Southern | 4-4 | 8-5 |
Troy | 3-4 | 5-6 |
WEST | CONF | OVR |
Louisiana | 7-1 | 10-1 |
South Alabama | 3-5 | 4-7 |
Texas State | 2-6 | 2-10 |
Arkansas State | 2-6 | 4-7 |
UL Monroe | 0-7 | 0-10 |
NAME | POS | STATUS | GRADE |
---|---|---|---|
James Gillespie | DT | Signed | 79 |
Justin Macias Jr. | S | Signed | 75 |
James Smith | DE | Signed | 74 |
Hunter Smith | ATH | Signed | 74 |
Kenard Snyder | OLB | Signed | 73 |