Three things we learned in the Sun Belt: Week 12

There are now just two weeks remaining in the regular season and four teams currently sit at 5-1 in the Fun Belt. With most of those squads having idle weeks, it was thought that this may be a boring weekend around the conference.

That ended up not being the case as we saw multiple upsets on Saturday. There really never is a dull moment in this league. As always, here are our takeaways from another weekend in the Sun Belt.

Good times in Statesboro

It was senior day at Georgia Southern and this appeared to be the last spot for the Eagles to pick up their first victory of the season. South Alabama was entering on a high after knocking off Arkansas State, but they didn’t have the offensive firepower to really scare the Eagles.

That ended up being true as Georgia Southern limited South Alabama to only 195 total yards in a 52-0 rout. The Eagles forced three turnovers and dominated all afternoon.

The option offense also did its part as the Eagles accumulated 356 rushing yards on their way to seven touchdowns. Georgia Southern jumped out the gates quick by scoring 21 points in the first quarter. Georgia Southern again played two quarterbacks but it was a balanced offensive effort as four players rushed for over 40 yards.

Interim head coach Chad Lunsford received a victory shower on the sidelines and the Eagles celebrated like they just won the conference title. In a year of nothing but disappointments, those players deserved that moment.

Cajuns can smell another New Orleans Bowl appearance

After a very slow start, it appeared that a bowl berth would not be in store for the UL-Lafayette football program in 2017 as the Cajuns got off to a 1-3 start and appeared unable to get their offense and defense rolling on the same day.

The Cajuns picked up two big Sun Belt wins to begin October, but after being torched by Arkansas State it appeared a bowl appearance was off the table.

Now we fast forward to November and the Cajuns have collected two upset wins over South Alabama and New Mexico State. UL-Lafayette will enter senior day this Saturday with a 5-5 record and the listed favorite over Georgia Southern. This is an impressive turn of events.

It has been a really good coaching job by Mark Hudspeth and the Cajuns may have the roster to win a conference title in 2018. Good times are on the way in Lafayette, but a win on Saturday could be a great start towards next season.

Coastal Carolina finally gets a conference win

It took awhile, but the Chanticleers collected their first ever Sun Belt win on Saturday as they knocked off Idaho in the Kibbie Dome. The 13-7 victory wasn’t pretty, but this program we’ll take the win anyway they can get it.

The defense was very impressive on Saturday as they held a solid ground game to only 100 rushing yards. The Vandals were without starting quarterback Matt Linehan, but it was still a positive sign to see the Chants finally have some success on defense.

It’s been a weird year in Conway as Coastal has been without its head coach, has had multiple quarterback injuries while trying to install a new offensive scheme, and a bunch of young players that have received snaps. However, winning in Moscow could be a huge confidence boost and Coastal now has a bye week before hosting Georgia Southern to close the year. After a horrible start, the Chants could ride some momentum into 2018.