LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas State Coach Steve Roberts had to answer questions last week about the Indians' mystifying struggles against fellow Sun Belt Conference member Middle Tennessee, which improved to 8-1 against Arkansas State with Saturday's 24-7 victory in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Roberts is being asked this week about the Indians' mystifying dominance of Troy, its guest at Indian Stadium on Saturday.
Troy has been a major player in the conference almost every year since it joined in 2004. But whether the Trojans were bowl eligible, as in 2004, or winning the Sun Belt title, as they did last year, they could never pick up a victory against the Indians.
Arkansas State is 5-1 against Troy since 1951 and 3-0 in Sun Belt games.
"I don't know what the situation is with us and Troy," Roberts said during Monday's Sun Belt teleconference. "We have seemed to match up very good. We've had some great ballgames over the past several years. I don't have an answer on how we've been able to win those ballgames, other than that we have played hard."
Rosters and offensive and defensive playbooks have changed on both teams over the years. The only constant has been Arkansas State winning and the narrow margin of victory each time.
The Indians won 13-9 in Jonesboro in 2004, 9-3 in Jonesboro in their Sun Belt championship year in 2005 and 33-26 at Troy last year.
"The schemes have changed for both teams at times," Roberts said. "I'm not sure what it is."
Last year, the difference was quarterback Corey Leonard, who rushed 11 yards for a first down to preserve a drive capped by Cedric Wilkerson's 1-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds left at Movie GalleryStadium. Leonard added the two-point conversion run, and Darren Toney intercepted a pass to seal the victory.
The outcome kept the Indians in the hunt for bowl eligibility before their season-ending loss at Louisiana-Lafayette the next week.
Leonard, now a redshirt sophomore, has shown vast improvement this season with a series of record-setting performances and career nights. But wearing a flak jacket for the first time since the opener at Texas and apparently nursing sore ribs, Leonard was not at his best last week as the Indians lost nearly all hope of winning the Sun Belt title.
"Corey did not have his best ballgame by far," said Roberts, who did not comment on Leonard's health in the wake of a 9-for-19, 116-yard day passing that included 3 interceptions and 1 touchdown.
"I can't take any credit away from Middle Tennessee for the job they did defensively," Roberts said of a performance that included a Blue Raiders-record nine sacks. "And we did not playwell offensively. It wasn't just Corey, it was several others on our football team.
"Sometimes things come in bunches like that, and we had several guys who didn't play their best football."
The regrouping Indians (3-4, 1-2) need to win their next five games - which includes a nonconference matchup at Southern Mississippi to close the season - to have a prayer of winning the Sun Belt and becoming bowl-eligible.
face the two teams undefeated in Sun Belt play: Troy (5-2, 4-0) and Florida Atlantic (4-3, 3-0).
Troy, the preseason Sun Belt favorite, arrives boasting a nonconference victory against Oklahoma State and four consecutive conference victories against Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Florida International and North Texas.
The Trojans enter the week with the Sun Belt's top scoring offense, averaging 35.6 points a game, led by preseason allconference quarterback Omar Haugabook, the Sun Belt's best passer with an average of 275.0 yards per game.
are total offense with an average of 459.7 yards per game.
"He's very accurate in his throws," Roberts said of Haugabook. "It seems like he knows the offense inside and out. They do a lot of stuff to make you show your coverage prior to the snap, so he gets a great snap read. They change tempos on you, and he operates all that very well. And, other than this past week [four interceptions as part of seven turnovers against North Texas], he's taken care of the football very well."Up next TROY AT ARKANSAS STATE WHEN 6 p.m. Central Saturday WHERE Indian Stadium, Jonesboro RADIO Arkansas State Radio Network
Sports, Pages 20 on 10/23/2007