LITTLE ROCK — No matter how much they would prefer to ignore it, there is no escaping what is at stake today for the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
A victory against North Texas (3-5, 2-2 Sun Belt Conference) in Denton, Texas, would give Arkansas State its sixth victory, which would make the Red Wolves bowl eligible and keep them in the hunt for a second consecutive conference championship.
Fellow Sun Belt members Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee are already in line for potential postseason bids. The Red Wolves (5-3,3-1) want to join them. They just don’t want to talk about where they might end up at this point.
“You can never worry about which game we might go to,” Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin said. “That can be a trap to think that far ahead.”
Arkansas State Coach Gus Malzahn spent all of 15 seconds addressing the topic this week.
“It’s very important,” Malzahn said Monday. “That was one of our goals, to go to a bowl, and any time you have a chance to be bowl eligible there’s definitely some urgency.”
Forty-one teams in the FBS had at least six victories through last week. Arkansas State is among the 17 programs needing a victory to join the teams vying for one of 70 spots in 35 postseason games.
The Sun Belt could end up having as many as six teams meet the criteria for a bowl bid. Troy (4-4, 3-3) and Louisiana-Lafayette (4-3, 2-2) are still in the hunt for a postseason trip as well.
“You solve that by winning out,” Red Wolves receiver Taylor Stockemer said.
There is also a chance that the Big East Conference, which has only three teams close to bowl eligibility, might not fulfill its commitments to six bowl games affiliated with the conference. That would open the door for a Sun Belt Conference or Mid-American Conference team to slide into the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., or the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is also in a bind with only four programs with six victories. It has eight bowl tie ins, which means there could be potential openings at the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., or the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.
The Red Wolves would prefer to take all the guesswork out of it.
“The goal is to be Sun Belt champs,” Aplin said. “If we get that done, a bowl game comes. It takes care of itself.”
If the Red Wolves win the conference title, they would likely be in line for a spot in the New Orleans Bowl, which has an agreement with the conference to take its champion for a match up against a Conference USA opponent.
That scenario became more likely Thursday night when Middle Tennessee (6-3, 4-1) pulled away in the fourth quarter in a 34-29 victory over Western Kentucky (6-3, 3-2).
Arkansas State - which has won three consecutive games - needed Western Kentucky to slip twice to avoid sharing the conference title after the Red Wolves opened Sun Belt play with a loss to Western Kentucky. Now, a victory against North Texas would set up a critical game between ASU and Louisiana-Monroe (6-2, 4-0) next Thursday in Jonesboro. A victory in that game would give the Red Wolves a tie with Middle Tennessee atop the standings and help position the Red Wolves for one of two guaranteed bowl bids for the Sun Belt.
“We’re still playing for a conference championship,” Malzahn said. “That was ourNo. 1 goal. That’s still a possibility.”
There is a more subdued tone around the program this season as it tries to earn its second consecutive bowl trip. Last season’s trip followed back-to-back 4-8 seasons, and senior cornerback Chaz Scales said the Red Wolves have moved past “learning how to win.”
“We’ve been able to go back and use that to help us,” Scales said. “It’s helped us older guys who have been here a while and know what it’s like to miss out on that.”
Or, as Stockemer put it: “We know now that we’re good enough to do that, and do it every year.”
For Aplin, locking up eligibility still elicits the same feeling as last season.
“It’s a different year, but you can never it take it for granted being this close to eligibility,” Aplin said. “It’s not any different.”
At a glance ARKANSAS STATE AT NORTH TEXAS WHEN 4 p.m. Central today WHERE Apogee Stadium, Denton, Texas RECORDS ASU: 5-3, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference; North Texas: 3-5, 2-2 COACHES ASU: Gus Malzahn (5-3 in first season at Arkansas State and overall);
North Texas: Dan McCarney (7-12 in second season at North Texas and 64-97 overall) SERIES ASU leads 12-8 RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro;
KKSP-FM, 93.3, in Bryant/Little Rock INTERNET astateredwolves.com, meangreen.com
Sports, Pages 19 on 11/03/2012