JONESBORO — Arkansas State is one victory away from earning a share of the Sun Belt Conference title, and its coming opponent has a 3-7 overall record.
But ASU Coach Blake Anderson spent time cautioning his team Sunday night and when asked during his Monday teleconference if New Mexico State is better than an overall record that suggests a poor season.
“The record has nothing to do with who we’re playing,” Anderson said. “They’re playing their best football right now.”
Recent results back up Anderson’s claim.
ASU (7-3, 6-0 Sun Belt) will play at New Mexico State (3-7, 3-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday, coming off a bye week in which Anderson said was used to cure nagging injuries. New Mexico State is coming off its biggest victory of the season, a 37-34 win at Louisiana-Lafayette.
It was the Aggies’ third consecutive victory after losing the first seven to start the season. Anderson noted Monday that two of those losses were at SEC-members — Florida and Ole Miss — and three others were by 10 points or less.
They’ll enter Saturday having beaten Idaho 55-48 in overtime Oct. 31, Texas State 31-21 on Nov. 7 and Louisiana-Lafayette this past weekend.
“They’re coming into this game with a lot of confidence,” Anderson said. “I just think the momentum they’ve got at this point is the most dangerous thing of all.”
ASU is the only Sun Belt team without a conference loss and could clinch at least a share with a victory or losses by Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. ASU could clinch the outright title this week with a victory and losses by Appalachian State and Georgia Southern.
ASU won outright Sun Belt titles in 2011 and 2012 and shared the title with Louisiana-Lafayette in 2013.
ASU has one injury to deal with this week. Freshman nickelback Justin Clifton has had season-ending surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle suffered in a victory over Louisiana-Monroe, Anderson said. Clifton started that game because usual starter Charleston Girley had a knee injury.
Anderson said Monday that Girley remains “day-to-day” and isn’t sure how much he’ll be available for Saturday. Anderson and defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen said weak-side linebacker Khari Lain could move to nickel and Austin Copeland could fill Lain’s weak-side linebacker role.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.