Aggies no breeze for Red Wolves

JONESBORO -- Coach Blake Anderson is stressing his team look at recent results of Arkansas State's next opponent and ignore the overall record.

ASU emerged from its bye week rested and ready, Anderson said, and heads into the final two weeks of the season with an opportunity to win an outright Sun Belt Conference title.

The Red Wolves play Saturday at New Mexico State, a team that lost 10 of its first 11 games against Sun Belt teams since rejoining the league last season.

The Aggies are listed as a 17-point underdog, but they are not playing like it. New Mexico State (3-7, 3-3) has won three consecutive games after an 0-7 start, including a 37-34 victory at Louisiana-Lafayette last week that third-year Coach Doug Martin called a "signature win."

Anderson and his staff have taken notice.

"The record has nothing to do with who we're playing," Anderson said Monday. "They're playing their best football right now."

The turnaround began Halloween, when the Aggies outlasted Idaho in a 55-48 overtime victory to snap a 17-game losing streak. They won at Texas State the next week, 31-21, before winning 37-34 at Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday.

The Aggies' poor start eliminated them from bowl contention, but they have been sparked by running back Larry Rose III, whose 148.1 yards rushing per game trails only LSU's Leonard Fournette in the FBS, are playing better than almost anyone in the conference. Only ASU (7-3, 6-0), which has won six in a row, has won as many consecutive games as the Aggies (3-7, 3-3).

It's why Anderson spent time Sunday night telling his team the three-game winning streak supersedes the 3-7 overall record.

"You could look at their sideline. ... They're enjoying, they're having fun, there's enthusiasm," Anderson said. "You don't typically see that with a team that was 2-7 going in. You just don't. So they've found something that works for them. I don't know what it is."

ASU offensive coordinator Walt Bell said he noticed a remaining energy simply from watching film of the Aggies' defense, which isn't great statistically, but still presents challenges.

"You can tell they believe in what they're doing," Bell said. "I think Coach Martin and those guys have done a good job of keeping those kids with some kind of vision of where the program is going. Those close losses have all of a sudden started to turn into close wins."

Martin offered a simple explanation for his team's seemingly sudden turnaround after having lost twice to SEC members -- at Florida and at Ole Miss -- and three other games by 10 points or less. New Mexico State lost 34-32 to Georgia State, 50-47 in overtime to Texas-El Paso and 38-29 at New Mexico in consecutive weeks.

"I think the biggest thing is that learning how to win thing," Martin said during Monday's Sun Belt coaches teleconference. "It was like finally they realized you have to go win these games. They're not just going to be handed to you."

ASU will enter the game relatively healthy, other than in the secondary. Starting nickel back Charleston Girley missed the victory at Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 14 with a knee injury and Anderson said Monday he's still "day-to-day." Freshman Justin Clifton played for Girley until he tore a pectoral muscle, which has required season-ending surgery.

Anderson and defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen said weakside linebacker Khari Lain will likely move to nickel back for Saturday's game with senior Austin Copeland taking Lain's spot at weakside linebacker.

With a victory, ASU will earn at least a share of the conference title. The Red Wolves, which won outright titles in 2011 and 2012 and a share in 2013, can earn an outright title with a victory and if Appalachian State loses at home to Louisiana-Lafayette and Georgia Southern loses at South Alabama.

Anderson said he knows his players are aware of the possibility, but he and his coaches have their sights set on the end of the season and won't spend time highlighting it this week.

"Our guys have heard it talked about enough, but we don't talk about it," Anderson said. "Obviously, they know that if we win this week, we do secure a share of it. But at no point has securing a share been our ultimate goal."

Sports on 11/24/2015