Sluggish ASU earns share of SBC title

SAN MARCOS, Texas — There was nothing pretty about Arkansas State’s 36-14 victory over Texas State in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday before a chilled and rain-soaked crowd of 11,137 fans at Bobcat Stadium.

But college football is sometimes about winning ugly and sharing the Sun Belt Conference title is certainly better than the alternative for the Red Wolves, who guaranteed themselves a bowl game for the sixth consecutive season.

Ragged or not, Arkansas State (7-5, 7-1 Sun Belt) left with the victory they came in search of.

“I kept waiting for us to play like us, but we struggled throughout the game,” Arkansas State Coach Blake Anderson said. “Our defense carried us because we never got into any rhythm on offense but we finally wore them down. These last three weeks on the road was tough on us, but we kept fighting and found a way to get it done.”

Justice Hansen passed for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns and Warren Wand had 135 yards on 23 carries and another 64 yards receiving.

“To win a share of the conference title in back-to-back years for us and to be the only team in Division I football to win or a share of a title five times in six years is a great feeling,” Anderson said.

Texas State (2-10, 0-8) ended its first season under Everett Withers with its most losses in school history and the worst winning percentage since an 0-8 season in 1938.

“We don’t hand out snow cones for competing,” Withers said afterward when asked about how his team played. “We hand out trophies for winning. We’re trying to get to where winning is important here.”

The Bobcats got 102 yards passing from backup quarterback Connor White and 85 yards on 17 carries from running back Tyler Siudzinski. Tyler Watts had seven catches for 52 yards.

Arkansas State scored on its second possession, moving 53 yards in four plays and grabbing a 6-0 lead on a 5-yard touchdown run by Johnston White with 7:22 to play in the first quarter. J.D. Houston’s ensuing extra-point kick was blocked, giving Texas State eight for the season, the most in the FBS.

Arkansas State added to the lead on a 26-yard run by Wand with 12:35 left in the half, completing a two-play, 44-yard drive.

Texas State had a chance to cut into the Red Wolves’ advantage but Blaise Taylor blocked Marcus Ripley’s 32-yard field goal attempt with 8:22 to play in the second quarter.

On the Bobcats’ final possession of the first half they marched 46 yards in 12 plays, ending with a 4-yard pass from White to Mason Hays with 1:39 to play in the half. Back-to-back offside penalties on Arkansas State on fourth down inside the Red Wolves 10 kept the drive alive.

Texas State took the lead on its first possession of the third quarter on a 34-yard run by Siudzinski, ending a 10-play, 73-yard drive. Ripley’s point after put the Bobcats on top 14-13 with 8:55 to play in the quarter.

Arkansas State’s Cody Brown intercepted White on the first play of the Bobcats’ next possession, allowing the Red Wolves a short field at the Texas State 33. Arkansas State moved to the 10 before stalling and settling for a 27-yard Houston field goal to regain the lead at 16-14 at the 6:01 mark of the third quarter.

The Red Wolves created some distance on the second play of the fourth quarter as Hansen connected with Paschal again, this time on a 7-yard scoring pass that pushed their lead to 22-14. But Houston missed the extra point, keeping it a one-possession game.

Arkansas State capped the scoring with 14-yard touchdown pass from Hansen to Blake Mack with 9:49 to play and a 10-yard TD run by backup quarterback Chad Voytik with 5:30 on the clock.

“A lot of people gave up on us when we were 0-4 but we fought all season to get another championship and to get to another bowl game,” Wand said. “We lost some of that focus for a while out there tonight but we eventually just wore Texas State down.”

The game was stopped for 11 minutes in the middle of the second quarter when Arkansas State senior defensive end Chase Robison suffered a seizure on the Red Wolves’ sideline. Robison was taken from the stadium on a stretcher. He was transported to a local hospital where he was in good and improving condition at the end of the game.

In other Sun Belt games, Kevin Ellison threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more and Georgia Southern held on to upset Troy 28-24 in Statesboro, Ga. Troy (9-3, 6-2) needed a victory to tie for what would have been its sixth Sun Belt championship, but instead the Eagles (5-7, 4-4) snapped a four-game losing streak and beat the Trojans for the fourth consecutive time. The Eagles took the lead for good with 9:46 left in the fourth quarter when Ellison connected with BJ Johnson on a 64-yard touchdown pass, giving them a 28-24 lead. On its final possession, Troy drove from its own 14 and had a third-and-8 from the Eagles 9 with no timeouts. Josh Anderson was tackled in bounds after no gain on a catch and the Trojans scrambled to get off a final snap, but Brandon Silvers’ pass was incomplete. … Matt Linehan threw three touchdown passes and the defense forced six turnovers to lead Idaho past Georgia State 37-12 in Moscow, Idaho. Jayshawn Jordan had two of the Vandals’ four interceptions, Austin Rehkow kicked three field goals and Lloyd Hightower returned a blocked punt 25 yards for the final touchdown for Idaho (8-4, 6-2). Georgia State (3-9, 2-6) had a 358-287 advantage in total offense, but the Vandals scored 23 points after turnovers. … Elijah McGuire ran for 110 yards and a touchdown, and Louisiana-Lafayette returned two fumbles for scores to beat Louisiana-Monroe 30-3 in the rain in Monroe, La. The Ragin’ Cajuns (6-6, 5-3) have won four of their past six games and are bowl eligible for the fifth time in six seasons. Caleb Evans was 3 of 14 for 31 yards passing and threw 2 interceptions for the Warhawks (4-8, 3-5), who trailed 24-3 at halftime. … Xavier Johnson rushed for 154 yards and three touchdowns, and South Alabama became bowl eligible by holding off New Mexico State 35-28 in Mobile, Ala. Johnson’s 35-yard scoring run with 2:28 to play capped a 21-point fourth quarter for the Jaguars (6-6, 2-6). Conner Cramer and Johnathan Boone connected on a 35-yard score with 25 seconds left for the Aggies (3-9, 2-6) to cut the lead to 35-28, but they’d get no close than that.

Sports on 12/04/2016

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