ASU looks for same blueprint '15 victory cleared path to league title

Defensive tackle Trevon Sanders is one of 11 players who have sacks this season for Troy, which is second in the Sun Belt Conference in total defense and scoring defense.
Defensive tackle Trevon Sanders is one of 11 players who have sacks this season for Troy, which is second in the Sun Belt Conference in total defense and scoring defense.

TROY, Ala. -- Johnston White has played in 13 games since Arkansas State returned from Boone, N.C., last season.

In that time, the Red Wolves' junior running back has helped his team finish off a Sun Belt Conference championship, played through a disappointing bowl loss and endured the program's longest losing streak in over a decade before a turnaround that has put them back among the league leaders.

Today’s game

ARKANSAS STATE AT TROY

WHEN 8:30 p.m. Central

WHERE Veterans Memorial Stadium, Troy, Ala.

RECORDS Arkansas State 5-4, 5-0 Sun Belt; Troy 8-1, 5-0

COACHES Blake Anderson (21-14 in third season at ASU and overall; Neal Brown 12-9 in second season at Troy and overall)

LINE Troy by 8

RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro

TV ESPNU

But he still remembers the feeling of last year's game at Appalachian State, when ASU essentially clinched a Sun Belt title with a second-half comeback during a Thursday night game televised by ESPNU.

"It was like a movie," White said of the 40-27 victory. "Just how the game was going. Back and forth. Halftime, we came out on fire and outlasted them and played harder."

One year later, despite all the early season struggles, ASU has put itself in the exact same position.

The Red Wolves (5-4, 5-0) will play at Troy (8-1, 7-0), ranked No. 25 in The Associated Press poll, tonight in a game between the last remaining unbeaten teams in the Sun Belt. If ASU wins, it only needs to win two games against teams with losing records -- Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State -- to earn its fifth Sun Belt title in six years.

"The big one," senior linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster called it immediately following Saturday's 41-22 victory over New Mexico State, their fifth in a row.

ASU put itself in this familiar spot by rebounding from a disastrous start. After a Sept. 24 loss to Central Arkansas that made it 0-4, ASU rattled off victories over Georgia Southern, South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe, Georgia State and New Mexico State. A victory tonight would give ASU its fourth victory in a 20-day span and make it bowl eligible for the sixth consecutive season.

"We've definitely grown," Coach Blake Anderson said.

How much they have grown will likely be decided tonight in front of an ESPNU audience when the Red Wolves face its stiffest test in weeks. The Red Wolves haven't played a team with a winning record since the loss to UCA, and it hasn't played an FBS team with a winning record since a Sept. 10 loss at Auburn.

ASU's five victories have come against teams with a combined 16-32 record. None of those opponents are bowl eligible, two have already been eliminated from bowl contention and all five could end up missing bowls at the end of the season.

When asked this week, players said they didn't care that their turnaround has come against teams on the bottom half of the league standings.

"Right now, we're just winners," said quarterback Justice Hansen, who missed Monday's practice with a knee injury but said he would be fine for tonight. "Whether it's a pretty win, or an ugly win, it doesn't matter as long as we keep getting them."

Hansen pointed to a limit on turnovers and penalties as areas he's most proud to see improvement. ASU committed 15 turnovers through its first five games, including five in the victory over Georgia Southern. But it's committed just three in the four games since and its turnover margin, once among football's worst at minus-9 through five games, has been plus-6 in the four games since.

ASU committed 34 penalties through its first three games, including 18 in a loss at Utah State, but just 33 in its last six. That turnaround has coincided with Hansen's emergence. He's started the last six games and his interception last week was his first in three games. His 141.6 pass efficiency rating is second in the Sun Belt.

Anderson acknowledges those improvements, but added improved tackling and an ability to change their offensive style by the week to a list of positive signs.

"I've seen a group pull together," he said. "I've seen them be critical of their own mistakes and improve. And that's at every spot."

Now, ASU is ready to see that against a team with few perceived flaws.

The Trojans lead the Sun Belt in points scored and yards gained. They'll suit up tonight the league's leading rusher, two receivers who lead the Sun Belt in receiving touchdowns and a defense that leads the Sun Belt in sacks. It's a team built quickly under second-year Coach Neal Brown, who isn't swayed by ASU's unattractive overall record.

"They are the champions until someone beats them," he said. "They're the hottest team in the league. They're playing at their highest level, and they're playing their best football of the year."

ASU can stay that way tonight, if its recent formula translates against one of the league's top contenders.

"The same things that helped you win the last five weeks are the same things that help you win this week," Anderson said. "Hard work, great effort, being the most physical team."

Sports on 11/17/2016

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