JONESBORO — Arkansas State has saved its season by winning three consecutive games against Sun Belt Conference opponents.
The Red Wolves’ turnaround has also coincided with a string of four consecutive home games. That stretch ends on Thursday night, when ASU (3-4, 3-0 Sun Belt) plays at Georgia State (2-6, 1-3) at 6:30 p.m. at the Georgia Dome. It is ASU’s first road game since losing Sept. 16 at Utah State, and it starts a stretch in which four of its final five games are on the road.
“We’ve had some experience on the road, it’s just none of it good to this point,” Coach Blake Anderson said at his weekly news conference Monday.
ASU lost 51-14 at Auburn on Sept. 10 and 34-20 at Utah State on Sept. 16.
To complete a second consecutive unbeaten Sun Belt season, ASU will have to win Thursday in Atlanta, and home against New Mexico State on Nov. 12 followed by three road games to end the season: Nov. 17 at Troy, Nov. 26 at Louisiana-Lafayette and Dec. 3 at Texas State.
ASU went 4-2 in road games last year, losing at USC and Toledo before winning at South Alabama, Appalachian State, Louisiana-Monroe and New Mexico State.
Anderson said he felt conditioning helped ASU get through some of those games last season.
“A lot of the same guys [are] on the team, so I’m trying to get those to emerge and lead by example and get them to recall what we’ve done in the past,” Anderson said. “We’ve yet to be in a game where we felt like we’ve been out of gas in the fourth quarter. I thought that was a huge factor in those road games in the fourth quarter a year ago.”
Anderson said ASU turned the page quickly to Georgia State following the victory Saturday over Louisiana-Monroe. Assistants broke down the game film Saturday night, and were in preparation for Georgia State by Sunday morning.
On Monday, quarterback Justice Hansen was named Sun Belt offensive player of the week for the second time this season. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 303 yards and 4 touchdowns without an interception.
In three starts against Sun Belt teams, Hansen is competing 60.5 percent of his passes while averaging 191.7 yards with 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
“I think he’s still a work in progress,” Anderson said. “As well as he did play, I think there were still some reads he missed and some opportunities he missed, but those are down each week.”
Other notes from Monday’s news conference:
— Anderson said center Devin Mondie won’t practice Monday night while awaiting results from an MRI. Anderson said Mondie “could have” played after leaving Saturday’s victory over Louisiana-Monroe. He’s day-to-day.
“We expect he’ll be fine,” Anderson said. “But we could get worse news tonight.”
— Left guard Colton Jackson should return this week, Anderson said. Jackson missed an Oct. 15 victory over South Alabama with a concussion and Anderson said they decided to hold him out Saturday night after missing practice time.
— Anderson said linebacker Quanterio Heath will not play Thursday while recovering from effects of a concussion. Heath missed Saturdays’ victory and has not yet started a five-day concussion protocol.
— Anderson said ASU will have to bring its own energy against Georgia State, which plays in the 71,000-seat Georgia Dome. The Panthers’ announced attendance this year have averaged 13,545.
“If they have the best crowd of the year, it’s still going to seem empty because it’s just such a large building,” he said.
— Georgia State is 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the Sun Belt, but boasts one of the league’s best defenses. The Panthers are third in the Sun Belt in scoring defense (23.8 points per game) and second against the pass, giving up 177.8 yards per game.
“You don’t see busted overages, you see a lot of good communication and a lot of competitive throw and catch,” Anderson said.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.