Arkansas State University handled Texas State 33-7 on Saturday in San Marcos, Texas, but that wasn't enough to get the job done for the Red Wolves.
The Red Wolves needed Louisiana-Monroe to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette in order to surpass both and advance to the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game on Dec. 1 against Appalachian State, which beat Troy 21-10 Saturday to win the East Division.
Trailing 31-28, the Warhawks missed a 36-yard field goal as time expired to lose to the Ragin' Cajuns.
With three Sun Belt losses and a 47-43 head-to-head loss at Louisiana-Lafayette (7-5, 5-3) on Oct. 27, ASU (8-4, 5-3) lost the tiebreaker in the West Division.
"I'm proud of the guys, it's just bittersweet, obviously," ASU Coach Blake Anderson told the school's official radio broadcast after the Red Wolves' victory. "We were hoping Monroe would get the job done and give ourselves a chance.
"But it's a great lesson to learn. You can't let a game slip midseason. Every game is huge. This one will sit with us for a while."
Arkansas State needed one quarter to unload on Texas State.
Senior quarterback Justice Hansen found his favorite option, receiver Kirk Merritt, for two touchdowns in a 21-point third quarter.
Merritt scored his Red Wolves-leading sixth and seventh receiving touchdowns from 60 and 39 yards. He gained 153 receiving yards on six catches.
Hansen's two touchdowns moved his career total to 83, which now stands alone as the second most in Sun Belt Conference history.
Sandwiched between Merritt's scores, ASU senior wide receiver Justin McInnis scooped up a blocked punt and returned it for a 17-yard touchdown with 8:47 remaining in the third quarter. McInnis' score was ASU's first special-teams touchdown of the season.
"To me, that was huge," Anderson said.
ASU sophomore linebacker Tajhea Chambers stopped Texas State running back Alec Harris for a safety in the fourth quarter, and freshman kicker Blake Grupe chipped in a 30-yard field goal to make it 33-7.
Arkansas State countered a sluggish first half by scoring 26 unanswered points in the second.
"Texas State had a good plan," Anderson said. "Run the clock down and kind of make it frustrating for us."
The Red Wolves ended the first quarter with a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drive. Senior running back Warren Wand, who finished with a season-high 145 yards, scored the game's first points with an 8-yard rush with 25 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Texas State failed to score on two first-quarter possessions inside ASU's 30-yard line.
Texas State outgained ASU 204-189 and held the ball for 17:14 of the first half, but Wand's touchdown was the only score in the first half.
Harris legged out a 57-yard touchdown on his first career carry with 12:41 remaining in the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
Hansen found Merritt for the 60-yard touchdown two minutes after Harris' touchdown. He found him again with 3:52 remaining in the third.
Four consecutive victories didn't get the Red Wolves to where they wanted to go, but Anderson was proud of his team.
"A lot of people gave up on us," Anderson said. "Our guys didn't. At any point, they could've cracked and quit. They didn't do that."
Sports on 11/25/2018