Dating to the middle of October 2020, Arkansas State has lost 15 of 17 Sun Belt Conference games.
The Red Wolves' opponent in both of those victories ? Louisiana-Monroe.
ASU beating the Warhawks isn't a new trend. The Red Wolves have won 12 straight against Louisiana-Monroe and 30 of 44 all-time meetings in their third-most played series.
But it's not just ASU that has dominated the Warhawks in that time. Since moving up to what is now the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1994, Louisiana-Monroe has one winning season in 2012 -- and it still lost to the Red Wolves in Jonesboro that year, 45-23.
But the Warhawks' 21-17 upset of in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette last weekend demonstrated signs of a team that may be getting closer to shedding its reputation as the Sun Belt's perennial cellar-dweller.
Louisiana-Monroe will have the opportunity to back that win up with another when it visits ASU at Centennial Bank Stadium tonight. The Red Wolves nipped the Warhawks 27-24 last season at Monroe, La., for ASU's lone Sun Belt victory of 2021 on Blake Grupe's 42-yard field goal with 77 seconds remaining.
"They've really improved their team speed," ASU Coach Butch Jones said Tuesday of Louisiana-Monroe. "They're fast, very physical, have a lot of depth, play a lot of individuals in the lines of scrimmage. [And they] have a quarterback [sophomore Chandler Rogers] that's going to challenge us not only with his arm but with his legs."
In a sense, the Warhawks have already accomplished what Jones and the Red Wolves have so frequently discussed in recent weeks about "learning how to win."
"Nothing can teach players more than actually winning a game," Louisiana-Monroe Coach Terry Bowden said Monday on the Sun Belt's weekly teleconference. "You can explain it, you can describe it, you can convince them that it's going to happen, but until they play hard every snap and make it happen, I'm not sure you get total buy-in."
The Warhawks' stats don't necessarily paint the most obvious picture after 52-10 and 63-7 blowout losses against Texas and No. 2 Alabama, respectively.
But their turnover margin -- at plus-2 for the season with a pair forced against Louisiana-Lafayette -- is not a fluky number. It's all the more noteworthy after ASU turned the ball over twice in the final 20 minutes last week against Old Dominion, each leading to a go-ahead touchdown for the Monarchs.
At the same time, Louisiana-Monroe's last single-digit game in Jonesboro came back in 2008 and the Warhawks haven't won at ASU since Nov. 17, 2001.
"There's never been an excuse," Red Wolves quarterback James Blackman said when asked about closing games out. "We've always understood what the standard of play is. We've just got to be living up to that standard for the entire game."