The first in a series of posts about the recently concluded college football regular season. Teams are listed in order of how they finished in the Aubievegas Computer Rankings that will be released in full later this week.
Florida International (6-6, 6-2 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 118, Strength of Schedule: 136)
Season Highpoint: Beating Arkansas St. 31-24 on November 27 to seal bowl eligibility and the first conference championship in a very short football history
Season Low point: Losing to crosstown Miami rival Florida Atlantic 21-9 on October 30 to fall to 2-5. At that point, it was looking like an awful year with five losses and the two wins over doormats Western Kentucky and North Texas
Biggest Surprise: Winning at Troy to take control of the Sun Belt race in a dominant performance with three players over 100 yards rushing on November 13.
Biggest Disappointment: Not showing up at Pitt after close competitive losses to Rutgers, Texas A&M and Maryland. That October 2 game was a 44-17 blowout loss.
Middle Tennessee St. (6-6, 5-3 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 126, Strength of Schedule: 229)
Season Highpoint: Knocking off conference champion Florida International on the road 28-27 on December 4 to complete a three game winning streak to bowl eligibility.
Season Low point: Not showing up in QB Dwight Dasher's first game back from suspension in a 42-13 home loss to Troy on October 5 that effectively ended any conference title hopes for the preseason favorite before they got started.
Biggest Surprise: This team recovered from its issues. On November 20, this team was 3-6 and trailing Western Kentucky 26-13 on the road entering the 4th quarter. They won that game on a blocked field goal and surprisingly rode to momentum to a season ending 3 game winning streak.
Biggest Disappointment: Dasher's bad decision making in the offseason getting himself suspended for the first four games. In that stretch, the Blue Raiders blew a golden opportunity to beat a BCS league team by losing at home to an awful Minnesota team, and handed Memphis its only win of the season.
Troy (7-5, 6-2 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 131, Strength of Schedule: 157)
Season Highpoint: Obliterating conference front runner Middle Tennessee 42-13 on October 5 in front of a national audience to seemingly reassert that the Sun Belt is Troy's league.
Season Low point: Twin demolitions at the hands of Florida International and South Carolina in November. The Trojans got beat 52-35 and 69-24 in those games.
Biggest Surprise: Back on September 11, a rebuilt Troy offense scored 38 points in a close loss at Oklahoma St. The Trojans offense was good all season long after that, even in defeat.
Biggest Disappointment: An October 30 loss at Louisiana-Monroe was a bad defeat that ultimately cost Troy the conference title.
Florida Atlantic (4-8, 3-5 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 155, Strength of Schedule: 142)
Season Highpoint: A three game winning streak, in the middle of the season over Florida International, Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Lafayette brought the Owls to 4-5 and within shouting distance of bowl eligibility with three games to play.
Season Low point: A five game losing streak early on that included conference losses to North Texas, Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas St. along with permissible losses to Michigan St. and South Florida left the Owls at 1-5 and in need of a miracle for bowl eligibility.
Biggest Surprise: This team actually fielded a solid defense holding Michigan St. to 30 points and four others to 21 or less. A big step forward for a team that won shootouts in past years to stay afloat.
Biggest Disappointment: Laying down dead at the end with a 44-7 effort-free loss to Troy on December 4.
Arkansas St. (4-8, 4-4 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 163, Strength of Schedule: 120)
Season Highpoint: Winning three out of four at midseason with blowout wins over Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee.
Season Low point: Failing to build on the momentum of that midseason stretch by losing in overtime to Western Kentucky leading to a season closing three game losing streak. That streak lead to the resignation of head coach Steve Roberts.
Biggest Surprise: Quarterback Ryan Aplin looking like a good quarterback for the future in his first season as a starter with a 21-11 TD to INT ration and close to 3000 yards passing.
Biggest Disappointment: Unable to win close games. The Red Wolves lost by seven to both Louisiana-Lafayette and Troy, by 10 to Louisville, by two to Indiana, in overtime to Western Kentucky, and by seven to Florida International to close the season.
Louisiana-Monroe (5-7, 4-4 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 167, Strength of Schedule: 96)
Season Highpoint: Recovering from a third thrashing against the top of the SEC West (Warhawks played Arkansas, Auburn and LSU) to beat North Texas and get within one win of bowl eligibility.
Season Low point: Losing that game for bowl eligibility to hated rival Louisiana-Lafayette 23-22 at home.
Biggest Surprise: This team somehow won five games despite being bad at everything. They were 100th in scoring offense and 97th in scoring defense. The yardage numbers weren't much better.
Biggest Disappointment: Losing to Louisiana-Lafayette, again.
Louisiana-Lafayette (3-9, 3-5 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 173, Strength of Schedule: 137)
Season Highpoint: Beating Louisiana-Monroe in the final game to prevent the Warhawks from becoming bowl eligible.
Season Low point: Missing a two point conversion that would have beaten Florida Atlantic and ended five game losing streak. The streak reached seven before being snapped.
Biggest Surprise: Summoning the effort under a lame-duck coach to upset Louisiana-Monroe and snap the seven game losing streak.
Biggest Disappointment: Losing three touchdown games during the losing streak to Troy, Ohio, and Florida Atlantic leading to the firing of coach Ricky Bustle.
North Texas (3-9, 3-5 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 191, Strength of Schedule: 168)
Season Highpoint: A blowout win over Western Kentucky on October 30 that was the only that was the only time the defense worked all season (or really at any point in the last four years).
Season Low point: Getting shutout by Army for an 0-3 start the week after a one-point loss to Rice.
Biggest Surprise: Giving Kansas St a legit run for their money in November before falling 49-41.
Biggest Disappointment: Not getting a win during a three game Sun Belt conference home stand in October.
Western Kentucky (2-10, 2-6 in Sun Belt, Final Rank: 193, Strength of Schedule: 141)
Season Highpoint: October 23. Western Kentucky beat Louisiana-Lafayette for its first FBS win after a season and a half of trying.
Season Low point: Getting blown out as a favorite by North Texas the following week.
Biggest Surprise: RB Bobby Rainey's huge year. He had nine 100-yard games and over 1,648 yards for the season on the ground.
Biggest Disappointment: Blowing 4th quarter chances. The Hilltoppers were tied or lead in the 4th quarter against Florida International (Tied at 21 before giving up the winning score), Louisiana-Monroe (blew 30-7 lead), Florida Atlantic (led 16-14), Middle Tennessee (led 26-13) and Troy (lost 28-14 after being tied at 14 to start the quarter).
No comments:
Post a Comment