SUN BELT CONFERENCE

Appalachian State 28,

Louisiana-Lafayette 7: Jalin Moore rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown and Taylor Lamb threw for 172 yards and another score as Appalachian State scored a touchdown in every quarter to beat Louisiana-Lafayette 28-7 on Saturday.

Marcus Cox, who finished with 78 yards on 22 carries, scored from the 9 and the 1 to give Appalachian State a 14-0 lead at the break. Moore broke for a 54-yard scoring run for a 21-0 lead with 6:44 left in the third quarter.

Appalachian State (9-2, 6-1 Sun Belt Conference), entered the contest one game behind Arkansas State (7-3 6-0) in the conference standings. The Mountaineers travel to South Alabama next Saturday while Arkansas State hosts Texas State.

The Mountaineers had 402 total yards while limiting the Ragin’ Cajuns to 246. Louisiana-Lafayette (4-7, 3-4) managed just 42 yards on 36 carries.

Brooks Haack led the Ragin’ Cajuns, throwing for 128 yards on 13-of-22 passing.

Georgia State 31, Troy 21: Nick Arbuckle padded his record-setting season with 368 yards and two touchdown passes as Georgia State won its third straight game, beating Troy 31-21 on Friday.

Arbuckle broke the school record for yards passing in a season in a 41-19 win over Texas State and padded it with 311 yards against South Alabama. Coming into Saturday’s game Arbuckle was ranked third in FBS averaging 305.9 passing yards per game.

Arbuckle threw 12 yards to Penny Hart midway through the first quarter for the game’s first score and hit Robert Davis from 46 yards out to open the third quarter. His 1-yard run later in the third made it 31-7 Georgia State lead.

Georgia State (5-6, 4-3 Sun Belt) has won two in a row and three of their last five games.

Brandon Silvers completed 20 of 45 passes for two touchdowns and an interception to lead Troy (3-8, 2-5).

Arkansas St 52, New Mexico

St 28: Fredi Knighten threw two touchdown passes, ran for another, and Arkansas State beat New Mexico State 52-28 on Saturday.

Knighten finished 23 of 42 for 367 as the Red Wolves ran up 605 yards of offense.

New Mexico State (3-8, 3-4 Sun Belt) started the scoring, taking the opening possession 75 yards on seven plays, the final 46 of which came on Andrew Allen’s touchdown pass to Jordan Bergstrom. It was all Arkansas State (8-3, 7-0) from there.

Knighten hooked up with Dijon Paschal for a 75-yard touchdown pass, and then ran for a 5-yard score following an 18-play drive. Johnston White made it 21-7 at the end of the first with an 18-yard scoring jaunt.

Allen hit Bergstrom for another score, a 12-yard play, but the Red Wolves went right back to work, with Michael Gordon scoring on a 2-yard run and Blaise Taylor’s 73-yard punt return for a touchdown, which made it 35-14 at halftime. Taylor also had an interception.

Idaho 38, Texas St 31: Elijhaa Penny scored from 4 yards out with 1:02 left to lift Idaho to a 38-31 victory over Texas State in the Vandals season finale Saturday night.

Idaho (4-8, 3-5 Sun Belt) held a 7-point lead in the fourth quarter, 31-24, and forced Texas State to punt from its own 30-yard line, but Rueben Mwehla could not catch the punt and Damani Alexcee recovered to give the Bobcats the ball at the Idaho 17. Four plays later Tyler Jones hit Brandon Smith for a touchdown to tie the game at 31-31.

Matt Linehan completed 21 of 31 passes for 309 yards and two TDs — both to Deon Watson — and Penny carried 25 times for 149 yards and two scores.

Tyler Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more and Tyler Siudzinski set career highs in carries (24) and yards (170) to lead Texas State (3-8, 2-5).

Georgia Southern 55, South

Alabama 17: Kevin Ellison and Matt Breida rushed for two touchdowns apiece and Ellison threw for another score as Georgia Southern ran past South Alabama 55-17 on Saturday.

Breida had 187 yards on 21 carries with touchdown runs of 1 and 75 yards as the Eagles (8-3, 6-1 Sun Belt) piled up 489 yards on the ground. Georgia Southern is 8-0 when Breida reaches 100 yards.

The Jaguars (5-6, 3-4) managed just 136 total yards, 75 yards coming on the opening drive of the game which Tyreis Thomas capped with a 2-yard TD run.

After Ellison’s first TD, South Alabama took the lead when Devon Earl returned a fumble 62 yards. However, Breida had his short TD, Ellison connected with Derek Keaton for 23 yards and then Ellison scored again to make it 28-14 at the half.

Breida had his long touchdown, and L.A. Ramsby scooted 46 yards for a score in the third quarter and a 35-17 lead.