ASU back in control with streak
JONESBORO — It wasn’t that long ago when the direction of Arkansas State’s season seemed to be anyone’s guess.
The Red Wolves lost all four of their nonconference games, including a home loss to FCS-level Central Arkansas, to extend a losing streak to five consecutive games dating to last season. The rough start made a quest for another bowl appearance at least in doubt, if not improbable.
But ASU hasn’t lost since after it settled on quarterback Justice Hansen to run varying offensive game plans and its defense has found its footing. Now not only is ASU back in the bowl picture — its needs three victories in its final five games to become eligible — but it’s on top of the Sun Belt Conference standings.
Technically, ASU never fell from its perch atop the
league standings. Saturday’s 5110 victory over Louisiana-Monroe was its 12th in a row against conference teams, the longest string since it joined in 2001 and longest for anyone in the Sun Belt since North Texas won 26 in a row in 2001-2005.
Heading into Thursday night’s game at Georgia State (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt), ASU sits a half-game behind Troy and Appalachian State for first place in the league. If the Red Wolves win their final five games, they will at worst capture a share of the league title.
The offensive improvements have helped, ASU Coach Blake Anderson said, but the familiarity of the schedule has, too.
“There’s some comfort in the fact that if we do our job, if we play the right way, our conditioning is going to hold up and there are going to be some matchups that we can win,” Anderson said Monday. “We’ve got a good idea of who we’re going up against.”
Saturday’s victory was ASU’s seventh in a row over Louisiana-Monroe, and it has handled its next two opponents similarly. The Red Wolves have won all three games against Georgia State — including 5210 in 2014, the last time they played in the Georgia Dome — and ASU has won its past three games over New Mexico State, which it hosts Nov. 12.
That lends to an expectation that ASU’s conference winning streak will continue, even if Anderson said it won’t be a talking point this week.
“Whether that continues or not really depends on the same
things each week anyways,” he said. “That’s how we approach it, and being the best team this week, we can.”
Even after last week’s easy victory, Anderson said he doesn’t think his team is there yet.
ASU jumped to a 42-3 halftime lead against the Warhawks, a margin that was aided by special teams play and the defense as much as Hansen throwing three touchdown passes. But ASU was held to 118 yards rushing and was flagged for seven penalties after committing six combined in its previous two games.
“I still don’t think we’ve played 60 minutes of the best football we’ve got,” he said. “And the challenge is trying to get to that. This will be a great week to get there, going into this stretch of the season.”
The schedule certainly provides ASU with no favors. Thursday is the second in a
string of four games in 20 days, and kicks off a stretch in which it plays four of its final five games on the road. ASU hosts New Mexico State on Nov. 12, but its final three games are on the road — at Troy (Nov. 17), at Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 26) and at Texas State (Dec. 3).
A Sun Belt spokesman said Monday that the schedule is made up following consultation between ESPN, the league and the schools. ESPN will make its selections for games and provide a list of available dates, then the leagues and schools will together decide which games are played when, while making sure each school has four home and away conference games.
“If I could pick and choose, I wouldn’t choose to play four out of five on the road,” Anderson said. “It does me no good to talk about it, honestly, because there’s just nothing to do about it. We just have to go play.”
ASU hasn’t handled its road trips well this year. The Red Wolves lost 51-14 at Auburn and 34-20 at Utah State. But Anderson said Monday he doesn’t think those games were lost because of the travel, and he said he likes his team better now, anyway.
The last time ASU went on the road, Chad Voytik was still its starting quarterback. Since then, there has been a home loss to FCS-level Central Arkansas, followed by three consecutive Sun Belt victories led by Hansen and a stingy defense.
It’s enough to make Anderson confident of taking his team back out on the road.
“We grew up a bit over the last few weeks,” he said. “The approach we take in practice and the difference in what we look like on a daily basis and also how we’re playing — it looks like a different team than the last time we traveled.”