It Was A Big Weekend for the Sun Belt Conference in College Football

The second full weekend of college football was highlighted by a number of upsets of ranked teams. It was an especially good weekend for teams from the Sun Belt Conference. Let’s start with the game between Marshall and #8 Notre Dame, in South Bend.

The Fighting Irish were 20 ½ point favorites going in, but Thundering Herd running back Khalan Laborn rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown and defensive back Steven Gilmore returned an interception for a touchdown late in the game to seal a 26-21 Marshall victory. Notre Dame, who lost to Ohio State last week, fell to 0-2 on the season and fell completely out of the AP Top 25 Poll. Marshall (2-0) beat a Top 10 team for only the second time in school history (over #6 Kansas State in 2003).

Fellow Sun Belt member Appalachian State was also on the road, taking on #6 Texas A&M, who were 18½ point favorites. But the Mountaineers defense forced two turnovers and held A&M to just 186 total yards on the way to a 17-14 victory. Both teams are now 1-1. Texas A&M dropped to #24 in the AP Poll. Although this was a huge upset, it’s probably the #2 upset in Appalachian State’s history. The school is an FBS school now but back in 2007, while still an FCS school, the Mountaineers beat #5 Michigan 34-32 in Ann Arbor.

Completing the Sun Belt trifecta, Georgia Southern played Nebraska in Lincoln. Thought neither team was ranked, and Nebraska’s once powerhouse program has fallen down in recent years, there’s still quite an atmosphere in historic Memorial Stadium where past Cornhuskers teams won five national titles. Nebraska was a three touchdown favorite in this one.

This one was a shootout with plenty of offense for everyone. Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease passed for 409 yards and a touchdown, and scored the winning touchdown himself on an eight yard run with 36 seconds left in the game to lead the Eagles to a 45-42 win over the Cornhuskers. The Eagles had 642 total yards, and the Cornhuskers had 575. Georgia Southern improved to 2-0 while Nebraska dropped to 1-2. The Cornhuskers then fired head coach Scott Frost.