By Jack Fitzpatrick

The Sun Belt was the greatest football Group of 5 Conference that was ever assembled. Honestly, maybe the best ever. 

Coming off of the September ninth weekend, the Sun Belt had wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 8 Notre Dame, Power 5 Nebraska and sent shockwaves through the college football world. We don’t have to rehash all of that. 

Now, what happened this past weekend? College Gameday went to Boone, NC for the first time, Marshall played a lowly Bowling Green team and four new power 5 teams were on the schedule. Let’s take a look around the conference from this past weekend. 

ULM 7 at Alabama 63

Not much to say as Louisiana Monroe got rolled by the No. 2 team in the country. 

ODU 14 at Virginia 16

Old Dominion held a late 14-13 after a Zack Kuntz 18-yard touchdown pass to Hayden Wolff with 1:01 left. ODU’s defense then allowed a 6 play, 56 yard drive and the Cavaliers waa hoo wah’d their way to a walk off field goal.

Certainly a rough loss for a team looking to complete what some are calling the “Virginia Gauntlet” 

Marshall 31 at Bowling Green 34 (OT)

Marshall, unlike App State, must have eaten the cheese. That or Notre Dame just isn’t good. Either way the Thundering Herd looked more like light rain vs. Bowling Green. 

Marshall built a 14-0 lead after the first quarter but allowed a 21 point second quarter from Bowling Green to tie it at half. From there it was back and forth and went into overtime tied at 28. Bowling Green answered a Marshall field goal with a touchdown and picked up their first win of the season. 

Northwestern St. 10 at Southern Miss 62

I mean, this is just domination. Southern Miss is now 1-2 on the season. 

Texas State 7 at Baylor 42

Texas State was only down 21-7 at half! 

They then allowed another 21 and mustered 0 points in the second half. 

Texas State is 1-2. 

Buffalo 26 at Coastal Carolina 38

Coastal is 3-0 with a win over Army, a close win over FCS foe Gardner-Webb and now a 12 point vs. Buffalo. 

Coastal picked up a gritty win vs. a below average Buffalo team. The Chanticleers needed a 21-point 4th quarter but they got it done. 

South Alabama 31 at UCLA 32

South Alabama! Okay! The Jaguars were up 8 heading into the 4th quarter. However, the fourth quarter starter with a 10 play, 68 yard drive that finished with a Logan Loya touchdown pass to Dorian Thompson-Robinson to make it a two-point game. 

South Alabama held tough the rest of the quarter but allowed another 10 play, 60+ yard drive that ended with a game winning field goal as time expired. 

Georgia Southern 21 at UAB 35

This was going to be a tough win for Georgia Southern against the best Conference USA team. Not sure if the issue with Southern is the offense. It seems the problem is the defense. 

Troy 28 at App State 32

This is what goes down as an ‘Instant Classic’ when you play NCAA ‘14. App State won on a hail mary with no time remaining. We’ve all seen the highlight by now. 

What a game. App State wins with College Gameday on site. 

Charlotte 42 at Georgia State 41

Georgia State is the weirdest team in the Sun Belt. 

A close loss to South Carolina where they had two blocked punts for touchdowns. 

A close loss to UNC. 

A close loss to arguably the worst team in the nation in Charlotte. 

Georgia State is 0-3. 

Arkansas State 32 at Memphis 44

Good job Arkansas State! A close loss. That defense ain’t great though. 

Louisiana 21 at Rice 33

Louisiana loses its first game of the season. After leading 14-13 at half, Rice turned it on in the second half to win by 12.