The Arkansas State Red Wolves overcame five turnovers to defeat the Georgia Southern Eagles 27-26. With the victory, ASU proved that it is still the team to beat in the Sun Belt this season.
Make no mistake about it: this was a huge win for the Red Wolves. While the team played a tough non-conference schedule, no one expected Arkansas State to enter this contest winless. However, as the ESPN broadcasters reminded us every other sentence, the Red Wolves turned the ball over seven times in the previous two games. As a result, Arkansas State lost these two contests, including an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Central Arkansas.
It looked like Wednesday night’s contest with Georgia Southern would be more of the same. The Red Wolves put together a nice drive on the opening series, but fumbled at the Eagle 18. On the following possession, ASU botched a handoff to give the Georgia Southern the ball at the Red Wolf 29. Later on in the first half, another turnover killed an Arkansas State scoring drive when an Eagle defensive lineman tipped a pass, resulting in an interception at the GSU 6.
The Red Wolves would turn the ball over twice more in the second half: once on an interception and another on downs when ASU threw short of the sticks on fourth down.
WHAT A CATCH#FunBelt pic.twitter.com/qoO7zzIlb2
— #FunBelt (@SunBelt) October 6, 2016
Yet, they rallied to win this ball game behind some outstanding quarterback play by Justice Hansen. Faced with a do-or-die fourth-and-16 situation, Hansen managed to escape the Eagle pass rush and scramble for a first down. Three plays later, he connected with Blake Mack on third and eight to keep the drive alive. He concluded the drive by throwing a perfect fade route to Omar Bayless for the game-winning touchdown.
With the win, Arkansas State showed the type of resiliency that helped it win the Sun Belt conference last season. Despite the 0-4 start and all of the turnovers, the Red Wolves managed to a get “W” in this contest.
While the offense will get the credit for this victory, it’s the Arkansas State defense that makes the team a contender to win the Sun Belt. Yes, it gave up a couple of long scoring plays, but the Red Wolf D held Georgia Southern to a season-low 365 yards. The run defense was especially impressive, limiting the Eagles to just 162 yards rushing — the second-lowest total since the program moved to FBS in 2014. Even Western Michigan — one of the top mid-major programs in the country after posting two wins against Big Ten opponents — couldn’t hold the GSU rushing attack to less than 200 yards.
That last sentence speaks volumes about how good the Arkansas State defense really is.
This rock solid defense, coupled with an offense that’s finally found its rhythm, will make the Red Wolves a very dangerous team to beat down the stretch. Don’t be surprised if they win out, as they did last year after a slow start.
