2 primetime matchups on national television highlight week 7 action

Published 3:11 pm Wednesday, October 13, 2021

The teams have squared off in each of the Sun Belt Football Championship Games that have been contested, with App State proving victorious in 2018 (30-19) and 2019 (45-38).

South Alabama will look for its first-ever win over Georgia Southern—also in front of a primetime audience at 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday on ESPNU.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE – App State and Louisiana—which met in the first two Sun Belt Football Championship Games in 2018 and 2019—will once again draw national attention when they square off at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2. The Mountaineers and Ragin’ Cajuns are both 4-1 on the season and receiving votes in the latest USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. App State won the first eight meetings in the series—including both Sun Belt Football Championship Games in Boone—before Louisiana broke through with a 24-21 win in last season’s regular-season finale.
• TALE OF THE TAPE – South Alabama will look to do something it has never done before when it hosts Georgia Southern at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in front of a national television audience on ESPNU—defeat the Eagles. Georgia Southern has proven victorious in each of its seven prior meetings with South Alabama, including a come-from-behind 24-17 victory in Statesboro in 2020. The Eagles scored 14 fourth-quarter points to maintain their perfect record in the all-time series. Georgia Southern has outscored South Alabama, 251-79, all-time, while averaging 334.1 rushing yards per game.
• CUTTING IT CLOSE – Either Troy or Texas State will record its second-straight conference victory when the teams face off at 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+. Troy and Texas State are each coming off one-possession wins to secure their first conference victories of the 2021 campaign. The Trojans used a Brooks Buce field goal with 1:46 to play to earn a 27-24 win over Georgia Southern, while the Bobcats needed four overtimes to secure a 33-31 win over South Alabama. Troy leads the all-time series 10-1, including nine-straight victories. Texas State’s lone win was a 31-17 victory in 1997.
• GIVE ME LIBERTY – ULM will host Liberty at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+, as the backend of a home-and-home series. The Flames topped ULM 40-7 in the first-ever meeting of the programs in 2020. ULM is 1-of-3 Sun Belt opponents that Liberty is facing this season, alongside Troy and Louisiana. The Flames (21-13 on Sept. 11) and Warhawks (29-16 on Sept. 25) each own victories over Troy and will face Louisiana in back-to-back weeks to conclude the regular season on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.
• YOU MAKE THE MCCALL – Coastal Carolina redshirt sophomore quarterback Grayson McCall has lived up to his Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year billing through the midway point of the 2021 season. The Indian Trail, N.C., product helped the Chanticleers become the first bowl eligible team in the country with a 52-20 win at Arkansas State on Oct. 7. Coastal Carolina, which has a bye week in Week 7 ahead of a Wednesday night primetime matchup at App State on Oct. 20, is 6-0 on the season and has been ranked for 18-straight weeks in both national polls, including a No. 15 mark this week. McCall leads the nation in passing efficiency (234.27), completion percentage (.798) and yards per pass attempt (13.56). He also ranks among the top 20 in the FBS in passing yards per completion (3rd, 16.99), passing touchdowns (11th, 14), points responsible for (16th, 102) and points responsible for per game (19th, 17.0).

WHERE TO WATCH

All Times CT

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