Week Six Was Intriguing For The Sun Belt West

Halfway through the college football slate and it’s shaping up to be another fun season in the Sun Belt, especially in the conference’s West Division, where there are five teams who have .500 records, or better, overall and in conference play.

Atop the division sits Troy at 4-2, and Jon Sumrall’s team could easily be 5-1, followed by Louisiana, Texas State, Arkansas State and South Alabama. While the argument can be made that Arkansas State are far too young to be serious contenders and South Alabama still have several holes, each of the five teams are squarely in the postseason conversation.

Here’s a look at Three Things from the Sun Belt West over this weekend’s slate of games.

The Champs Are Still Here

The aforementioned Trojans won 12 games and finished as a top-20 team in the nation last year, in large part because of a stifling defense and a solid rushing attack. This year, the defense is still finding its footing after replacing star linebacker Carlton Martial, but the offense has picked up the slack behind running back Kimani Vidal.

The 5'8", 215-pound junior rushed for over 1,000 yards last season and is already over 500 yards in 2023. That includes Saturday’s 28-carry, 245-yard outing where Vidal found the end zone three times in Troy’s win over Arkansas State. If Vidal, along with Gunnar Watson, can keep ascending offensively, look out for the Trojans come late November.

The Jaguars Are Still Dangerous

South Alabama won 10 games a season ago with a veteran quarterback in Toledo transfer Carter Bradley and a duo of playmakers in running back La’Damian Webb and wideout Caullin Lacy. After getting off to a 2-3 start with a pair of tough non-conference losses to Tulane and Central Michigan, the Jaguars found the win column in decisive fashion behind their offensive triplets on Saturday.

Bradley, Webb and Lacy combined for 559 total yards in the team’s 55-7 win over Louisiana-Monroe. As Kane Wommack’s team makes a push in conference play, they’ll go as far as their offensive trio can take them.

Louisiana Could Just Be Getting Started

Redshirt freshman quarterback Zeon Chriss was a non-factor in the quarterback carousel last season that featured Ben Woolridge and Chandler Fields. 

However, Chriss has seen more playing time this season and had his best performance of his career in Saturday’s 34-30 win over a surprising Texas State team. Chriss finished Saturday's win 13 of 17 for 305 yards and three touchdowns. It's clear that Chriss has the skill to continue to lead the Cajuns, in addition to the confidence of his coach and teammates. 

"I'm proud of him," head coach Michael Desormeaux said of Chriss postgame. "He came in for a guy that means everything to our team and he's just stepped in seamless. That's hard to do. Our kids believe in him."