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Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – Well, the University of Louisiana at Monroe has started a streak of their own. They have now won two in a row from Arkansas State, a team that was picked early in the year as a contender for the Sunbelt West title.

The Warhawks were picked as the worst team in the league and have proved that off and on this year. Their only win was at Troy, a team that had numerous turnovers during the game. Otherwise, they have been handily beaten by everybody they played. Coming into the game at Arkansas State they were 1-7.

Now, after the 19-17 ULM win, the Red Wolves must win two of the last three to have an opportunity to go to a bowl. Within the next three games, one is against Louisiana Tech, our old nemesis who is 6-2 and is now favored to win the West. We have to go there and defeat them on their turf. I don’t like our chances.

But before we go to the league leader, we have to play at Coastal Carolina. This is a Jekyll and Hyde team that has either performed very well or performed very poorly. I bet they play well against the Red Wolves.

Then the final game of the season is at home against Troy. We have not done well at home or away against the Trojans.

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So, what happened?

Honestly, I expected us to defeat the Warhawks rather handily. We were at home and they were just beaten badly by the University of Southern Mississippi, a team we had already beaten at Hattiesburg. My rather simple observation of what happened is simply this.. our defensive line once again got whipped by a team that had whipped absolutely nobody. Get this. The rushing yards that they got this afternoon were the most rushing yards they had gotten all season. How do you like that?

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. You win games with defense, and you make the fans happy with offense.

Our defense has been bad all year, especially against the run. Preparation should not have been a problem considering that we were off last week and had 2 weeks to prepare for the Warhawks. I guess we just didn’t give ULM any credit for being able to run even knowing that we are terrible at stopping the run.

The game was very short because of the amount of running done by both teams. The second half blew by faster than any I have seen since Arkansas State’s wishbone days. ULM did nothing more than pound the ball inside with a few sweeps and a lot of quarterback keepers. We couldn’t stop the worst rushing team in the Sunbelt.

This is a complete failure of all. Players. Coaches. Heck, I’ll even blame the mascots. Unfortunately, it is a very typical Butch Jones year. Bad football mixed in with an occasional good win. We certainly can’t blow anybody out. Play Arkansas State and I’ll guarantee you a close game and if you are a power 4 an easy win under Jones.

And how about that third down call with 50 odd seconds left in the game. A deep down the sidelines pass into double coverage. The Red Wolves had plenty of time to go down the field and score with our normally reliable field goal kicker. They didn’t have to throw a bomb. It was intercepted by ULM and the game was over.

I could go into the particulars of the game but there’s no real reason in it. It was just bad. Bad play calls…defensive misses and a missed field goal for the second straight game. We won the turnover game but did nothing with it.

And all of this against the team that is last in everything in the Sunbelt. They have no money. No facilities. And no fans. Heck, even the Warhawks’ uniforms looked a little tired and sad.

Of course, these days I’m not too sure that Arkansas State has any fans either. The stadium, despite nearly perfect weather all year, has had fewer fans each game. I know a lot of this has to do with all our games being on TV. People would just rather sit at their home with a bag of Cheetos and a refrigerator full of beer rather than go to Centennial Stadium and watch a team with every advantage get beat.

Every year we hear that we have the best recruits in the Sunbelt. We don’t show anything for it. During the last recruiting cycle, Arkansas State was deemed to have the very best recruits coming from the transfer portal in the Sunbelt. Trey Owens, our quarterback and others are real talents. We do have more money than you think to pay players. Without a doubt we are in the top three teams in the Sun belt as far as NIL funds are concerned.

However, unless Coach Butch can win at least two of the final three games and get us in another little league bowl, I think the administration needs to heavily consider putting him in the transfer portal.

ASU deserves better than Saturday’s performance.

About the Author: Bob Troutt is a lifelong Jonesboro resident, Arkansas State University journalism graduate and longtime member of one of Northeast Arkansas’ most prominent newspaper families. A veteran of The Jonesboro Sun and a lifelong A-State fan, Troutt has spent decades watching—and caring deeply about—Arkansas State football.

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