Saturday in the Sun Belt

Louisiana and Appalachian State had Saturday off after their Wednesday night contest, but everyone else in the league was playing.  And, there were four conference games, with the home team winning all of them.

Here's what happened around the Sun Belt on Saturday.

TROY 31, GEORGIA STATE 21--Fans are starting to respond to the Trojans, as they set a new attendance record for a Sun Belt Conference game with a 31-21 win over Georgia State.  Brandon Silvers threw a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes as the Trojans (5-1, 3-0) defeated Georgia State 31-21 before 23,918.  Georgia State led 14-6 midway in the third quarter before scoring 25 straight points.  Troy is 3-0 in the league for the first time since 2010.

UL MONROE 40. TEXAS STATE 34--Reserve quarterback Will Collins threw a pair of touchdown passes and two ULM running backs gained 100 yards each in the Warhawks' homecoming win before an announced crowd of 12,735.  Ben Luckett ran for 100 yards and two scores. while Duke Carter rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Texas State (2-4, 0-2 Sun Belt) led 14-10 toward the end of the first quarter.  But Collins, filling in for the injured Garrett Smith, threw for two touchdowns to highlight 23 straight points for the Warhawks (2-4, 1-2).  Collins finished 9-16 for 125 yards in the contest.

Tyler Jones was 19-35 for 193 yards but was intercepted twice.  He ran for a pair of touchdowns   Texas State scored a pair of defensive touchdowns in the second half to keep the score close.

ULM had a total of 477 yards in offense, including 298 yards rushing.

ARKANSAS STATE 17, SOUTH ALABAMA 7--The Red Wolves got on the board with a defensive touchdown by Chris Humes in the second quarter, and Arkansas State (2-4, 2-0 Sun Belt) went on to beat South Alabama 17-7 at Centennial Bank Stadium.

Humes return was for 60 yards and came with 12:50 left in the second quarter.  The Red Wolves drove 71 yards for their only offensive touchdown on the next possession with Johnston White scoring from 14 yards out.

Xavier Johnson scored on a touchdown run with a little over three minutes left in the fourth quarter to spoil the shutout.  Arkansas State outgained USA, 297-255.  It was the third of four straight home games for the Red Wolves.

IDAHO 55, NEW MEXICO STATE 23--It was a big day for Matt Linehan, as the Idaho quarterback threw for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth in the Vandals' rout of NMSU.

Idaho trailed 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, but then outscored the Aggies 41-3 over the next two quarters.  Linehan finished with a career high 477 yards passing and three different Vandal receivers went over 100 yards in the game as the Vandals (4-3, 2-1 Sun Belt) rolled up 651 yards of offense.

Tyler Rogers tallied 302 yards and a pair of touchdowns on a 19-29 night, but the Idaho defense sacked him five times.  NMSU (2-4, 1-2) finished with 428 yards of offense.

GEORGIA TECH 35, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 24--Justin Thomas rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a third to break the Yellow Jackets' (4-3) three game losing streak.

Thomas gained 78 yards on 16 carries and completed 7-11 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown.  Dedrick Mills rushed for 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Georgia Southern (3-3) threw the ball a whopping (for them) 33 times, completing 18 for 168 yards and a touchdown.  Matt Breida led Georgia Southern with 58 yards rushing as the Eagles amassed 335 offensive yards.

NEXT WEEK:  Troy at South Alabama (Thursday, ESPNU), Idaho at Appalachian State, Georgia Southern at New Mexico State, Louisiana at Texas State, UT-Martin at Georgia State, ULM at New Mexico.  Arkansas State is idle.