Saturday In the Sun Belt

Two bowl-eligible teams took care of their business, while another team took a big step toward that eligible status on Saturday.

Here's a look at what happened around the league.

APPALACHIAN STATE 35, TEXAS STATE 10--The Mountaineers(7-2, 5-0 Sun Belt) tuned up for their showdown at Troy next Saturday with a convincing win.  Taylor Lamb threw for four touchdowns and Marcus Cox and Jalin Moore combined for 248 yards rushing.  The App defense held the Bobcats (2-6, 0-4) to just 14 net rushing yards.

IDAHO 23, LOUISIANA 13--The Vandals (5-4, 3-2) got a big road win as Isaiah Saunders scored the go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter and the Vandals defense shut out the Cajuns (3-5, 2-3) in the second half.  Matt Linehan passed for 227 yards and Austin Rehkow kicked a pair of second half field goals to put the game out of reach.  Anthony Jennings got a three yard run for the only Cajuns' touchdown.

UL MONROE 42, SOUTH ALABAMA 35 (0T)--Caleb Evans threw for 279 yards and three scores, including the game winner to lead the Warhawks (3-6, 2-3) to the victory.  South Alabama (4-5, 1-5) lost the game despite 516 yards of offense.  A late interception gave the Jaguars a chance to win it in regulation, but Gavin Peterson's 50 yard attempt was blocked to force the overtime period.  ULM was 6-9 on third down in the second half and 4-4 on fourth down for the game.

TROY 52, MASSACHUSETTS 31--Troy spotted the Minutemen an early lead, but Brandon Silvers threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth to lead the Trojans (7-1) to the win.  Troy turned a pair of UMass (2-8) turnovers into touchdowns in the second half to pull away.  Troy had 485 yards of offense to set up a showdown with Appalachian State next week.

OLE MISS 37, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 27--Chad Kelly led three touchdown drives in the final ten minutes of the first half to lead the Rebels (4-5) back from a 21-10 deficit and help Ole Miss snap a three game losing streak.  Georgia Southern's offense, which has been stagnant, rolled up 401 yards of offense, including 267 on the ground, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles (4-5) have now dropped five of their last six games.

NEXT WEEK'S GAMES:  Louisiana at Ga. Southern (Thursday); ULM at Ga. State, NMSU at Ark. St., App State at Troy, Idaho at Texas State.  South Alabama is off.