Recap of Action on Saturday in the Sun Belt

The Sun Belt Conference had a pair of league games on Saturday, with Louisiana topping South Alabama and Georgia Southern getting by UL Monroe.

The best non-conference performance came in Hattiesburg, where Troy defeated Southern Miss. Here's a recap of the games.

TROY 37, SOUTHERN MISS 31--Jordan Chunn rushed for 176 yards, Brandon Silvers threw three touchdown passes and Ryan Kay made three field goals in the first regular-season meeting since 1977. Time expired with Southern Miss at the Troy nine yard line. The Trojans (2-1) forced three turnovers in the game.

LOUISIANA 28, SOUTH ALABAMA 23--Elijah McGuire rushed for 223 yards, Al Riles had 139 yards receiving on his birthday and Anthony Jennings threw three touchdown passes in the Cajuns' league opener. The Cajuns (2-1, 1-0) led 9-7 at the half and never trailed after that. Dallas Davis threw for 264 yards and two scores for South Alabama (1-2, 0-2).

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 23, UL MONROE 21--R. J. Murray blocked Craig Ford's 41 yard field goal attempt in the final minute to preserve the win for Georgia Southern (3-0, 2-0). The Eagles had 345 yards rushing in the game and scored 23 unanswered points after ULM (1-2, 0-1) took an early lead. Garrett Smith threw for 283 yards and a pair of scores for the Warhawks. The 25,735 on hand set a Georgia Southern record.

#9 WISCONSIN 23, GEORGIA STATE 17--For the third time this season, a Sun Belt school took a Top Ten team to the limit, but Georgia State fell short, losing to #9 Wisconsin. Connor Manning finished 20-29 for 269 yards for the Panthers (0-3) Kyler Neal's nine yard run gave Georgia State the lead early in the fourth quarter before the Badgers rallied.

#25 MIAMI 45, APPALACHIAN STATE 10--It was a record crowd at Kidd-Brewer Stadium, but the 34,628 fans were left disappointed as the Hurricanes dominated. Brad Kaaya threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns. The Hurricanes got a touchdown on their first play from scrimmage and scored 21 points in the first quarter. App State (1-2) was held to just 241 yards in offense.

WASHINGTON STATE 56, IDAHO 6--Washington State rolled up over 500 yards on a wet, windy day in Pullman. The Vandals could only manage a pair of Austin Rehkow field goals. The Cougars turned a pair of Idaho turnovers into 14 points. The Vandals (1-2) had under 300 yards in offense.

KENTUCKY 62, NEW MEXICO STATE 42---The Aggies forged a 35-35 tie at the half but Kentucky's depth was too much in the second half. Tyler Rodgers threw for 246 yards and a pair of scores, and scored two more touchdowns on the ground. The Wildcats outgained the Aggies (1-2) 692 yards to 500. NMSU played its third straight game without preseason SBC Offensive Player of the Year Larry Rose III.

#24 ARKANSAS 42, TEXAS STATE 3--It was the Razorbacks' defense that stood tall as the Bobcats (1-1) could only manage eight first downs and 105 yards of offense in the loss. ARkansas State held the football for nearly 35 minutes in the contest.

Friday night, Arkansas State (0-3) lost to Utah State.

NEXT WEEK: Appalachian State at Akron, Central Arkansas at Arkansas State, Georgia Southern at Western Michigan, Nicholls at South Alabama, *New Mexico State at Troy, Louisiana at Tulane, Idaho at UNLV, Houston at Texas State. Georgia State and ULM have the week off.

(Info from member schools contributed to this report.)