Arkansas State Coach Bryan Harsin had nothing to do with the Sun Belt Conference a year ago.
He didn’t coach a program in the league, and Texas didn’t play a Sun Belt Conference school in Harsin’s two seasons there.
But the conference’s best football season in history, one that saw four Sun Belt schools play in bowl games and several beat or play BCS automatic-qualifying schools close on their home turf, caught Harsin’s eye in Austin, Texas.
Harsin, now in his first season in Jonesboro, took notice of Louisiana-Monroe’s victory over Arkansas and its near upsets of Auburn and Baylor. Louisiana-Lafayette taking Florida to the wire in Gainesville didn’t escape his attention either.
“You can say what you want about recruiting bases or the size of the schools, it’s still a Saturday that you have to show up and play,” Harsin said.
Plenty of people kept their eye on the Sun Belt last season because of what the league did on Saturdays.
This year, the league could do without all the attention.
In 21 games against schools from the five power conferences last season, Sun Belt programs only won three but six more were decided by a touchdown or less, and the losses were by an average of 21.1 points.
This season, Sun Belt schools have managed two victories in 12 games against automatic-qualifying conference schools - Louisiana-Monroe beat Wake Forest and Western Kentucky beat Kentucky - but have struggled to stay competitive in all the other match ups.
Of 10 losses to teams from the Big 12, SEC and American Athletic Conference, the average margin of loss is 33.6 points. Included in those is Louisiana-Monroe’s 70-7 loss at Baylor, Troy’s 62-7 loss at Mississippi State and Western Kentucky’s 52-20 loss at Tennessee. Other than the two victories, no other game has been closer than Louisiana-Lafayette’s 34-14 opening-week loss at Arkansas.
Arkansas State has lost both of its games against automatic-qualifying schools, 38-9 at Auburn and 31-7 at Memphis. The Red Wolves get another chance Saturday when they play at Missouri.
What does it all mean for the Sun Belt, a league that has made no secret of its efforts to improve its image?
Coaches hope it is a reflection that other schools are no longer taking the conference for granted.
“Oklahoma didn’t want to have that shock that we had against Arkansas,” Louisiana-Monroe Coach Todd Berry said. “They prepared those kids along those lines and came out with some new systems, and I think Baylor was highly motivated because of how close the game was last year.”
Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Mark Hudspeth, whose team lost 48-27 at Kansas State a week after its loss to Arkansas, said the blame for blowout losses can’t just be pinned on the Sun Belt. Last week, 21 games between FBS teams were decided by 21 or more points.
“You can’t just point a finger at this conference,” Hudspeth said. “Some of those great teams, they’re going to beat everybody, put points on a lot of people.”
The grind of a season doesn’t leave a lot of time to worry about overall conference perception, Hudspeth said, but he said he pores over scores each week and takes notice of which teams won and by how much. He noted the Sun Belt’s record against non-automatic qualifying teams, citing a 4-0 record against Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.
“You worry about it,” Hudspeth said of the league’s national reputation. “Our head to-head record is the best of all five non-AQ conferences, so we’re way ahead of a lot of other conferences, surely ahead of Conference USA.
“Our conference is doing a lot of good things as far as out-of-conference wins.”
The question is whether people notice that if those things don’t come against the biggest programs.
Dan Wolken, a national college football writer for USA Today, said last year’s performances improved the perception of Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Western Kentucky, but changes at the schools reset the perception.
“The league has to kind of reinvent itself going forward with a bunch of new FBS teams, so I don’t think it’s really fair to expect the league as a whole to be competitive with BCS conference schools right away,” Wolken said. “The gap that was there before is even wider.”
That means the league still has plenty of work to do.
The conference has a few more chances left this year with five games remaining against schools from automatic-qualifying leagues. Three of those chances come this weekend when ASU plays at Missouri, South Alabama plays at Tennessee and Troy plays at Duke.
“The bottom line is, these guys are 18 to 22 years old, you’ve got to show up each and every week and play,” said Harsin, whose ASU team has never beaten a current member of the SEC. “There’s enough talent across the country to win those games.”What’s the deal?
The Sun Belt Conference enjoyed its best nonconference season in 2012, beating three schools from conferences that automatically qualify for BCS bowls, and taking others to the wire. It’s been a different story this season. Here is how the Sun Belt has fared against those teams this season and in 2012: 2013 RECORD 2-10 AVG. POINTS FOR 13.4 AVG. POINTS AGAINST 40.7 AVG. LOSS MARGIN 33.6 BEST VICTORY Louisiana-Monroe’s 21-19 victory at Wake Forest WORST LOSS Baylor’s 70-7 victory against Louisiana-Monroe 2012 RECORD 3-18 AVG. POINTS FOR 22.7 AVG. POINTS AGAINST 34.2 AVG. LOSS MARGIN 21.1 BEST VICTORY Louisiana-Monroe’s 34-31 upset against then No. 8 Arkansas WORST LOSS Mississippi State’s 45-3 victory against Middle Tennessee
Up next ARKANSAS STATE AT MISSOURI
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Central Saturday WHERE Faurot Field, Columbia, Mo.
RECORDS Arkansas State 2-2, Missouri 3-0 TV CSS/CST RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro;
KKSP-FM, 93.3, in Bryant/Little Rock
Sports, Pages 17 on 09/26/2013