No hope for outright title, ASU still pushing on

Arkansas State running back Johnston White has run for 431 yards and four touchdowns this season for the Red Wolves, who’ll try to grab a share of the Sun Belt Conference title with a victory tonight against Texas State.
Arkansas State running back Johnston White has run for 431 yards and four touchdowns this season for the Red Wolves, who’ll try to grab a share of the Sun Belt Conference title with a victory tonight against Texas State.

Arkansas State's first loss in nine weeks was still being processed when Ja'Von Rolland-Jones spoke up to his teammates last Saturday afternoon.

Rolland-Jones, a junior defensive end not known for being outspoken, begged his teammates to get over the loss they had just suffered. The 24-19 setback at Louisiana-Lafayette had cost ASU a chance at an outright Sun Belt Conference title, but there was still plenty to play for, he pleaded.

ARKANSAS STATE AT TEXAS STATE

WHEN 6:30 p.m. Central

WHERE Bobcat Stadium

RECORDS Arkansas State 6-5, 6-1 Sun Belt Conference; Texas State 2-9, 0-7

COACHES Blake Anderson (22-15 in third season at ASU and overall); Everett Withers (2-9 in first season at Texas State, 27-22 in fourth season overall)

LINE ASU by 23

RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro

TV ESPN2

"I'd rather share a conference title any day than not have one at all," Rolland-Jones said he told his teammates. "I don't care if we have to share it, split it up into pie pieces, anything. I'd rather have a piece of that than not have anything at all."

The Red Wolves (6-5, 6-1 Sun Belt) get their chance at 6:30 p.m. tonight when they close the regular season at Texas State (2-9, 0-7), which has lost seven consecutive games under first-year Coach Everett Withers.

After a few days had passed, senior linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster said he and his teammates have the loss behind them. A victory tonight would give ASU a share of the Sun Belt title with Appalachian State -- Troy can claim a share with a victory at Georgia Southern, too -- and then a trip to a bowl game would mean a chance for an eight-victory season.

"The goal is to win a ring and to win the bowl game," Woodson-Luster said. "All of what we've been through, if we earn that, I think we all look at it as a successful year."

When asked if he would consider a 7-5 finish and a share of a title a successful regular season, ASU Coach Blake Anderson was a bit more measured.

He noted the weight of winning another conference title, which would be ASU's fifth in six years, and that if it happens it will have come after improvement on a 0-4 start. Anderson also said the Nov. 17 victory at Troy, which was ranked 25th nationally at the time, means something, too.

"To go 7-5 and a share of the conference lead is still a success," he said. "Now that doesn't mean I'm satisfied at all or content, because I'm not. I do believe that we're capable of winning every one of them that we play and I defiantly think we're capable of winning a couple more than we did. But a championship is hard to come by."

To finish off the regular season and set its sights on a bowl, ASU has to take care of the Sun Belt's most struggling program. Texas State reach bowl eligibility in 2013 and 2014 but did not receive a bid before going 3-9 last year, which led to the firing of Dennis Franchione. Withers was then hired from James Madison.

The Bobcats started the season with a triple-overtime victory over Ohio, a possible ASU bowl opponent, but have not beaten an FBS team since. They're last in the Sun Belt in scoring offense (19.0 points per game), scoring defense (41.5 ppg), total offense (308.3 yards per game) and with a minus-12 turnover margin.

The season has turned so poorly that Withers openly discussed this week with reporters the need to improve his team's overall talent before improvement can be expected.

"You know how you improve Xs and Os?" he said to the Austin American-Statesman. "Go improve your players. That's what we've got to do. We've got to go recruit and improve our players we can improve our Xs and Os."

Anderson, whose team is a 23-point favorite, is still warning his team of potential pitfalls.

"I told them [Sunday] that you'd look at their record and assume they're not good enough to beat you and you'd be wrong," Anderson said. "If we turn the ball over, if we don't play with energy, if we're not assignment sound, any team on the face of the earth can beat you."

Those same warnings came last week from Anderson, too, and his team still admittedly came out flat in the loss to the Ragin' Cajuns. Woodson-Luster, whose college career is down to two games, insists it won't happen again.

"We know we have to bring our own energy," he said. "We know it's going to be on us. We can't come out flat like we did at Lafayette. That's the key, just to bring your own energy."

Sports on 12/03/2016

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