JONESBORO -- Of the positives Arkansas State University drew from Saturday's 57-7 loss at No. 1 Alabama, a healthy team was one of them.
Although several players were hurt inside Bryant-Denny Stadium -- including starting sophomore linebacker Tajhea Chambers and senior defensive lineman Donovan Ransom -- the Red Wolves escaped without any season-ending injuries, Coach Blake Anderson said Monday.
"Right now, it's just bumps and bruises across the board," Anderson said. "One of the biggest concerns going into that environment is coming out and losing guys for the year. We luckily did not do that.
"We do have a few guys that are beat up, but I would expect -- based off of what I'm being told -- that everybody that played Saturday will be ready to go by this Saturday. That to me is a huge hurdle to cross coming out of that game."
Arkansas State plans to limit a number of players during today and Wednesday's practices in preparation for Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff at Tulsa, Anderson said.
Positive thinking
ASU found good things from Saturday's 50-point loss.
The Red Wolves had an extensive film session Sunday, reviewing the good, bad and ugly of its blowout loss at No. 1 Alabama.
"After watching it 3-4 times now at this point, honestly as bad as the score was, there were a lot more positives than I thought," Anderson said.
He said ASU found it played "so bad" in the first six minutes, a span when the Tide scored two of their three first-quarter touchdowns and cruised to a 19-0 lead.
"We just did so many things wrong to get ourselves into such a huge hole that changed the entire day," Anderson said. "But once we finally settled down, we actually played really, really well at times and played really physical up front."
The Red Wolves' defense acquired four tackles for loss for 11 yards, besting the Tide's three tackles for loss for 12 yards. Anderson also praised ASU's wide receivers for being "extremely physical" against Alabama's defensive backs, and the Red Wolves' pair of stops on short third-down situations vs. the Tide's monstrous offensive line.
Kickoff set
The Sun Belt Conference announced Arkansas State's Sept. 22 kickoff against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will be at 6 p.m. at ASU's Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
Arkansas State and UNLV will be broadcast on ESPN3, the network's online-only platform.
Arkansas State-UNLV will be the second matchup between the schools. UNLV won 28-23 in Las Vegas in 1995.
The 6 p.m. kickoff will be the second twilight kickoff for the Red Wolves at Centennial Bank Stadium this season.
Sports on 09/11/2018