Troy Has Two Players Suspended For First Half Of Next Game By SBC Office
Troy will be without the services of two football players during the first half of their game against Georgia State this weekend.
Chris Pickett and Tyler Roberts were both ejected from the game against South Alabama. Pickett was ejected based on Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rules And Interpretations which defines targeting and initiating contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless player. The penalty was called during the game and video review confirmed the call on the field. By rule, this penalty carries an automatic disqualification from the game as well as a half game suspention in the next game. Since the foul occurred late in the fourth quarter, Pickett will miss the first half of the Georgia State game.
Roberts will also be suspended for the first half of the Georgia State game due to Rule 9-1-3 which is targeting or initiating contact with the crown of the helmet. Though no penalty call was made on the field, video review after the game showed that the player led with his head and initiated contact directly to the chest of a defenseless South Alabama quarterback. The play occurred late in the third quarter and thus will also miss the first half of the next game.
Troy also had a player ejected in the first half of the game, but missing the second half fulfilled his suspension and will be available to play against Georgia State.
Non-AQ Top 10
The Non-AQ Top 10 poll is out. The Sun Belt is represented in the top 10 with four other SBC schools also receiving votes.
|
Non-AQ Top 10
|
|||
|
RK
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PTS
|
|
1
|
Fresno
State (2) |
2-0
|
68
|
|
2
|
Northern
Illinois (4) |
1-0
|
62
|
|
3
|
Brigham
Young (1) |
1-1
|
50
|
|
4
|
Bowling
Green |
2-0
|
44
|
|
5
|
East
Carolina |
2-0
|
39
|
|
6
|
Utah
State (1) |
1-1
|
38
|
|
7
|
Ball
State (1) |
2-0
|
36
|
|
8
|
Marshall
|
2-0
|
27
|
|
9
|
San
Jose State |
1-1
|
20
|
|
T-10
|
Troy
|
2-0
|
18
|
|
T-10
|
Navy
|
1-0
|
18
|
Others receiving votes: Boise State 17,
Western Kentucky 17, Texas State 12, Rice 9,
Tulsa 9, Arkansas State 5, Kent State 3,
Louisiana 2, Wyoming 1.
Ross Metheny Named Sun Belt Offensive Player Of The Week
Ross Metheny leads the Jaguar offense to the line of scrimmage to kneel on the ball one final time to run out the clock against Tulane on Saturday, September 7, 2013.
South Alabama quarterback Ross Metheny was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Metheny, the 6’3″ 203-pound senior from Stephens City, Virginia, transferred to South Alabama from the University of Virginia. He was responsible for four of the Jaguars touchdowns in it’s 41-39 victory over Tulane in the Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday.
Metheny was the Jaguars’ leading rusher with 75 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for 290 yards onf 19-of-30 passing and two more touchdowns and two interceptions enroute to ending South Alabama’s seven game losing streak dating back to the 2012 season. He also set two game records and led the Jags to the highest yardage total against an FBS opponent.
Through two games Metheny ranks third in the conference in passing efficiency (157.38), third in total offense (239.5 yards per game), and fifth in passing yards per game (201 yards per game).
Troy’s Jadarius Garner was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week with seven total tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks in their 66-3 win over Savannah State.
The Jags will host Western Kentucky at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday with a 6:30pm kickoff.
Sun Belt Adds New Bowl As Tie-In
The Cramton Bowl will be the host site for ESPN Regional Television’s new Camellia Bowl. Photo Credit: Chris Pruitt | wikimedia.org
The Sun Belt Conference has a new bowl tie-in starting in 2014. ESPN Regional Television announced that they will create a new bowl game that will be named the Camellia Bowl and will be played at the newly renovated Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
The new bowl game will pair the Sun Belt against the Mid-American Conference with former Troy Athletics Director Johnny Williams serving as the game’s Executive Director.
This bowl becomes the third in the state of Alabama along with the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile and the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham. Originally the Legends Bowl Group had expressed interest in developing a bowl game at Alabama State but they concentrated their efforts on an effort in Charleston, South Carolina after ESPN moved to create the Camellia Bowl.
With the addition of the Camellia Bowl, ESPN Regional Television now owns nine bowl games after they added the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho to their lineup last week. They also own the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Las Vegas Bowl, New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, Texas Bowl in Houston and the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu.
This new bowl game is driven by the new college football postseason and smaller conferences that have more money due to the College Football Playoff contract. Those small conferences are seeking more bowl tie-ins.
Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said the geographical consideration and ESPN’s involvement made the Montgomery bowl game a sensible choice for the conference as a third bowl tie-in. “The fact that ESPN is involved in the game from a business standpoint makes the bowl an immediate good business deal,” he said. “It eliminates the investment that the Sun Belt has had to make in other bowls.”
Benson continued, “Some of these deals in the past were advertising a $750,000 guarantee (to schools) and be required to buy $750,000 in tickets. What we expect out of Montgomery is a business model that will actually guarantee the Sun Belt and the MAC some revenue that isn’t tied to ticket sales. There will be more revenue on the front end.”
The deal with the Camellia Bowl is that the Sun Belt will guarantee to purchase 2,500 tickets. This is a new trend in college football bowl contracts where conferences buy fewer tickets and have more leverage with bowls in contractual terms.
The Sun Belt already has primary bowl tie-ins with the GoDaddy.com Bowl and New Orleans Bowl but commissioner Benson has not given up on a fourth bowl tie-in in Little Rock, Arkansas. “We haven’t given up on Little Rock yet,” he said. “The Sun Belt is still very interested in Little Rock, but we obviously need to have an opponent. I think Little Rock, for some of the same reasons that Montgomery worked, makes just as much sense as a game in Memphis or Shreveport or Birmingham or anyplace else in the footprint.”
Two other bowl sites continue to be interested in the Sun Belt conference. Orlando and Charleston, South Carolina. However, Charleston has a NCAA ban due to the Confederate flag remains on display on the State House grounds.
But the issue that some may be asking themselves is ‘Will there be enough eligible teams for the bowl games.’ That is a good question. Last season we were talking about how South Alabama could have been eligible for a bowl game even though they were not a FBS member and thus eligible for a bowl choice. In the end, the new rule passed by the NCAA did not need to be used as, in the end, they had enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowl slots.
Montgomery has spent about $10 million to renovate the Cramton Bowl. The stadium was built in 1922 and has a listed capacity of 25,000. It hosts the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic held each January. It previously was the site for the Blue-Gray Football Classic, an all-star game that was normally held on Christmas day, from 1939 through 2001.
Jags Place Four On Preseason SBC Team
The new secondary Sun Belt Conference logo that will begin being used on July 1, 2013.
South Alabama placed three student-athletes on the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team that was announced on Monday during the annual Football Media Day. Also, during Media Day the head coaches took part in a preseason poll which selected the Jaguars to finish seventh out of the eight football teams this season.
Wes Saxton was selected to the All-Sun Belt team at tight end. Alex Page was also selected on the defensive line with Tyrell Pearson selected in the secondary. All three where selected by the SBC head coaches and selected members of the media.
Page was also selected to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List. He was a second-team All-Conference selection last season after totalling 64 tackles with 11.5 of them for loss. His six sacks set a school record.
Pearson ranked in the top five in the SBC in both passes defended and interceptions. He led the Jags with four interceptions and 11 passes broken up in his first season with the team. He was credited with 40 tackles with three of them for loss. He had a career best six tackles in the Jags first road game of the season last year at North Carolina State.
Saxton finished his first season on the team with 26 catches for 336 yards and a touchdown. He was one of the top five on the team in both catches and receiving yards. Seventeen of his catches came in conference games with seven of them against Louisiana-Lafayette for 83 yards in the conference schedule finale. He led the team in receiving yards against FIU with 92 yards on six catches, against N.C. State with 72 yards on four catches. His first and only touchdown of the season came in the season finale at Hawaii.
The Jags were selected to finish seventh in the conference behind Texas State and ahead of Georgia State, all three newcomers to the conference. Louisiana-Lafayette and Lousiana-Monroe tied for first place with 57 points, ULL had four first place votes while ULM had two.
T-1. ULL
T-1. ULM
3. Arkansas State
4. WKU
5. Troy
6. Texas State
7. South Alabama
8. Georgia State
2013 Sun Belt Conference Media Day Today
Sun Belt Conference Media Day will be held today in New Orleans. ESPN3 and the SBC has partnered together for the second consecutive year to bring the SBC Media Day live to viewers.
Media Day will begin at 1pm CST and will include interviews from all eight conference coaches and an interview with SBC Commissioner Karl Benson. Also, there will be interviews with four future SBC head coaches that are expected to enter the conference on July 1, 2014. Paul Petrino of Idaho, Doug Martin of New Mexico State, Jeff Monken of Georgia Southern and Scott Satterfield of Appalachian State will be representing the future SBC members.
Cole Wright will serve as the host for the event and Sun Belt Network football commentator Cole Cubelic will be the shows analyst.
Four teams have left the conference this season while two new schools have joined the conference. This season will see South Alabama, Arkansas State, Georgia State, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Texas State and Western Kentucky competing in the new Sun Belt.
The interview schedule is as follows:
- 1:00pm – SBC Commissioner Karl Benson
- 1:10pm – ULL Head Coach Mark Hudspeth
- 1:20pm – South Alabama head coach Joey Jones
- 1:28pm – Western Kentucky head coach Bobby Petrino
- 1:38pm – Idaho head coach Paul Petrino
- 1:45pm – New Mexico State head coach Doug Martin
- 1:52pm – Georgia State head coach Trent Miles
- 2:00pm – ULL head coach Todd Berry
- 2:10pm – Arkansas State head coach Bryan Harsin
- 2:20pm – Troy Head Coach Larry Blakeney
- 2:30pm – Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione
- 2:40pm – Georgia Southern head coach Jeff Monken
- 2:47pm – Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield
ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network. It delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com and ESPN3.com. It is also available to view on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. It is available to more than 86 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive high-speed internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million US college students and US-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
Jags Vs ULL Postponed Until 12:30 Today
South Alabama’s second round game against Louisiana-Lafayette was postponed last night due to inclement weather in the Lafayette area. The game prior between Troy and FAU was suspended in the top of the ninth inning as well.
The Jags and Ragin’ Cajuns have been rescheduled for 12:30pm on today.
Jags Defeat UALR In First Round Of SBC Tournament
South Alabama defeated 7th seeded UALR 10-2 on Wednesday to advance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Anthony Izzio went a career-high eight innings while scattering eight hits and just two runs. He struck out three with only one walk for his third win of the season.
Brandon Boyle threw one shutout inning in relief.
A total of five Jaguars recorded multiple hits in the win. Jordan Patterson led the way by going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Jeff DeBlieux, Nick Zaharion, Bud Collura and Robby Campbell were the others to record multiple hits.
Jags got on the board early by taking a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Patterson and Zaharion both hit RBI singles. Patterson would score later in the inning on a fielder’s choice by Dustin Dalken. Later Dorsey would deliver a sac fly to right-center.
The #2 seeded Jaguars will face tournament host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7:30pm on Thursday in a winner’s bracket game. ULL defeated FIU on Wednesday evening 9-6 to advance.
Sun Belt Officials Release New Logos
The Sun Belt Conference introduced two new logos for the conference on Tuesday that will begin being used on July 1, 2013. This will replace the existing conference logo that has been in place since 1997.
Along with the new primary and secondary logo, they also introduced a new mantra for the conference which will be the foundation and essece of the new logo, “Together We Rise”.
The new primary logo for the Sun Belt Conference beginning on July 1, 2013.
The new secondary Sun Belt Conference logo that will begin being used on July 1, 2013.
Calvi Named Coach Of The Year, Patterson Named SBC Player Of The Year
South Alabama received more accolades on Tuesday as the Jags baseball team prepare to open their 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament campaign against UALR on Wednesday.
Head coach Mark Calvi was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, Jordan Patterson was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and in all seven Jaguars earned All-Conference honors at the SBC Family Fun Night at M. L. “Tigue” Moore Field in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Patterson is the sixth Jaguar all-time to earn the award and the first since David Freese in 2006. The award is voted on by the conference’s coaches. He joins an impressive list of Jaguars who have earned the honor which includes: Mike Zimmerman (1990), Jon Lieber (1992), Marlon Anderson (1995), Juan Pierre (1998) and Freese.
Patterson was also named to the First-Team All-SBC team as a utility player. It is his second consecutive season he has earned All-Conference honors and his first first-team selection. Patterson is a junior.
Joining Patterson is Dustin Dalken (DH) and Robby Campbell (2B) on the first team. Matt Bell (starting pitcher), Kyle Bartsch (relief pitcher), Whitt Dorsey (C) and Nolan Earley (OF) were all named to the second-team All-SBC team.
USA and Louisiana-Lafayette tied for the most all-conference selections with seven each. It also marked the most by a Jaguar squad since the 2006 season when seven Jags were named to the All-SBC team.
Additionally, the Jags were recognized for their share of the regular season championship, the 14th Sun Belt title for the University.
Mark Calvi was honored after the team recognition as the SBC Ron Maestri Coach of the Year. It’s the eighth time a Jaguar head coach has been named the conference coach of the year with Eddie Stanky (1983) and Steve Kittrell (1992, ’96, ’98, 2001, ’03). Coach Calvi led the Jags to a 40-win season, which is the most since the 2003 season, and 20 conference wins which is the most since the Jags 27 in 1999.