Bilo's College Football PASS/FAIL Report Week 9: Sun Belt

PASS: Appalachian State, South Alabama, Arkansas State
Appalachian State fell behind 10-0 in the 1st quarter to Georgia Southern, and then never allowed another point in a 34-0 run to win. The Mountaineers are now tied for the Sun Belt lead with Troy, with a road trip to play the Trojans coming in 2 weeks.
South Alabama picked up their first SBC win of the season over Georgia State, but they tried valiantly to give it away. The Jags pick up a rather unimpressive 13-10 win, but still could find themselves in a bowl with a solid run to wrap up the year. USA is now 4-4 overall.
Arkansas State is another team streaking back from a terrible start, as they destroyed ULM 51-10. The Wolves rolled out to a 42-3 lead at the half and then cruised to the win from that point. ASU is now just a half game out of first, despite being only 3-4 overall.

FAIL: Georgia Southern, New Mexico State, Georgia State, UL-Monroe
Georgia Southern led 10-0 over App State, and then fell off the grid in a 34-10 loss. I gets no worse than that. To have a conference leader on the ropes early at home, and then do nothing is just porr coaching and execution at their worst on full display.
New Mexico State was routed by Texas A&M, and nobody is shocked. This is the kind of scheduling that prevents development by the Aggies.
Georgia State fell to just 2-6 on the season, and are now one loss away from falling out of bowl contention in a season that was supposed to see some advances. Trent Miles is on the brink of losing his job, and his buyout is very affordable.
ULM continues to try to find some value in Matt Viator's first season, but being blown out of the building by an Arkansas State team that does not have a winning record is just terrible. One more loss will eliminate the War Hawks from bowl consideration, but that was never an expectation anyway.