Arkansas State Eyes Bowl Season, ULM With Something To Prove

The Arkansas State Red Wolves are set to host the ULM Warhawks for their 26th all-time meeting between universities…with both heading in opposite directions.

Arkansas State is riding a two-game win streak and can inch themselves closer to bowl eligibility with a win on Saturday, keeping themselves in the conversation for the Sun Belt West crown. ULM wants to prove they still belong with the big dogs and string together some wins as the season winds down.

The Red Wolves enter Saturday’s matchup coming off their bye week rest, taking down Georgia State 38-32 in Jonesboro on homecoming and keeping them on pace to match their win total from last season. Butch Jones’ squad sits in a five-way tie for second place in the SBC West, sitting at 4-4 overall and a 2-2 conference record with four games left to play.

With bowl eligibility just out of reach for the ULM and the potential division tiebreaker belonging to LA Tech, Bryan Vincent’s team finds itself in a unique position. Since the Warhawks currently sit at a 1-7 record and 1-3 in the conference, they’ll have the opportunity to play spoiler for the rest of the season while building a pathway forward into next year. ULM was the winner last time out against Arkansas State when the game was in Monroe, snapping a 15-game losing streak to the Red Wolves.

Arkansas State: Keep The Intensity and Momentum

“If you have a great will to prepare, you’ll have a great will to win on Saturday,” Jones stated in his Monday press conference.

Jones emphasized how it’s important preparation and maintaining momentum is, especially coming out of the bye week in this era of college football. He referred to their last game against Georgia State, where they played well until the final six minutes of the game which allowed the Panthers to come within a score.

The Red Wolves want to avoid that bye-week fatigue and come out of the gates maintaining the momentum built on the back of their two-game winning streak. The key to Arkansas State walking away with this game may be to lean on Trey Owens and their fifth-ranked passing attack.

Owens sits just behind Coastal Carolina’s Duce Bailey for the conference lead in passing yards with 1940, adding 11 touchdowns to boot. The Warhawks are 0-3 when allowing at least 200 passing yards in a game and have the eighth-worst passing defense in the conference.

ULM: Finish Strong

ULM finds themselves at the doorstep of another lost season and is locked into a record below .500 for an eighth season in a row, but not all is lost for the Warhawks.

The team has a chance to have a little fun near the end of the season with their remaining schedule, which are all conference matchups that include two teams in the SBC East in the thick of a divisional crown chase.

Perfect execution of Saturday’s game plan will be critical if the Warhawks want to come out on top. Stopping the run and forcing Arkansas State to air it out gives the Warhawks their best chance at taking down the Red Wolves.

In their lone win this season against Troy, ULM held Trojans quarterback Goose Crowder to under 100 passing yards and zero touchdown passes. The Warhawks rank 8th in the Sun Belt Conference in passing defense, allowing 212.3 yards per game with three interceptions as a unit.

The offense may be able to exploit a glaring weakness in Arkansas State’s defense, their rushing defense clocks in near the bottom and is tied for the most touchdowns given up on the ground in the conference this season.

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at Arkansas State Red Wolves

Centennial Bank Stadium – Jonesboro, Arkansas

Kickoff: Saturday, November 7, at 2:00 p.m. CT (3:00 p.m. ET)

TV: ESPN+

Radio: 107.9 KFIN (Arkansas State) / KLIP 105.3 FM (ULM)

Game Information: ULM @ Arkansas State

Tickets: Arkansas State Athletics