With only two weeks left in the regular season, the College Football Bowl Season is starting to take shape. Currently, three teams in the Sun Belt Conference are Bowl eligible, having 6 or more wins. Conference USA has four teams with at least 6 wins which qualify them for a bowl. However, there are a handful of teams who could be bowl eligible should they win this week or win the remaining games left on their schedule.
Here is the Game of the Week in both the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA.
South Alabama at Georgia State
The South Alabama Jaguars have been in the Sun Belt Conference spotlight for the past few weeks but the Georgia State Panthers are looking to give them their first loss of the month. This will be tough for Georgia State since the Jags ended last week with a big win in a primetime matchup against the Ragin’ Cajuns 32 – 25. On November 7th, they were also involved in a high scoring affair against the University of Idaho. The Jags scored 24 points in the 4th quarter beating the Vandals 52-45. This week, the Jags sit at 5-4 on the season, needing just one more win to become bowl eligible. Playing at home, Georgia State is coming off an important win last week against Texas State. At 3-6 on the season, winning the remaining three games will put Georgia State at 6-6 and allowing them bowl eligibility. Quarterback Nick Arbuckle needs to continue his impressive play for the Georgia State Panthers. Last week Arbuckle threw for a school record 471 yards and four touchdowns. Georgia State’s defense has their hands full with South Alabama’s quarterback Cody Clements though. Clements threw for a career high of 281 yards last week. Both teams cannot afford to give up any big plays to the opposing quarterback in this upcoming matchup.
Old Dominion at Southern Miss
On the outside looking in, Old Dominion sitting at 5-5 needs one more win to become bowl eligible. The team is coming into their game against Southern Miss on a two game winning streak. Southern Miss is 7-3 on the season and is already bowl eligible. Patrick Magee, College Football Analyst for the Sun Herald, predicts Southern Miss to likely represent Conference USA in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Southern Miss the most likely participant with La. Tech also a possibility https://t.co/KupEmhu6Zk
— Patrick Magee (@Patrick_Magee) November 18, 2015
Both quarterbacks in this game are playing well this season. Southern Miss’ Nick Mullens has 30 touchdowns on the season and is averaging over 300 yards passing. David Washington, quarterback for ODU, has only six touchdowns on the season. However, Washington has only been starting as QB for ODU for three games. His chemistry with wide receiver Zach Pascal needs to continue into this upcoming game to be victorious against Southern Miss’ defense, which is currently ranked number 1 in Conference USA.
Game Time
The South Alabama at Georgia State game is Saturday, 11/21, at 1:00 PM (CT). Old Dominion at Southern Miss follows beginning at 2:30 PM (CT). Stay tuned to our Twitter feed at @RLCarriers and under the hashtag #RLBowl for game updates. For the latest news and updates on the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl like us on Facebook.
