TROY, Ala. -- The leader of the Sun Belt Conference was decided by defense late Thursday night.
Arkansas State, with its 14-game Sun Belt winning streak on the line against co-leader Troy, punted seven times in the first half; its quarterback threw seven consecutive incomplete passes at one point; and it went three-and-out on five first-half drives in a row in front of 23,764 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
But the Red Wolves still led at halftime 7-3, then blew out The Associated Press No. 25 team in the second half for a 35-3 victory.
Despite sputtering to just 126 first-half yards, ASU (6-4, 6-0 Sun Belt) beat a team ranked in one of the major polls for just the second time.