Nationally-Televised First-Time Cross-Division Clashes Headline Sun Belt Football Week 7 Slate

Football
10/8/2025 2:00:00 PM

WEEK 7 CONFERENCE NOTES

– A pair of first-time cross-division clashes—Southern Miss at Georgia Southern and Louisiana at James Madison—can be nationally televised on ESPN2 to focus on a six-game Sun Belt slate in Week 7. 
 
First-year head coaches Dowell Loggains of App State and Tony Gibson of Marshall will even look to safe their first Sun Belt Conference wins after dropping cross-division convention openers. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING — Having shared a convention house since 2022, Southern Miss and Georgia Southern will lastly meet on the gridiron in entrance of a nationwide tv viewers at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, on ESPN2. The mid-week matchup would be the first as Sun Belt Conference foes and the primary of the trendy period between the Golden Eagles and Eagles. The groups final met in 1941, with then Mississippi Southern College downing then Georgia Teachers College, 70-0. That was the final season earlier than Eagles soccer was suspended on the onset of World War II, a hiatus that lasted 41 years. Head coach Clay Helton’s Eagles handed head coach Charles Huff—then at Marshall—his lone convention lack of the season a 12 months in the past, rallying to attain three touchdowns within the ultimate 6:32 to stun the Thundering Herd, 24-23. 
• STAYING GROUNDED — Two of the nation’s Top 25 speeding groups will sq. off when Louisiana travels to Harrisonburg to tackle James Madison at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, on ESPN2. The matchup would be the first-ever between the Ragin’ Cajuns and the Dukes. The Ragin’ Cajuns are speeding for 212.2 yards per sport (twenty third within the nation), whereas the Dukes are carrying the ball for 241.5 yards per sport (tenth within the nation). Through six weeks, seven Sun Belt student-athletes have rushed for 300-or-more yards on the season, together with James Madison redshirt junior operating again Wayne Knight (426), Louisiana redshirt junior operating again Zylan Perry (411) and Louisiana redshirt sophomore operating again Bill Davis (314). 
• MEET ME ON THE EAST SIDE — A pair of East Division showdowns will happen at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, on ESPN+, with Georgia State internet hosting App State and Marshall internet hosting Old Dominion. App State and Marshall have traditionally been dominant within the head-to-head sequence. The Mountaineers are 11-0 all-time towards the Panthers, whereas the Thundering Herd owns a 9-1 benefit within the all-time sequence with the Monarchs. First-year head coaches Dowell Loggains of App State and Tony Gibson of Marshall will try and earn their first Sun Belt Conference wins and prolonged their respective program’s sequence streaks on Saturday. 
• GET TO THE QUARTERBACK — Three of the eight Sun Belt student-athletes averaging no less than 0.60 sacks per sport can be on show when ULM visits Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, on ESPN+. ULM senior defensive lineman Dylan Howell paces the Sun Belt at 0.80 sacks per sport, with ULM redshirt senior defensive again D’Arco Perkins-McCallister and Coastal Carolina redshirt junior defensive lineman Zeke Campbell rating amongst a seven-player tie for second within the league at 0.60 sacks per sport. ULM leads the all-time sequence 3-2, although Coastal Carolina has received the 2 most up-to-date conferences in 2021 and 2022.  
• YOU GOT ME FEELING EMOTIONS — Following emotional West Division finishes every week in the past—Troy defeated South Alabama, 31-24, in extra time and Texas State fell to Arkansas State, 31-30, on a 75-yard, final-minute scoring drive—Texas State will host Troy at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, on ESPN+. The Bobcats will look to safe back-to-back wins over the Trojans for the primary time in program historical past on Saturday. Texas State snapped a 12-game shedding streak to Troy a 12 months in the past, incomes its first-ever Sun Belt victory over the Trojans. Troy is 12-2 within the all-time sequence. 

 
WHERE TO WATCH
 

 
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