The Sun Belt Conference took center stage Saturday as the Group of Five conference played in six of the seven bowl games. Three of the games took place in the state of Alabama with bowls in Mobile, Birmingham and Montgomery, with the others taking place in Texas, Idaho and Hawaii. The conference started sluggish but ended the night on a high note splitting the six games.

Birmingham Bowl: Duke 17 | Troy 10

Sun Belt Saturday started in Alabama as Troy took on Duke in the Birmingham Bowl. It was a home state game for the Trojans, but they struggled early against the Blue Devils. Duke led 14-0 at halftime, before a second half turnover helped Troy’s offense get going. Late in the game, Troy had the ball down seven with less than two minutes to go but looked to have its offense rolling. But Troy QB Gunnar Watson was hit as he was passing causing the ball to sail and land in the arms of Duke defender. The interception sealed the win for the Blue Devils giving the ACC a bowl victory over the Sun Belt.

Camellia Bowl: Northern Ilinois 21 | Arkansas St. 19

Moving from Birmingham to Montgomery where Northern Illinois took on Arkansas St. in the Camellia Bowl. This was another slow start for the Sun Belt team as the Huskies led the Red Wolves 21-13 at halftime. Late in the game, Arkansas St. managed to score a touchdown to cut the deficit to two points. However, they failed on the two-point conversion setting up a weird turn of events. On the ensuing onside kick, Arkansas St. managed to recover but a controversial offsides call forced the Red Wolves to re-kick. Northern Illinois recovered the second onside kick sealing the win for the MAC.

Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force 31 | James Madison 21

The Sun Belt headed to Texas for the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison originally wasn’t eligible due to NCAA FBS advancement regulations but earned an invite after not enough teams were bowl eligible. They headed to Fort Worth to take on Air Force, the service academy with the best record among the three.

While James Madison’s amazing 11-win season had many looking at them as a potential easy win, the Falcons had other plans. Emmanuel Michel rushed the ball 35 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Air Force soared to the 31-21 victory. It’s back-to-back Armed Forces Bowl wins for Air Force. The Mountain West became the third conference to cash in a bowl win against the Sun Belt.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Georgia St. 45 | Utah St. 22

In the most appropriate, yet oddly, named bowl game, the Sun Belt and Mountain West headed to Boise for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. This game featured an early offensive explosion as Georgia St. and Utah St. combined for 35 points in the first quarter. From the second quarter on, it was all Panthers. Georgia St. added 24 more points while only giving up eight in the final quarter to the Aggies. Georgia St. rolled to the Sun Belt’s first bowl win of the day.

68 Ventures Bowl: South Alabama 59 | Eastern Michigan 10

Moving back to Alabama where South Alabama got a home game in the 68 Ventures Bowl despite being the home team. The Jaguars, who are located in Mobile, walked into their home stadium and completely decimated Eastern Michigan. Gio Lopez completed 14 of 19 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns. The South Alabama QB also rushed the ball seven times for 88 yards and another touchdown. It was complete domination giving the Sun Belt some revenge against the MAC.

Hawai’i Bowl: Coastal Carolina 24 | San Jose State 14

In the final bowl game of Sun Belt Saturday, the conference was looking to end the day 3-3 in bowl games with their third game against a Mountain West opponent. Coastal Carolina and San Jose St. both had to interrupt their Hawaiian vacations to play a football game. Ethan Vasko led the Chanticleers completing 20 of 33 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Coastal Carolina jumped to a 17-0 lead before San Jose St. managed to get going in the fourth quarter. The Spartans cut the deficit to three, but Coastal Carolina would add one more touchdown to ice the game and give the Sun Belt the split on the day.

Las Vegas Bowl: Northwestern 14 | Utah 7

The other game on Sun Belt Saturday, the Las Vegas Bowl, featured Northwestern taking on Utah in a Big Ten vs. PAC-12 matchup. It was the game that featured the least offense despite being the only one featuring two Power Five teams. Ben Bryant led the Wildcats down the field completing 23 of 34 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Bryson Barnes struggled for the Utes completing just eight of 13 passes for 55 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown but did throw two interceptions as Northwestern comes away with the bowl win.

Conference Bowl Records (Must Field 3 Teams Through Entire Bowl Season)

1. American (2-0)
2. Big 10 (1-0)
3. ACC (2-1)
4. C-USA (2-1)
5. MAC (2-2)
6. Big 12 (1-1)
7. Mountain West (2-3)
8. Sun Belt (4-7)
9. PAC-12 (1-2)
10. Independents (0-0)
11. SEC (0-0)

Next Games

The college football bowl season is taking Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off this year but will return on Tuesday, December 26th with three games. Bowling Green will take on Minnesota in a matchup between the MAC and Big Ten in the Quick Lane Bowl. The Sun Belt wraps up its bowl slate against the American Athletic Conference as Texas St. faces Rice in the First Responder Bowl. And the Big 12 returns to the bowl games against the Mountain West as Kansas squares off with UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

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