Story by DDNS Reporter Jared Burton

Arkansas State’s football season started strong with a 42-24 win over SEMO at home to start the season at 1-0, then the Red Wolves went on a 4-game losing streak as they lost 56-14 to Arkansas in Little Rock, then lost 3 close games to Iowa State 24-16, Kennesaw State 28-21, and ULM 28-16.

The Red Wolves were tied with Texas State in the fourth quarter. Both teams traded touchdowns to make it 24-24 after it was 10-10 to start the fourth quarter. After the Red Wolves scored 24-24, Texas State got a big run play to set up 1st and goal, and then scored on the next play to make it 30-24 with the extra point coming up.

Looking at the score, the Red Wolves thought they were going to start the season 1-5, but the Texas State kicker missed an extra point, giving A-State a chance to win and save their season. Following the kickoff, the Red Wolves needed just 53 seconds to score what could have been the game-winning touchdown. Clune van Andel kicked the extra point and made the score 31-30 in favor of the red wolves. Following the kickoff, Texas State tried a series of laterals. But the rally came short, and A-State would go on to win the game 31-30. The win would give A-State momentum leading into their bye week.

Following the bye week, A-State would go on to win its next 3 games. A 15-14 win at South Alabama, a 34-24 homecoming win against Georgia Southern, and a 23-10 win at Troy. The Red Wolves have a chance to lead the Sun Belt West if they beat Southern Miss.

But the Red Wolves rally came a play short as Southern Miss intercepted Raynor’s pass in the endzone as time expired to give the Red Wolves their first loss in conference play and their first loss since the ULM game.

While the shot at winning the division and going to the Sun Belt championship is out of reach, the chance of going bowling in the postseason is still alive as A-State just needs one more win to become bowl eligible, as the Red Wolves have 2 games left with a home mid-week game against Louisiana and a road trip to App State. Since ASU has five wins, websites that post bowl projections have included A-State. The following are the websites that have A-State projected to go bowling after the loss to Southern Miss.

ESPN (Schlabach): Boca Raton bowl vs Miami (Ohio)

Athlon Sports: 68 Ventures bowl vs Western Michigan

Pro Football Network: 68 Ventures Bowl vs Central Michigan

Sports Illustrated: Myrtle Beach Bowl vs Utah State

On3 Sports: Cure Bowl vs Western Kentucky College football news: IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl vs Jacksonville State