Sports season
The 2001 Sun Belt Conference football season was the inaugural college football season for the Sun Belt Conference . During the 2001 season, seven schools competed in Sun Belt football: Arkansas State , Idaho , Louisiana–Lafayette , Louisiana–Monroe , Middle Tennessee , New Mexico State and North Texas .[1]
The conference title was won by Middle Tennessee and North Texas.
Coaches [ edit ] Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season
Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school Sun Belt record Arkansas State Joe Hollis 4 15–39–1 11–34 0–0 Idaho Tom Cable 1 5–6 5–6 0–0 Louisiana–Lafayette Jerry Baldwin 2 3–19 3–19 0–0 Louisiana–Monroe Bobby Keasler 2 84–50–2 6–16 0–0 Middle Tennessee Andy McCollum 2 9–13 9–13 0–0 New Mexico State Tony Samuel 4 14–30 14–30 0–0 North Texas Darrell Dickey 3 8–25 8–25 0–0
Sun Belt vs. BCS AQ Conference matchups [ edit ] Regular season [ edit ] Index to colors and formatting Sun Belt member won Sun Belt member lost Sun Belt teams in bold
Start times for non-conference games are local for the Sun Belt team; for conference games, starting times are local for the home team. The following list are the teams in their respective time zones: Arkansas State, Louisiana–Monroe, Louisiana–Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, North Texas are located in the Central Time Zone ; New Mexico State is in the Mountain Time Zone and Idaho is in the Pacific Time Zone .
Rankings reflect that of the USA Today Coaches poll for that week until week eight when the BCS poll will be used.
Open Week: Arkansas State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas Date Visiting team Home team Site Result Attendance August 30 Idaho Washington State Martin Stadium • Pullman, Washington L 7–36 31,097 August 30 Middle Tennessee Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Stadium • Nashville, Tennessee W 37–28 39,885 September 1 Arkansas State Georgia Sanford Stadium • Athens, Georgia L 17–45 86,520 September 1 Nicholls State Louisiana-Lafayette Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana W 20–0 September 1 Sam Houston State Louisiana-Monroe Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana L 9–20 September 1 New Mexico State #5 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, Texas L 7–41 82,856 September 1 TCU North Texas Fouts Field • Denton, Texas L 5–19 22,837
Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Dwone Hicks Middle Tennessee Jykine Bradley Middle Tennessee Jonathan Knott Louisiana-Lafayette
Date Visiting team Home team Site Result Attendance September 8 Arkansas State Baylor Floyd Casey Stadium • Waco, Texas L 3–24 28,953 September 8 Idaho Arizona Arizona Stadium • Tucson, Arizona L 29–36 44,250 September 8 Louisiana-Lafayette Minnesota H. H. H. Metrodome • Minneapolis W 14–44 35,089 September 8 Louisiana-Monroe #2 Florida Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida L 6–55 85,011 September 8 Troy Middle Tennessee Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, Tennessee W 54–17 September 8 #22 Oregon State New Mexico State Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, New Mexico L 22–27 27,238 September 8 North Texas #3 Oklahoma Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma L 10–37 74,930
Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team John Welsh Idaho Siddeeq Shabazz New Mexico State James Hickenbotham Arkansas State
All games scheduled for Week 4 were postponed or canceled as a result of the September 11 attacks .
Date Visiting team Home team Site Result Attendance September 22 Jacksonville State Arkansas State Indian Stadium • Jonesboro, Arkansas L 28–31 September 22 Idaho #13 Washington Huskie Stadium • Seattle, WA L 3–53 70,145 September 22 Southern Miss Louisiana-Lafayette Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana L 10–35 14,132 September 22 Middle Tennessee Louisiana-Monroe Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana MTSU 38–20 September 22 New Mexico State #12 Kansas State KSU Stadium • Manhattan, Kansas L 0–64 49,229 September 22 Texas Tech North Texas Texas Stadium • Irving, Texas L 14–42 20,852
Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Wes Counts Middle Tennessee Scotty Brown Middle Tennessee Robert Billings Middle Tennessee
Open Week: Arkansas State Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Reshard Lee Middle Tennessee Scotty Brown (2) Middle Tennessee Robert Billings (2) Middle Tennessee
Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Wes Counts (2) Middle Tennessee Tony Lukins New Mexico State Tony Lukins New Mexico State
Open Week: Louisiana-Monroe Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Kevin Galbreath North Texas Chris Jones Arkansas State Josh Hill North Texas
Open Week: New Mexico State Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Jon Van Cleave Louisiana-Lafayette Brad Kassell North Texas Josh Hill (2) North Texas
Week 10 [ edit ] Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Kendall Newson Middle Tennessee Les Echols Arkansas State Jason Hickenbotham Arkansas State
Week 11 [ edit ] Open Week: Louisiana-Lafayette Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team John Welsh (2) Idaho Brad Kassell (2) North Texas Jason Ball (3) North Texas
Week 12 [ edit ] Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Scott Hall North Texas Tony Lukins (2) New Mexico State Ty Jackson North Texas
Week 13 [ edit ] Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Patrick Cobbs North Texas Scotty Brown (3) Middle Tennessee Dario Aguiniga New Mexico State
Week 14 [ edit ] Week 15 [ edit ] Open Week: Arkansas State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State Players of the week:
Offensive Defensive Special teams Player Team Player Team Player Team Anthony Tenner Idaho Cody Spencer North Texas No candidates
Bowl games [ edit ] In 2001, the Sun Belt Conference placed one team in bowl games through their tie-ins: 5-6 North Texas, who became the first team to play in a bowl game with a losing record.[2] Middle Tennessee was also bowl-eligible but did not receive a bowl invitation.
Note : All times are local
Players of the Year [ edit ] 2001 Sun Belt Player of the Year awards[3] [4]
Award Player School Player of the Year Wes Counts Middle Tennessee Offensive Player of the Year Dwone Hicks Middle Tennessee Defensive Player of the Year Brad Kassell North Texas Freshman of the Year Ja'Mel Branch North Texas Newcomer of the Year Kevin Galbreath North Texas Coach of the Year Darrell Dickey North Texas
All-Conference Teams [ edit ] Coaches All-Conference Selections [3] [4]
Position Player Team First-team Offense QB Wes Counts Middle Tennessee RB Kevin Galbreath* North Texas Dwone Hicks Middle Tennessee WR Chris Lacy Idaho Kendall Newsom Middle Tennessee TE Jeff Muenchow North Texas OL Garry Johnson Arkansas State J. R. Randle North Texas Brandon Westbrook Middle Tennessee Tony Wragge New Mexico State Nick Zuniga North Texas First-team Defense DL Brandon Kennedy* North Texas Donald Malveaux UL Monroe Joe Olivo New Mexico State Tanaka Scott Middle Tennessee LB Brad Kassell * North Texas Scotty Brown Middle Tennessee D'Wayne Taylor New Mexico State DB Jykine Bradley Middle Tennessee Jonas Buckles North Texas Siddeeq Shabazz New Mexico State Charles Tillman UL Lafayette First-team Special Teams K Jason Ball North Texas P Jason Ball North Texas RS James Hickenbotham Arkansas State All-purpose James Hickenbotham Arkansas State
Position Player Team Second-team Offense QB K. C. Enzminger New Mexico State John Welsh Idaho RB Jonathan Adams Arkansas State Kenton Keith New Mexico State WR Nick Dugas UL Lafayette George Marshall North Texas TE Jerry Pegues Arkansas State OL Glen Elarbee Middle Tennessee Shalimar Jackson New Mexico State Jonathon Raush UL Lafayette Jake Scott Idaho Matt Turney North Texas Second-team Defense DL Jonathan Bradley Arkansas State Brandon Kania Idaho Alex Pahulu North Texas Ron Paris North Texas LB Ross Brupbacher UL Lafayette Maurice Sonnier UL Monroe Cody Spencer North Texas DB Dedrick Buckels UL Monroe Kyries Hebert UL Lafayette Craig Jones North Texas Michael Woods Middle Tennessee Second-team Special Teams K Dario Aguiniga New Mexico State P Robert Billings Middle Tennessee RS Tony Lukins New Mexico State All-purpose Reshard Lee Middle Tennessee
References [ edit ]
East Division West Division Championships & awards Seasons
Conference seasons Inter-conference All-Americans