2001 Sun Belt Conference football season

2001 Sun Belt Conference football season
2001 Sun Belt Conference football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport	football
Duration	August 23, 2001 – December 1, 2001
Number of teams	7
2002 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	Kendall Newson (Middle Tennessee)
Picked by	Jacksonville Jaguars, 222nd overall
Regular season
Season champions	Middle Tennessee & North Texas
Runners-up	New Mexico State
Season MVP	Wes Counts
Top scorer	Dwone Hicks (144 points)
Football seasons
	2002 →

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]

2001 Sun Belt Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Middle Tennessee +	5	–	1	8	–	3
North Texas +	5	–	1	5	–	7
New Mexico State	4	–	2	5	–	7
Louisiana–Lafayette	2	–	4	3	–	8
Arkansas State	2	–	4	2	–	9
Louisiana–Monroe	2	–	4	2	–	9
Idaho	1	–	5	1	–	10

+ – Conference co-champions

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

Date	Visitor	Home	Conference	Score	Notes
August 30	Idaho	Washington State	Pac-10	L 7–36
August 30	Middle Tennessee	Vanderbilt	SEC	W 37–28
September 1	Arkansas State	Georgia	SEC	L 17–45
September 1	New Mexico State	Texas	Big 12	L 7–41
September 8	Arkansas State	Baylor	Big 12	L 3–24
September 8	Idaho	Arizona	Pac-10	L 29–36
September 8	Louisiana-Monroe	Florida	SEC	L 6–55
September 8	Oregon State	New Mexico State	Pac-10	L 22–27
September 8	Louisiana-Lafayette	Minnesota	Big Ten	L 14–44
September 8	North Texas	Oklahoma	Big 12	L 10–37
September 22	Idaho	Washington	Pac-10	L 3–53
September 22	New Mexico State	Kansas State	Big 12	L 0–64
September 22	Texas Tech	North Texas	Big 12	L 14–42	Neutral Site Game at Texas Stadium
October 20	Ole Miss	Arkansas State	SEC	L 17–35
October 6	Louisiana-Lafayette	Arizona State	Pac-10	L 27–63
October 20	Middle Tennessee	Ole Miss	SEC	L 17–45
November 10	Middle Tennessee	LSU	SEC	L 14–30

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.

Week 1 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
August 23	New Mexico State	Louisville	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, Kentucky	L 24–45	38,129

Open Week: Arkansas State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas

Week 2 edit

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

Week 3 edit

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

Week 4 edit

All games scheduled for Week 4 were postponed or canceled as a result of the September 11 attacks.

Week 5 edit

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

Week 6 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
September 29	Idaho	Boise State	Martin Stadium • Pullman, Washington	L 13–45	20,359
September 22	Middle Tennessee	Louisiana-Lafayette	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	MSTU 26–9
September 22	New Mexico State	Louisiana-Monroe	Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana	NMSU 31–0
September 22	North Texas	South Florida	Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, Florida	L 10–28	25,156

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

Week 7 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 6	Arkansas State	Ole Miss	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, Mississippi	L 17–35
October 6	Idaho	Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, Tennessee	MTSU 70–58
October 6	Louisiana-Lafayette	Arizona State	Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, Arizona	L 27–63	38,118
October 6	North Texas	Louisiana-Monroe	Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana	ULM 19–17
October 6	New Mexico State	Tulsa	Skelly Stadium • Tulsa, Oklahoma	W 24–7	17,211

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

Week 8 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result
October 13	Arkansas State	Louisiana-Lafayette	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	ASU 26–20
October 13	Idaho	New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, New Mexico	NMSU 46–39
October 13	Middle Tennessee	North Texas	Fouts Field • Denton, Texas	UNT 24–21

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

Week 9 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 20	Arkansas State	North Texas	Fouts Field • Denton, Texas	UNT 45–0
October 20	Louisiana-Lafayette	Idaho	Martin Stadium • Pullman, Washington	ULL 54–37
October 20	Louisiana-Monroe	UCF	Florida Citrus Bowl • Orlando, Florida	L 6–38	23,001
October 20	Middle Tennessee	Ole Miss	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, Mississippi	L 17–45

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

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result
October 27	Idaho	Arkansas State	Indian Stadium • Jonesboro, Arkansas	ASU 34–31
October 27	Louisiana-Monroe	Louisiana-Lafayette	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	ULL 17–12
October 27	New Mexico State	Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, Tennessee	MTSU 39–35

Open Week: North Texas

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

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result
November 3	Louisiana-Monroe	Idaho	Kibbie Dome • Moscow, Idaho	UI 42–38
November 3	Arkansas State	Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, Tennessee	MTSU 54–6
November 3	North Texas	New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, New Mexico	UNT 22–20

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

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
November 10	Arkansas State	New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, New Mexico	NMSU 28–17
November 10	Troy State	Louisiana-Monroe	Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana	L 44–12
November 10	Louisiana-Lafayette	North Texas	Fouts Field • Denton, Texas	UNT 42–17
November 10	Middle Tennessee	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, Louisiana	L 30–14	88,249

Open Week: Idaho

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

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
November 17	Louisiana-Monroe	Arkansas State	Indian Stadium • Jonesboro, Arkansas	ULM 16–7
November 17	North Texas	Idaho	Kibbie Dome • Moscow, Idaho	UNT 50–27
November 17	New Mexico State	Louisiana-Lafayette	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	NMSU 49–46
November 17	Connecticut	Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, Tennessee	W 38–14	13,017

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

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
November 22	Nicholls State	Arkansas State	Indian Stadium • Jonesboro, Arkansas	L 28–22
November 24	Idaho	Montana	Washington–Grizzly Stadium • Missoula, Montana	L 33–27 2OT	18,056
November 24	Louisiana-Lafayette	UCF	Citrus Bowl • Orlando, Florida	L 31–0	12,264
November 24	New Mexico State	New Mexico	University Stadium • Albuquerque, New Mexico	L 53–0

Week 15 edit

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
December 1	Louisiana-Monroe	Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati	L 42–10	15,047
December 1	North Texas	Troy State	Veterans Memorial Stadium • Troy, Alabama	L 18–16

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

Bowl	Date	SBC team (Record)	Opponent (Record)	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
New Orleans Bowl	December 18	North Texas (5–6)	Colorado State (6–5)	Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans	ESPN2	L 45–20	27,004

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
RB	Dwone Hicks	Middle Tennessee
WR	Chris Lacy	Idaho
WR	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
QB	John Welsh	Idaho
RB	Jonathan Adams	Arkansas State
RB	Kenton Keith	New Mexico State
WR	Nick Dugas	UL Lafayette
WR	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

^ "2014 Sun Belt Football Media Guide". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
^ Steve Peloquin (August 21, 2013). "N.O. Bowl, Sun Belt Conference Agree To Extension". www.espn1420.com. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Counts Tabbed Player of Year Hicks; Offensive Choice". www.goblueraiders.com. Middle Tennessee Media Relations. December 4, 2001. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "2001 Football All-Conference Teams Announced: MT's Wes Counts named 2001 Player of the Year". sunbeltsports.org. December 4, 2001. Retrieved March 31, 2024.

[1] "2014 Sun Belt Football Media Guide". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved July 24, 2014.

[2] Steve Peloquin (August 21, 2013). "N.O. Bowl, Sun Belt Conference Agree To Extension". www.espn1420.com. Retrieved January 4, 2017.

[allsunbelt-3] "Counts Tabbed Player of Year Hicks; Offensive Choice". www.goblueraiders.com. Middle Tennessee Media Relations. December 4, 2001. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.

[Awards2001-4] "2001 Football All-Conference Teams Announced: MT's Wes Counts named 2001 Player of the Year". sunbeltsports.org. December 4, 2001. Retrieved March 31, 2024.

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