Just two weeks after the 2020 Football League season, it looks like the Sun Belt is pushing for a Power Five conference. Louisiana’s No. 23 Iowa State was pulling the strings 34-14 on Saturday, just as Arkansas State stunned Kansas State -335-stun1 with many offenses and some surprises. Eventually, however, the state of Arkansas was down from nine starts.
The key to Arkansas State’s victory was Banner Day of Red Wolves wide receiver Jonathan Adams Jr., who had eight catches for 97 yards and three touchdowns. The biggest was his final one – the second with a one-minute lead to go ahead to give Arkansas State the lead and a 17-yard score at 15.
Adams worked all day in the defense of the state of Kansas. In fact, you might argue that he didn’t even count the best catches of the day. At the time, when he caught the final game winner, it’s no surprise that Kansas State wasn’t tripled in favor of him.
But outside of Adams’ day, Arkansas State played the game as if it had nothing to lose, which is the right approach when you’re under double-digits. The quiet story of the game was that the line jumped from Kansas State -10.5 to -13 as the kickoff approached. There could be several reasons for that – from missing start to late money arrivals – but Arkansas State was clearly capable of blows before taking the lead at the end.
Part of the Red Wolves’ attack was that it unveiled cunning plays for the Tatra Padown. There was a 48-yard halfback pass that pulled Arkansas State into a touchdown. Another one was the Tim Tabo-Esk jump pass to tie the game at 21-21.
The state of Arkansas did a great job of being aggressive and keeping the state of Kansas on its toes. This way you can go on the road as an underdog and pull off a win with some question marks in his first game in a big game team.
