2001 Sun Belt Conference football season explained

2001 Sun Belt Conference football season
Color:	FCA120
League:	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport:	football
Pixels:	150px
Duration:	August 23, 2001 – December 1, 2001
No Of Teams:	7
Draft:	2002 NFL Draft
Draft Link:	2002 NFL Draft
Top Pick:	Kendall Newson (Middle Tennessee)
Picked By:	Jacksonville Jaguars, 222nd overall
Season:	Regular season
Season Champs:	Middle Tennessee & North Texas
Second Place:	New Mexico State
Mvp:	Wes Counts
Top Scorer:	Dwone Hicks (144 points)
Seasonslistnames:	Football
Nextseason Year:	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]

The conference title was won by Middle Tennessee and North Texas.

Coaches

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

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

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

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

Week 2

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
August 30	Idaho		L 7–36	31,097
August 30	Middle Tennessee		W 37–28	39,885
September 1	Arkansas State		L 17–45	86,520
September 1	Nicholls State	Louisiana-Lafayette	W 20–0
September 1	Sam Houston State	Louisiana-Monroe	L 9–20
September 1	New Mexico State		L 7–41	82,856
September 1		North Texas	L 5–19	22,837

Players of the week:

Week 3

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
September 8	Arkansas State		L 3–24	28,953
September 8	Idaho		L 29–36	44,250
September 8	Louisiana-Lafayette		W 14–44	35,089
September 8	Louisiana-Monroe		L 6–55	85,011
September 8		Middle Tennessee	W 54–17
September 8		New Mexico State	L 22–27	27,238
September 8	North Texas		L 10–37	74,930

Players of the week:

Week 4

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

Week 5

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
September 22		Arkansas State	L 28–31
September 22	Idaho		L 3–53	70,145
September 22		Louisiana-Lafayette	L 10–35	14,132
September 22	Middle Tennessee	Louisiana-Monroe	MTSU 38–20
September 22	New Mexico State		L 0–64	49,229
September 22		North Texas	L 14–42	20,852

Players of the week:

Week 6

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
September 29	Idaho		L 13–45	20,359
September 22	Middle Tennessee	Louisiana-Lafayette	MSTU 26–9
September 22	New Mexico State	Louisiana-Monroe	NMSU 31–0
September 22	North Texas		L 10–28	25,156

Open Week: Arkansas State

Players of the week:

Week 7

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
October 6	Arkansas State		L 17–35
October 6	Idaho	Middle Tennessee	MTSU 70–58
October 6	Louisiana-Lafayette		L 27–63	38,118
October 6	North Texas	Louisiana-Monroe	ULM 19–17
October 6	New Mexico State		W 24–7	17,211

Players of the week:

Week 8

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result
October 13	Arkansas State	Louisiana-Lafayette	ASU 26–20
October 13	Idaho	New Mexico State	NMSU 46–39
October 13	Middle Tennessee	North Texas	UNT 24–21

Open Week: Louisiana-Monroe

Players of the week:

Week 9

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
October 20	Arkansas State	North Texas	UNT 45–0
October 20	Louisiana-Lafayette	Idaho	ULL 54–37
October 20	Louisiana-Monroe		L 6–38	23,001
October 20	Middle Tennessee		L 17–45

Open Week: New Mexico State

Players of the week:

Week 10

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result
October 27	Idaho	Arkansas State	ASU 34–31
October 27	Louisiana-Monroe	Louisiana-Lafayette	ULL 17–12
October 27	New Mexico State	Middle Tennessee	MTSU 39–35

Open Week: North Texas

Players of the week:

Week 11

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result
November 3	Louisiana-Monroe	Idaho	UI 42–38
November 3	Arkansas State	Middle Tennessee	MTSU 54–6
November 3	North Texas	New Mexico State	UNT 22–20

Open Week: Louisiana-Lafayette

Players of the week:

Week 12

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
November 10	Arkansas State	New Mexico State	NMSU 28–17
November 10		Louisiana-Monroe	L 44–12
November 10	Louisiana-Lafayette	North Texas	UNT 42–17
November 10	Middle Tennessee		L 30–14	88,249

Open Week: Idaho

Players of the week:

Week 13

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
November 17	Louisiana-Monroe	Arkansas State	ULM 16–7
November 17	North Texas	Idaho	UNT 50–27
November 17	New Mexico State	Louisiana-Lafayette	NMSU 49–46
November 17		Middle Tennessee	W 38–14	13,017

Players of the week:

Week 14

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Result	Attendance
November 22		Arkansas State	L 28–22
November 24	Idaho		L 33–27 2OT	18,056
November 24	Louisiana-Lafayette	UCF	L 31–0	12,264
November 24	New Mexico State		L 53–0

Week 15

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
December 1	Louisiana-Monroe			L 42–10	15,047
December 1	North Texas			L 18–16

Open Week: Arkansas State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State

Players of the week:

Bowl games

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

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

Coaches All-Conference Selections^[4]

Position	Player	Team
First-team Offense
QB	Wes Counts	Style =	Middle Tennessee
RB	Kevin Galbreath*	Style =	North Texas
RB	Dwone Hicks	Style =	Middle Tennessee
WR	Chris Lacy	Style =	Idaho
WR	Kendall Newsom	Style =	Middle Tennessee
TE	Jeff Muenchow	Style =	North Texas
OL	Garry Johnson	Style =	Arkansas State
	J. R. Randle	Style =	North Texas
	Brandon Westbrook	Style =	Middle Tennessee
	Tony Wragge	Style =	New Mexico State
	Nick Zuniga	Style =	North Texas
First-team Defense
DL	Brandon Kennedy*	Style =	North Texas
	Donald Malveaux	Style =	UL Monroe
	Joe Olivo	Style =	New Mexico State
	Tanaka Scott	Style =	Middle Tennessee
LB	Brad Kassell	Style =	North Texas
	Scotty Brown	Style =	Middle Tennessee
	D'Wayne Taylor	Style =	New Mexico State
DB	Jykine Bradley	Style =	Middle Tennessee
	Jonas Buckles	Style =	North Texas
	Siddeeq Shabazz	Style =	New Mexico State
	Charles Tillman	Style =	UL Lafayette
First-team Special Teams
K	Jason Ball	Style =	North Texas
P	Jason Ball	Style =	North Texas
RS	James Hickenbotham	Style =	Arkansas State
All-purpose	James Hickenbotham	Style =	Arkansas State

Position	Player	Team
Second-team Offense
QB	K. C. Enzminger	Style =	New Mexico State
QB	John Welsh	Style =	Idaho
RB	Jonathan Adams	Style =	Arkansas State
RB	Kenton Keith	Style =	New Mexico State
WR	Nick Dugas	Style =	UL Lafayette
WR	George Marshall	Style =	North Texas
TE	Jerry Pegues	Style =	Arkansas State
OL	Glen Elarbee	Style =	Middle Tennessee
	Shalimar Jackson	Style =	New Mexico State
	Jonathon Raush	Style =	UL Lafayette
	Jake Scott	Style =	Idaho
	Matt Turney	Style =	North Texas
Second-team Defense
DL	Jonathan Bradley	Style =	Arkansas State
	Brandon Kania	Style =	Idaho
	Alex Pahulu	Style =	North Texas
	Ron Paris	Style =	North Texas
LB	Ross Brupbacher	Style =	UL Lafayette
	Maurice Sonnier	Style =	UL Monroe
	Cody Spencer	Style =	North Texas
DB	Dedrick Buckels	Style =	UL Monroe
	Kyries Hebert	Style =	UL Lafayette
	Craig Jones	Style =	North Texas
	Michael Woods	Style =	Middle Tennessee
Second-team Special Teams
K	Dario Aguiniga	Style =	New Mexico State
P	Robert Billings	Style =	Middle Tennessee
RS	Tony Lukins	Style =	New Mexico State
All-purpose	Reshard Lee	Style =	Middle Tennessee

Notes and References

Web site: 2014 Sun Belt Football Media Guide . Sun Belt Conference . 24 July 2014.
Web site: N.O. Bowl, Sun Belt Conference Agree To Extension . Steve Peloquin . August 21, 2013 . www.espn1420.com . January 4, 2017.
Web site: Counts Tabbed Player of Year Hicks; Offensive Choice . December 4, 2001 . Middle Tennessee Media Relations . www.goblueraiders.com . January 4, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170105180724/http://energy.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/616/print/1 . January 5, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
Web site: 2001 Football All-Conference Teams Announced: MT's Wes Counts named 2001 Player of the Year. sunbeltsports.org. December 4, 2001. March 31, 2024.