Arkansas State, a brief look

Arkansas State (10-3, 8-0)--After a pair of 4-8 seasons in 2009 and 2010, Arkansas State finally put things together and ran off the best season in school history. Led by 2-time first team all-Sun Belt Senior quarterback Ryan Aplin, the Red Wolves had an explosive offense that put up 32.5 points per game which was good for 31^st in the nation in 2011. Aplin was also the Red Wolves leading rusher with 588 yards on the ground as well. The curious thing about the Arkansas State attack was that Aplin did not throw for many touchdowns compared to the other explosive offenses in the nation. Aplin threw 19 touchdown passes but also threw 16 interceptions which was actually a downgrade from the 21 touchdown, 11 interception effort in 2010. The biggest loss for the offense in 2012 is the graduation of wide receiver Dwayne Frampton. Frampton ended the season with 94 catches which was 40 more than the next receiver on the list. Finding someone to make up for that lost productivity will be incredibly difficult.

With the explosive offense putting points on the board in bunches, the unsung MVP of the team in 2011 was the defense. The Red Wolves only gave up 20.8 points per game in 2011 which was good for 25^th best in the nation. The defense gave up 21 or fewer points in 8 of their 13 games. Teams struggled to run the ball versus Arkansas State only averaging 3.0 yards per carry. The Red Wolves defense was also excellent at getting off the field on third down plays holding opponents to a 35% 3^rd down conversion rate. While many teams have a single player that dominates the tackle statistics, the Red Wolves had a staggering 12 players with 40 or more tackles. The Red Wolves defense has a chance to be just as dominate in 2012 as they were in 2011.

Coach Hugh Freeze blew through town and in one season turned Arkansas State from a 4-8 team to a 10-3 team that went undefeated in Sun Belt play. Just as fast as he came in town, Freeze was on the first bus out of town taking a job at recent SEC doormat Mississippi hoping to pull some of the magic from Arkansas State to the Ole Miss program. Enter offensive wonder coach Guz Malzahn who turned down big 6 conference jobs as year earlier but jumped at the chance to return to Arkansas and coach the Red Wolves. Malzahn is good friends with outgoing coach Freeze and their offensive ideas are very similar. Malzahn comes from SEC power Auburn where he coached quarterback Cam Newton to a heisman as well as Auburn to a National Championship.

Not all has been roses for Arkansas State as the newly hired defensive coordinator Keith Patterson resigned from the job less than 2 months after accepting it. Malzahn has been known to butt heads with the defensive coaches on several occasions at Auburn so this does serve as a possible big story line in the future. Former Auburn running back Michael Dyer has transferred to ASU as well coming to play for coach Malzahn again. Dyer has several instances of getting in trouble at Auburn and could be the best or worst thing to happen to Arkansas State in the next couple of years.

Overall, anything less than repeating as conference winners and the Sun Belt bowl of their choice would be a downgrade for the Red Wolves. Short of Aplin suffering a season ending injury or internal squabbles that seem to follow Malzahn, the Red Wolves should easily be one of the top teams in the Sun Belt and compete for a conference title.