Louisiana-Lafayette (2-3) at Texas State (3-2) Oct. 14, 8:00, ESPN2 

Here’s The Deal: The Sun Belt title is up for grabs with each team still unbeaten in the early stages of conference play, however, the loser will be in trouble with Arkansas State and Georgia Southern still to deal with. Louisiana-Lafayette struggled way too much with a mediocre Georgia State team, and the offense went nowhere in a three-game losing stretch against the tough non-conference slate, but with two home games up next, a win over the Bobcats could turn everything around. TXST slipped by both Tulsa and Idaho, and now it really, really needs this with two road trips up next and three of the next four on the road. 
Why Louisiana-Lafayette Might Win: The Ragin’ Cajun running game has yet to get rolling, and while it’s been fine, it hasn’t been devastating. Texas State has a lot of good players who can get into the backfield and be disruptive, but they’ve had a really hard time with decent ground games allowing 200 yards or more three times and making way too many plays down the field. 
Why Texas State Might Win: The ULL defense isn’t stopping much of anything. Decent passing games are able to do whatever they want to, and the defensive front has been a huge problem. The biggest overall issue continues to be takeaways with just one pick on the year and no recovered fumbles – ULL is -9 on the year and lost the margin in four of the games and was even against Georgia State.
Who To Watch Out For: Texas State RB Terrence Franks is coming off a whale of a game. Not used much early on this year, he showed glimpsed against Tulsa running 20 times for 71 yards and two scores, and then came the Idaho game. The senior only got 15 carries, but he made them count with long run after long run, taking off for 284 yards and three scores. 
What’s Going To Happen: Texas State has too much offense and will be too good at home against the struggling Ragin’ Cajun defense. TXST will be +3 in turnover margin. 
Prediction: Texas State 35 … Louisiana-Lafayette 30 
Line: Texas State -2.5 o/u: 64 
Must Watch Factor: 5: Birdman – 1: The Voice (now that the blind auditions are over) … 2