Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

An opportunistic Arkansas State defense staked the Red Wolves to a 17-0 lead, and junior quarterback Ryan Aplin and the ASU offense then put the game in cruise control with Aplin's running and passing in a 45-14 win over Troy on Saturday at ASU Stadium.

Aplin hit 25 of 37 passes for 365 yards, with 18 completions and 214 yards coming in the second half. Senior Dwayne Frampton caught 10 of Aplin's passes for 153 yards and one touchdown 30-yard touchdown catch. Aplin also found Taylor Stockemer on a 10-yard fade route for a score and shoved a 9-yard pass to Rod Hall for the last touchdown of the game, with 4:38 to play.

Aplin added 35 yards in net rushing. He gained 68 with keepers that kept the Trojans' defense on its heels, but Troy got to him three times for 28 yards in losses.

ASU outscored Troy 21-0 in the second half, holding the Trojans to 98 total yards in the second half after Troy had outgained the Red Wolves 275 total yards to 206 in the first half, yet trailed 24-14. The Red Wolves defense shutdown Troy's running completely, allowing 62 yards on 25 attempts, and the Trojans passed almost exclusively in the second half.

The victory gave ASU its first 10-win season in 25 years, and the first in 36 years when ASU was competing in the top classification of NCAA football. The 1986 team under Larry Lacewell went 12-2-1 and was runner-up in the NCAA Division-IAA playoffs to Georgia Southern. ASU's 1975 team under Bill Davidson went 11-0 as a Division I member.

Hugh Freeze, ASU's first-year coach who was offensive coordinator for Steve Roberts last season, guided the Red Wolves to their first outright Sun Belt Conference championship with an 8-0 league mark. ASU's only losses this season in a 10-2 campaign came at the hands of Big Ten's Illinois and No. 4-ranked Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

ASU has already accepted a berth in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, slated for Sunday, Jan. 8, in Mobile, Ala.

The Red Wolves were outgained by nearly 70 yards and were doubled in first downs, 16-8, by its annual league nemesis in the first half. But the Red Wolves methodically were unstoppable on offense while the defense, which seemed to get a hand on a dozen Troy passes, locked down the Trojans for the last 30 minutes.

Aplin and the offense couldn't seem to click in the first quarter and a half, but his 51-yard completion to Julian Jones led to Bobby Zalud's 53-yard field goal with a stiff southerly wind at his back.

ASU then struck with its defense and its punt return team. Shaun Southward lost the handle on a hard hit by Tausen Holmes, and safety Darryl Feemster scooped it at his 40 and returned it down his left sideline for the game's first touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, ASU's big linebacker Qushaun Lee didn't seem to do anything special on a punt rush but stick his arm between blockers, but he got all of the kick and deflected it far to his left, where Don Jones picked up the ball at the 5 and carried it in.

Troy's Corey Robinson finally found the end zone twice in the second quarter, closing to within 24-14 by halftime, before Aplin had three touchdown passes and the Red Wolves were able to pull away.

Freeze got the ceremonial ice-cooler bath with two minutes left in the game. Whether that's the last time for the Red Wolves to douse the coach remains to be seen, as his ultra successful first season here has put his name in play for bigger schools seeking new coaches.