Five things to know about Arkansas State, which has a former Buckeye at RB and a former Florida State starter at QB but is coming off its worst season in 21 years.
Here are five things to know about the Red Wolves, who will enter Columbus asArkansas State’s head coach knows what it’s like to beat Ryan Day and the Buckeyes.
Arkansas State is Jones’ fourth head coaching stop in the college football ranks, having previously spent time at Central Michigan , Cincinnati and Tennessee . Jones had winning records overall at each of those stops, won four bowl games and finished in the final AP Top 25 on four occasions. Arkansas State ranked 124th in the country in scoring defense a year ago, allowing an average of 38.6 points per game, and its total defense was even worse. Of the 130 teams in FBS football, Arkansas State was second-to-last with a defense that gave up 505.9 yards to its opponents per game. The Red Wolves were one of just two teams in the county to give up at least 500 yards per game, alongside Duke.
in the 2018 class, the Florida native played just two games in scarlet and gray before a university investigation led to his suspension and eventual dismissal. Snead then went the junior college route for a year at Iowa Western Community College before transferring to Austin Peay. The 6-foot, 210-pound back will be one of the focal points of the Red Wolves’ offense as he enters Ohio Stadium one more time, although Arkansas State had the third-worst rushing offense in the country in 2021.Regardless of its caliber of opponent, Arkansas State couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season on Saturday.
Unfortunately for Arkansas State, it’ll be tough to build on such a performance when going up against last season’s No. 1 total offense in the country, even if the Buckeyes had an off-kilter start to the year against Notre Dame on that side of the ball.Integral to Arkansas State’s explosive Week 1 win was the play of quarterback James Blackman, who finished with four total touchdowns and just five incompletions against the Tigers.