ATLANTA -- Arkansas State coaches filled their players' heads during the short week with praise of the defense the Red Wolves would face Thursday night.
ASU was coming off its best offensive performance of the season, but Georgia State had held every Sun Belt Conference team it had faced to below its scoring standard.
In what ended up being ASU's 31-16 victory inside a mostly empty Georgia Dome, Coach Blake Anderson and his staff stressed the importance of game-changing plays on defense and special teams.
ASU's most experienced unit gladly accepted, coming up with three plays on special teams -- two it forced and another gift -- it used to pull away in the second half for its fourth consecutive victory and 13th in a row over a Sun Belt team.