Final Thoughts on the 2018 Red Wolves regular season

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And just like that, the 2018 regular season has come to a close. It literally feels like it was just a week or two ago that I was watching the spring game or the fall scrimmage. Now, it's all but over.

In my first season of covering the Red Wolves professionally, I've had an absolute blast. Through the highs and lows, it's been a dream come true. But that doesn't mean everything is rainbows and sunshine in Jonesboro. This season has a lot to be proud of, but also a lot to criticize. Here are my takeaways, for whatever they're worth:

Omar Bayless tries to evade a defender from South Alabama. Photo by Chase Gage

POSITIVES:

8-4 is a hell of a mark for any team. When I was a kid watching the Indians, no one could even dream of a winning season. In 2005 they made a bowl game, and you would have thought they made the Super Bowl. It was that big of a deal. Now, the Red Wolves will go bowling for the eighth year in a row. That's nearly inconceivable.

Here's a sentence you won't see often. Arkansas State finished the 2018 regular season with a better record than:

Florida State (36-year bowl streak snapped)

Auburn (under Gus Malzahn)

Miami

The ENTIRE ACC Coastal Division

Louisville

Ole Miss

The other ASU

Stanford

Oregon

Michigan State

Wisconsin

Nebraska

TCU

....I could go on.

I know that's all relative to conferences and schedules and such, but the point is that those teams would love to have had the season the Red Wolves had. Eight wins and a bowl appearance is a great feat for any school outside of powerhouses like Alabama and Clemson, and even their time at the top will come to an end eventually.

Another thing fans can hang their hats on is how the team finished the year. Sitting at 1-3 in conference and 4-4 overall, they could have called it quits. They didn't, though. They reeled off four wins in a row by sizable margins to salvage the season. Sure, the wins came during the easiest stretch of schedule they had, but they wouldn't have gone 4-0 playing the way they played earlier in the year. They truly came together in the final stretch and played the way we all expected in the beginning.

NEGATIVES:

This squad SHOULD be playing for the Sun Belt title next week. There's no way around it. Forget the ULM vs Louisiana game. The Red Wolves had a chance to win the West in Lafayette, and they didn't. They made a comeback after giving up multiple 50+ yard touchdowns, but it wasn't enough. If even one or two plays go down differently in that game, the Wolves are going to Boone next week. Instead, they'll watch from home. That's the toughest pill to swallow from this year.

To make it even worse, you could say the literal exact same thing about Georgia Southern. If ONE play goes a different way, they're in the title game, even with the loss to the Cajuns.

Take the losses to Bama and App State on the chin. We knew the Bama loss was coming, and the Mountaineers came to play while the Red Wolves didn't. Win the rest and this squad would be 10-2, playing a rematch with App for the title, and could possibly be ranked in the Top 25. That's the season we all expected, and we were let down.

FINAL WORD:

Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I believe so. This team overcame dozens of injuries (which led to players playing out of position, or true freshmen having to have increased roles they might not have been ready for), cleared the non-conference hurdle, and salvaged the season in the final stretch.

They started 3-1 in non-conference, went 1-3 in their first four Sun Belt games, and finished 4-0. The tale of three teams has two great stretches and one dismal one. Perhaps that's a good way to look at the season. A roller coaster that was more good than bad. Could have been better, but could have been much worse.

This is a team that will have a chance to win a ninth game in a bowl. This program has become one that demands excellence. The fact that eight wins can be met with harsh criticism is a sign of a very successful program. Arkansas State is still a program on the rise, even if this is a "down" year. They're 67-35 since 2011. I don't want to take the time to look up where that ranks among the rest of college football, but I guarantee most programs can't boast a record like that.

I can't wait to find out where this team is going bowling. I'll have tons of content between now and then, so be on the lookout. Wolves up, always.