![]() Marshall and Southern Miss are two programs that have national recognition and have been around since the 1960s. James Madison has won two national championships in the FCS and invests heavily in their athletics. If the Sun Belt comes out of conference realignment without losing any teams and adding four really quality programs, I think it catapults them to the top of the Group of Five in terms of quality football teams. Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss are all rumored to be joining the Sun Belt, with a possible invitation to FCS member James Madison as well. Right now, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, and Troy all call the Sun Belt home. Sun Belt football quietly winning the Group of Five realignment war So, it’s a total win for the Sun Belt to be able to hang on these very desirable teams and not lose them to the AAC or any other conference for that matter. Plus they made sense as a geographical partner for Memphis. The Red Wolves have enjoyed success in recent years, appearing in nine straight bowl games and have been a popular spot for downtrodden coaches to rehabilitate their image and resume. These teams have been ranked, have enjoyed success against ranked teams, and/or enjoy passionate fan bases.Įven Arkansas State would have made sense for the American. The Sun Belt has several desirable teams that I thought would be ideal fits in the American Athletic Conference during this round of conference realignment.Īppalachian State, Coastal Carolina, and Louisiana, in particular, made total sense to join the AAC. Let's not forget that there are other hybrid conferences in the FCS level, like the CAA.If you would have told me at the beginning of conference realignment, that Sun Belt football would come out unscathed, adding teams and making an argument for being the premier Group of Five conference, I would have called you crazy. As far as Navy goes for being a football-only school, would they be forced to bring the rest of their sports to the AAC from the Patriot League, or would they be an FBS Independent again (similar to how Army went through when its football program was in C-USA)? And should Navy get the boot also, would either another school from C-USA to move up and replace them (either FIU or Louisiana Tech)? Let's say UALR would re-join the A-Sun or join the Southland (where Central Arkansas once competed) and UT-Arlington re-join either the Southland or the WAC.Īnd if Wichita State does get the proverbial boot, they might either re-join the MVC or join the Summit, as both of these conferences are within the Upper Midwest for them in a geographic footprint standpoint. ![]() In regards with UT-Arlington and UALR, you make a point about the time that C-USA had, when it was a 12-plus member school hybrid conference (and half of them play FBS football, which included then-associate Army in football only) until 2005 when half of those football-playing all sports schools jumped ship to the original Big East, which was also a 12-plus member school hybrid conference, which took a few years until between late 2012 to early 2013 leading the "Catholic-7" schools to vote out and re-create the Big East, which lead the creation of the AAC for the football-playing schools.īack to the topic, and in case these two schools don't plan to add football (which most fanbases within their schools wanted or hoped or invested, but it's highly doubted), they would need to find a geographic friendly conference.
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