#Sunbelt conference full#

So, we’ll use the 2021 chart as a base reference and concentrate on looking at how the league might perform in the 2022 season and beyond. Sun Belt expansion ahead of schedule, realignment set for summer of 2022 | Sports | It seems the hits to CUSA and the FCS CAA are about to happen as soon as the lawyers and the money men can work out a deal. The current league configuration is moving quickly, though.

It’s All About the Benjamins and Lawyers, Too

#Sunbelt conference full#

We’ll see how those pressures and counter pressures push full participation somewhere, but it is interesting to see how the SEC programs navigate their way given the conference realignment scramble going on in the dominant money programs of football and men’s basketball. This sort of half-in half-out configuration doesn’t tend to last long, however. Kentucky and South Carolina are joining the non-revenue sport parade to the Belt, as well as West Virginia. The “Affiliate” memberships are also flowing in as some surprising programs move their non-football sports to the Sun Belt. It has been sort of a revolving door, new member, ODU is actually returning to the fold for full membership. That presents some serious problems in the growth and performance promise of the league.Īs a serious point of interest, though, the conference started off as non-football in mid-1976. There are ups and downs, but the reality is that the Sun Belt Conference is definitely a territorial mimic of the SEC with teams that are operating at a lower altitude of performance. The conference is actually relatively new, and most of the teams that are currently playing and those anticipated are very similar in capabilities to Virginia Tech in the transitional Dooley and Beamer eras. As the name suggests these are southeastern and central teams with the farthest west being the Texas State Bobcats in San Marcos, Texas. The Old Sun Belt was “Football” SmallĬurrently the Sun Belt Conference, as of 2021, consisted of 10 football teams in two divisions separated East and West. Predictions for the Cajuns’ 2022 season get thrown out the window. A prime example is the Napier move from G5 power Louisiana to Florida. The Sun Belt teams are all “step up” programs where successful coaches are poached up to FBS status. That will severely limit this trip through the final conference review in this series. And all of that is IF lawsuits, counter filings with settlement and potential court intervention don’t have effects one way or the other.

Which means the Conference USA configuration is going to change, earlier than anticipated.

That’s what the Sun Belt Conference seems to be throwing to us. The change isn’t in the configuration of the conferences circa 2023 and beyond, it’s more related to timing. We were fully aware of the chance that things would change in the middle of the series, and it looks like that impression has come true. The Final Review of Another Non-Championship Conference