Here's a list of programs without a single conference championship game appearance, I left off teams that made a CCG in a different conference than their current one. It's not a great indication of a program "drought" since a few below won their conference when they didn't have a championship game, others are recent FCS callouts, and the Sun Belt has only has a few CCGs on record, but interesting to call out. The question is however, which team on the list is most likely to break their streak this fall? There are quite a few I had to leave off the poll, though I'm guessing no one was gonna vote for Kansas or Vandy. And yeah, Indy teams shouldn't be listed by I wanted to have a complete list.

No CCG appearance:
AAC - USF, Tulane
ACC - Louisville, NC State, Syracuse
Big Ten - Illinois, IU, Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers
Big 12 - KU, WVU, Texas Tech
C-USA - Charlotte, FIU, UTEP
Indy - Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn, UMass
MAC - Eastern Michigan
Pac-12 - Cal, Oregon State, Wazzu
MWC - Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV
SEC - Kentucky, Ole Miss, Vandy
Sun Belt - Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, UL-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, JMU, Old Dominion

I went with Old Mrs.

Curious which Sun Belt team(s) folks are thinking about, I admittedly don't follow them much.

(08-01-2022 08:35 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Curious which Sun Belt team(s) folks are thinking about, I admittedly don't follow them much.

For the SBC West, Louisiana has had a stranglehold on that division basically since their division started, but some believe that this could be the year that South Alabama wrestles away the division crown. UL has a big rebuild with a new head coach., but it's still hard to see anyone else other than USA stepping up to take the SBC West crown this season.

Georgia State is expected to be strong this year, but their challenge is App State, Coastal Carolina, and Marshall are sitting there all expecting their own championship hunts. JMU is an FCS championship caliber making the jump but is roster adjusting and is technically ineligible for championships and bowls this year, and ODU actually would have been a darkhorse in the '22 CUSA East this year but probably doesn't have the offense yet to really make the jump, but I think ODU is poised to make a charge in 2023.

Of the teams on your list, South Alabama and Georgia State are the two contenders probably in the hunt to get off the list this year with USA being the most likely.

Voted Louisville since I have a vested interest in UCF's SOS

NC State

Nevada. Kinda shocked they hadn’t made it prior, they usually have a pretty solid team.

(08-01-2022 09:31 AM)No Bull Wrote:  NC State

My vote too

(08-01-2022 09:12 AM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  

(08-01-2022 08:35 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Curious which Sun Belt team(s) folks are thinking about, I admittedly don't follow them much.

For the SBC West, Louisiana has had a stranglehold on that division basically since their division started, but some believe that this could be the year that South Alabama wrestles away the division crown. UL has a big rebuild with a new head coach., but it's still hard to see anyone else other than USA stepping up to take the SBC West crown this season.

Georgia State is expected to be strong this year, but their challenge is App State, Coastal Carolina, and Marshall are sitting there all expecting their own championship hunts. JMU is an FCS championship caliber making the jump but is roster adjusting and is technically ineligible for championships and bowls this year, and ODU actually would have been a darkhorse in the '22 CUSA East this year but probably doesn't have the offense yet to really make the jump, but I think ODU is poised to make a charge in 2023.

Of the teams on your list, South Alabama and Georgia State are the two contenders probably in the hunt to get off the list this year with USA being the most likely.

Interesting. As an outsider it feels like another App State/Louisiana game is very likely, though I can see Marshall making a run for it. Phil Steele picks UL to win the West again but Troy to finish 2nd there (Southern Miss 3rd, South Alabama 4th); he's hardly foolproof though he tends to be the most accurate/thorough in the long run.

On that note, in Steele's 2022 preview the only teams from the OP picked to finish in their division's top two (or conference's top three if no divisions) were NC State (2nd in ACC Atlantic), UTEP (3rd in C-USA overall), and Troy (2nd in the Belt West).

Charlotte. Loaded / experienced at skill positions on offense; any improvement to 2021's abysmal defense under new DC & staff could propel them to CCG.

Not a lock, but a decent bet.

Congrats to Troy, Tulane, and Purdue for making their first CCG game appearances!