One of the under-rated story lines of college football this year.

The league never had a team ranked in the AP poll until 2016 and that lasted all of one week. In 2014 after the realignment that happened in 2013 the 11 Sun Belt teams won 4 FBS non-conference games in the regular-season.

Fast forward to this year and the Sun Belt has topped that mark in each of the last 2 weeks and is poised to be the top G5 league in the rankings by a fairly comfortable margin.

It's an exciting time to be in the league that was once considered the bottom of the food chain in realignment.

Ap and coaches polls dont matter. Lets see how they do in CFP rankings.

According to conference ranking (Massey Composite), the Sun Belt went from 10th (last) to 6th in the last 9 years. That's incredibly difficult.

(09-17-2023 09:21 AM)Yosef181 Wrote:  According to conference ranking (Massey Composite), the Sun Belt went from 10th (last) to 6th in the last 9 years. That's incredibly difficult.

MWC does have two very strong teams that beat P5 schools. I don't know but Fresno State and Air Force are in front of the SBC in the others receiving votes. Fresno State could be the one that enters the top 25 this week.
JMU is still not be able to go to a bowl this year unless there is not enough teams.
Georgia State is the weakling of the bunch that will suffer their first loss.
Marshall may have the chance to go to a NY 6 bowl, but it would be hard to get past Memphis, Fresno State or Air Force. Fresno State and Air Force don't face each other, but they both could go to the playoffs unbeaten, and one of them could sneak a Playoff spot.

The Sunbelt is a well structured league, particularly the East Division.

Shame that ODU couldn’t hang on vs Wake. Those are the games that can push a little over the hump.

G5 leagues tend to be cyclical. In 2013, the SB had the best G5 record vs. FBS, 15-17. The next year they were 5-32 and the year after that 7-32.

But the Sun Belt does seem to have moved past the CUSA and MAC.

Interesting to note that the best team in the "top G5 league" very well may be a FBS newcomer that was elite (two championships) but not dominant (see NDSU) during its FCS glory days from 2004-2021

Seems like a good reminder that the difference among the bottom half of P5, the top 25% of G5 and the very best of FCS is likely pretty darn small

And this year they're likely at the same level of the MWC/AAC (I could make arguments that they're both weaker or stronger than those, so I think parity is fair). What makes me wonder is the investment dollars in athletics trailing behind the MWC/AAC. Is that gap significant over time or not at all? It's important in being able to recruit, NIL, holding on to coaches via salaries, etc. Those are things that make a program a program, even after players and coaches move on. Otherwise, we get hot flashes of brilliance followed by years of the dregs once a coach is poached.

(09-17-2023 10:49 AM)Comet Wrote:  And this year they're likely at the same level of the MWC/AAC (I could make arguments that they're both weaker or stronger than those, so I think parity is fair). What makes me wonder is the investment dollars in athletics trailing behind the MWC/AAC. Is that gap significant over time or not at all? It's important in being able to recruit, NIL, holding on to coaches via salaries, etc. Those are things that make a program a program, even after players and coaches move on. Otherwise, we get hot flashes of brilliance followed by years of the dregs once a coach is poached.

I can remember CUSA 3.0 bragging about how much better their finances looked even as recently as 2021 saying they were doubting Mashall, ODU, and USM would leave for the Sun Belt because the tax forms looked so much better.

Some programs just get more bang for their buck, that's been clear for a long time.

It's not just football...

This morning, the SBC has the #2, #3, and #4 teams in men's soccer RPI, and will assuredly have the #1 team in the Coaches Poll on Tuesday this week based on this week's results. The SBC may well be the best conference in men's soccer this year, period. Coastal Carolina is opening a new on-campus soccer stadium, Marshall is about to inject $6m of new stadium improvements before the 2024 season, etc.

SBC Baseball and softball are already well established, but there is SIGNIFICANT facility investments being made. ODU currently has a $20 million renovation project training, Marshall is opening its new $30m baseball stadium in the spring along with a softball-specific indoor training facility, Troy just opened a huge new grandstand renovation, South Alabama has a new grandstand improvement project...
 
Men's basketball saw a nearly doubling of the conference's average attendance last year coupled with a jump up the conference ratings with the addition of the mid-Atlantic basketball programs.

The conference has just added beach volleyball and women's swimming and diving as sponsored sports in the last year. There's talks that they may also be adding field hockey and lacrosse in the near future to further support programs like JMU and ODU which have multiple national titles in those sports.

There's alot to like about the current direction of the league not only in football, but all around the athletics departments of those schools.

The SBC added quality programs in and near their footprint and that has been all the difference.

Legacy: Arkansas St, South Alabama, Troy, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe

They’ve poached the FCS with 3 schools holding national titles. They’ve poached CUSA with 3 terrific schools. They’ve brought in a Division I baseball national champion. They’ve brought in two other decently large schools.

Sunbelt fans make it hard to root for them with the SEC levels of chest beating but I do have a lot of respect for the huge improvement the sunbelt has shown since they were left for dead and considered a glorified FCS conference all those years ago. I think the days of one G5 dominating the way the AAC has in recent years are over but they have certainly shown that they should continue to be in that conversation for the top G5 every year. It would've been fun to be a part of the rise of that conference but I wouldn't have invited us either for a variety of reasons so I have no hard feelings about it.

It's mid-September, take it down three to five notches.

(09-17-2023 01:44 PM)Psicosis Wrote:  It's mid-September, take it down three to five notches.

Agreed, it’s ridiculous to say the Sunbelt had achieved anything other than winning a few games. In order to be successful as a major conference player there must be markets and academics which the belt does not have. They can beat Oklahoma State all they want but in the end most college football fans do not care. Fans care about markets and they care about academics and athletic prestige. All of which firmly belong to the AAC.

Fans care about winning.

SBC has the advantage over AAC in head to head matchups so far.


MWC has two teams in the polls above the AAC's top team.



AAC is on a downward trend, bub.

(09-17-2023 02:15 PM)Thewavefan Wrote:  

(09-17-2023 01:44 PM)Psicosis Wrote:  It's mid-September, take it down three to five notches.

Agreed, it’s ridiculous to say the Sunbelt had achieved anything other than winning a few games. In order to be successful as a major conference player there must be markets and academics which the belt does not have. They can beat Oklahoma State all they want but in the end most college football fans do not care. Fans care about markets and they care about academics and athletic prestige. All of which firmly belong to the AAC.

Suits care about markets. Everyone cares about academics. Fans care about winning.

Also, app says one particular poster sure does get a kick out of giving tulane rep points over and over and over and over and over.....

(09-17-2023 09:06 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  One of the under-rated story lines of college football this year.

The league never had a team ranked in the AP poll until 2016 and that lasted all of one week. In 2014 after the realignment that happened in 2013 the 11 Sun Belt teams won 4 FBS non-conference games in the regular-season.

Fast forward to this year and the Sun Belt has topped that mark in each of the last 2 weeks and is poised to be the top G5 league in the rankings by a fairly comfortable margin.

It's an exciting time to be in the league that was once considered the bottom of the food chain in realignment.

Is there a legitimate article linked to this thread, or is this just your opinion?

Remember when the two finalists for the last Sun Belt seat were Eastern Kentucky and 9k-seat stadium Coastal Carolina? Wow, did times change.

A sold out Marshall hosts Virginia Tech on ESPN2 this week.

(09-17-2023 09:06 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  One of the under-rated story lines of college football this year.

The league never had a team ranked in the AP poll until 2016 and that lasted all of one week. In 2014 after the realignment that happened in 2013 the 11 Sun Belt teams won 4 FBS non-conference games in the regular-season.

Fast forward to this year and the Sun Belt has topped that mark in each of the last 2 weeks and is poised to be the top G5 league in the rankings by a fairly comfortable margin.

It's an exciting time to be in the league that was once considered the bottom of the food chain in realignment.

Easy to become top dog in G5 when almost every strong G5 team from the past has moved up into P5. Add in the MWC going downhill, AFA, Fresno, Wyoming are pretty good, the rest of the league is avg to trash. AAC lost the big schools, CUSA and MAC would be 3rd, 4th, maybe 5th best FCS league. Good for the SBC, but it wasn't that hard.

(09-17-2023 03:58 PM)jacksfan29! Wrote:  

(09-17-2023 09:06 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  One of the under-rated story lines of college football this year.

The league never had a team ranked in the AP poll until 2016 and that lasted all of one week. In 2014 after the realignment that happened in 2013 the 11 Sun Belt teams won 4 FBS non-conference games in the regular-season.

Fast forward to this year and the Sun Belt has topped that mark in each of the last 2 weeks and is poised to be the top G5 league in the rankings by a fairly comfortable margin.

It's an exciting time to be in the league that was once considered the bottom of the food chain in realignment.

Easy to become top dog in G5 when almost every strong G5 team from the past has moved up into P5. Add in the MWC going downhill, AFA, Fresno, Wyoming are pretty good, the rest of the league is avg to trash. AAC lost the big schools, CUSA and MAC would be 3rd, 4th, maybe 5th best FCS league. Good for the SBC, but it wasn't that hard.

People said the same thing about any JaxSt, SHSU, KSU relevance in FCS. Only got good once App, GaSo, CCU moved up. Just because that's what people say doesn't change the reality of the current situation. They are FBS. SBC is the best G5. AAC isn't.