Sun Belt Has Built A Strong, Fun Football Conference
Driving on US-321 from Charlotte to Boone, Appalachian State stickers, license plates or flags adorned a conservative estimate of one in every four cars I passed. The Quality Inn was packed with visitors in town for the Sun Belt Conference showdown between App State and Coastal Carolina, and Kidd Brewer Stadium’s attendance reflected my observations from the highway and hotel.
It felt like a college football Saturday; it was a Wednesday1.
Certainly having a big-time matchup with the Top 15-ranked Chanticleers coming to town helps create a big-time atmosphere. But the energy buzzing around Boone on that day spoke to the overall passion fans having for Appalachian State football.
That enthusiasm contradicts so much of what TV coverage of college football has spent the last few years insinuating, if not explicitly saying: Your team doesn’t matter if it’s not in the College Football Playoff conversation.
A Sun Belt program will probably never play for the national championship — not in the current format, anyway. But that had zero impact on the fervor I felt in Boone. Regional rivalries born of great games in pursuit of conference championships laid the foundation for college football’s boom in popularity.
The Sun Belt has steadily built up its conference on this foundation, and the conference’s future looks brighter than ever with today’s addition of James Madison.
I have had the opportunity to cover James Madison some in my work with Flo Sports. The football program’s credentials are undeniable, boasting a pair of FCS national championships, appearances in three title games since 2016 and the chance of reaching Frisco again this season.
Dukes coach Curt Cignetti might be the most under-the-radar great coach in the sport. He had a hand in building Alabama during the first few years of the Nick Saban dynasty, won as a Div. II head coach, and guided Elon to back-to-back FCS Playoffs for the only time in its history.
Cignetti’s tenure at Alabama is particularly interesting in the context of James Madison moving to FBS. Rebuilding the Crimson Tide to past glory was a considerable undertaking, but Cignetti played a prominent part in bringing it to fruition by Year 3.
JMU must go through a transitional period that all FCS programs moving to FBS face. Much like Appalachian State last decade, though, I suspect we’ll see the Dukes bowl eligible and knocking on the door of the AP Top 25 shortly after the transition’s complete.
Getting there won’t be easy, though. The Sun Belt’s starting to become crowded with quality teams, but that’s a good problem for a conference to have.
Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana and Troy have all made the Top 25 in the last five years. Each boasts a marquee win in that time, too, starting with Troy’s 2017 defeat of LSU (on the Tigers’ Homecoming weekend, no less)…
…continuing with App State’s wins over North Carolina and South Carolina in 2019…
…and last season adding Louisiana’s win at Iowa State and Coastal Carolina’s Game of the Year defeat of BYU.
Current Sun Belt members are building the conference’s profile quickly and effectively. Newcomers James Madison and Marshall add to the growth with historic success and passionate fan bases.
Marshall’s addition marks a conclusion to what’s been a turbulent almost two decades. When the Thundering Herd made the transition that Appalachian State later went through and James Madison will in the coming years, going from Div. I-AA/FCS dominance to Div. I-A/FBS, they joined the Mid-American Conference.
The MAC was the right choice, too. Marshall was a regional fit, already having a pre-established rivalry with Ohio University. The Herd acclimated quickly, winning the league every year but one from 1997 through 2002.
The 2001 and 2002 MAC Championship Games are among my all-time college football contests.
But when Conference USA came calling, offering more revenue and a more visible profile — this is at a time when C-USA was home to Cincinnati, Louisville and TCU — Marshall left.
The C-USA of which Marshall was a member never looked like the league that approached it for membership. The Herd have been good in C-USA, and add another name to the new Sun Belt with a recent Top 25 ranking to the ranks. But the fit has long felt awkward.
Marshall fits the Sun Belt.
The Herd already have a decades-old rivalry with Appalachian State, and I don’t think it will take long to get a new one going with James Madison.
Through investment in its existing members and savvy additions, taking in progrmas that were a regional and cultural fit, the Sun Belt grew from a conference that Phil Steele consistently ranked as the weakest in FBS, to a thriving league. And with its latest moves, the Sun Belt promises to continue living up to its new-found billing as the Fun Belt.
In this deep-dive from 2018, I examined the history of and motivation behind the MAC and Sun Belt playing midweek games. App State-Coastal Carolina is the perfect scenario for both the leagues and the network championing these games.