2025 College Football Preview: Sun Belt
Photo from Texas State Athletics
Once again, it falls to the Sun Belt to keep college football sane.
Remember geographic divisions?
The Sun Belt’s got ‘em!
More teams should follow suit.
Here is how the Sun Belt will play out in 2025.
Tier 1: Title Contenders
James Madison Dukes
There’s two reasons JMU is here.
One, they’re a very good team.
Two, they’re the clear cut favorite in the Sun Belt East, and anything short of a Sun Belt Championship Game appearance is a failure for JMU.
Not only is star QB Alonza Barnett back, but so is former UNLV QB Matt Sluka for run based QB packages, as well as some excellent running backs.
Bob Chesney is going to have JMU run over their opponents and enforce their will.
They are the clear cut favorites.
Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
As for the Sun Belt West, things are a little bit tighter.
Michael Desormeaux had to deal with the natural slide back after Billy Napier left for Florida, and he’s done so very well, setting up Louisiana to be successful, including a Sun Belt Championship Game appearance last season.
Granted, that game went very, very poorly, but Louisiana is ready to run it back for another title run.
If Ole Miss transfer Walker Howard hits, Louisiana will be just fine.
Tier 2: Dark Horses
South Alabama Jaguars
South Alabama was pretty good in year one for Major Applewhite, and then basically every good player left in the transfer portal.
Now, that’s obviously quite bad.
However, so many players being poached in year one of Applewhite means that he had a keen eye for talent, so his replacements in the portal might have them in great shape to compete again if they perform well.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
The first two years in the Tim Beck era weren’t the best after having to replace Jamey Chadwell.
Neither were Michael Desormeaux’s at Louisiana, and then they won 10 games and made the conference title game.
Would I predict Tim Beck to do the same being in the Sun Belt East and having to get through JMU? No.
But it’s certainly not impossible thanks to what looks to be a very good defense.
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Is it the first year for Dowell Loggains? Yes.
Is App State usually extremely good under every coach since they joined FBS except for Shawn Clark? Also yes.
Don’t be surprised if this turnaround happens sooner rather than later.
Texas State Bobcats
Texas State’s offense is high flying, fun to watch, and usually very successful.
Hell, they almost upset Arizona State last season.
Now, the Bobcats lost a ton in the portal, but that’s nothing new for head coach GJ Kinne, who turned the program around through portal additions.
I trust that they can find the right replacements to keep the momentum moving forward.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Clay Helton has done a good job turning Georgia Southern around in his time in Statesboro.
Last year, the Eagles went 8-5.
So can that progress continue to a title game appearance? Absolutely it can.
But, it also probably should have last year, and they fell short.
So who knows?
Arkansas State Red Wolves
You want to talk about progress?
Butch Jones started at Arkansas State with a 2-10 record.
Then, it was 3-9.
Then, they had a game so bad against Oklahoma that went so poorly it looked like Butch Jones was about to start bawling on the sideline.
But that year ended with a 6-7 record and a bowl appearance, followed by continued progress and an 8-5 record.
They’ve been consistently getting better under Jones, and more progress there could mean a championship game appearance.
Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound?
Troy Trojans
Troy works when they are run by Troy guys.
Neal Brown worked. He was a former offensive coordinator at Troy.
Jon Summral worked. He was a former assistant head coach at Troy under Neal Brown.
Now, we have Gerard Parker, who wasn’t at Troy directly, but did coach under Neal Brown.
Parker was never going to have a good first year at Troy after Summral left, but the Trojans should improve in year two and go bowling.
Old Dominion Monarchs
ODU under Ricky Rahne has hung around .500 basically his entire tenure there, going bowling twice and 5-7 one other time.
So yes, ODU is probably going to be hanging out around .500 again.
Tier 4: Better Luck Next Year
Marshall Thundering Herd
It’s pretty rare to think that the reigning conference champions won’t even make a bowl game the next season, but Marshall is starting over.
And when I say they are starting over, I mean they are starting completely over.
Head coach Charles Huff, who seemed one foot out the door as is, is now officially gone and at Southern Miss.
And while I like the Tony Gibson hire at Marshall and think he’ll do a very good job, this is a brand new roster and coaching staff, and this is maybe the best G5 conference of the bunch.
It is going to take some time for Marshall.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Now, while Charles Huff left Marshall, he took a lot of the Thundering Herd championship winning roster with him to Southern Miss.
But Southern Miss last year was, frankly, awful. So Huff brought in loads of other transfers to improve the odds of success in year one.
Huff knows the Marshall guys, but now they have to gel with guys that they, and Huff, don’t have experience with.
I don’t like their odds.
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
What Bryant Vincent did year one at ULM was absolutely awesome, even if they didn’t make a bowl.
I was excited to see how year two was going to go.
And then, just recently, ULM’s administration announced major budget cuts to the athletic program, the athletic director resigned, and now Vincent is the interim AD as well as head football coach.
I don’t care how good of a coach I think Vincent did.
This is too messy to be successful.
Georgia State Panthers
Dell McGee had a hard job to do last year when he took over Georgia State late into spring practices.
So the 3-9 record wasn’t a big surprise.
And while I think they will make progress this year, the schedule is extremely difficult.
Ole Miss, Vanderbilt (who they did upset last season), James Madison, Appalachian State, and Memphis, to name a few.
It’s going to be tough to get to 6 wins.
