College Football 2024 Preview: Sun Belt
Photo from Texas State Athletics
The Sun Belt, stuck in the past and not willing to get with the times, still has these things called “divisions,” which splits the conference into geographical regions.
Yeah, good luck getting that to work in this sport…
Nevertheless, I’ll find it in me to discuss this ancient relic of a conference.
Tier 1: Championship Contenders
Appalachian State Mountaineers
App State was in a huge funk for about a year, but pulled out of it and got red hot to end the season.
Now they return more production than anyone else in the Sun Belt, and can ride that momentum into the new season.
App State will always hang around the top tier of the Sun Belt.
It’s what they do.
James Madison Dukes
Head coach Curt Cignetti is gone and at Indiana now, and JMU heads into a new era with Bob Chesney leading the way.
Still, this is a team that made the jump to FBS and immediately started winning, and shows no signs of stopping even if Cignetti is gone.
Although, it would be funny if the first year JMU was allowed to even play for the conference championship was the year that they had a down year.
Not for Dukes fans, obviously, but for sickos like me.
Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
Is Louisiana as good as App State or JMU? I would say no, and I don’t think it’s personally close.
But the Sun Belt has divisions, so someone has to win the West.
And if you win the West and play in the conference title game, you’re a contender!
The Cajuns bring back a TON of talent, and continuity is huge in these lower level conferences.
It may lead to one or two more wins, and that may be all it takes to get to the title game.
Tier 2: Dark Horses
Texas State Bobcats
Don’t sleep on G.J. Kinne’s Texas State, though.
Kinne took over a school that was never anything special and, frankly, one that I often forgot about, and made them 8-5 in year one with a big upset win on the road against Baylor (this was before we knew Baylor was terrible).
Their downfall was defense, but with many key players returning on that side of the ball, an improve defense coinciding with G.J. Kinne’s offense can win them the West.
South Alabama Jaguars
If talent continuity is important, so is coaching continuity.
Kane Wommack is gone and with Kalen DeBoer as Alabama’s defensive coordinator, but South Alabama hired offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to take over as head coach. Applewhite then hired from within for his offensive and defensive coordinators as well.
The three major parts of this staff have worked together, and know they work well together, as they’ve had back to back winning seasons.
It can click quickly, and if it does, they have a shot.
Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound
Troy Trojans
Troy is, more often than not, a good team.
They’ve actually won the conference the past two years.
But they have a new coach in Gerard Parker, and an insane amount of new talent.
They’ll be good.
They won’t be conference champs again.
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Tim Beck came into a fine situation after Jamey Chadwell left for Liberty, and was given Grayson McCall at quarterback which helped a lot.
McCall is now gone, but he also missed almost half the season due to injury last year, and Coastal still went 8-5.
Ethan Vasko, McCall’s injury replacement, is back again, and should be fine enough to have Coastal going bowling again.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall had a down year at 6-7 last year, but they haven’t missed a bowl game since 2016.
Head coach Charles Huff had a weird offseason with Marshall regarding the fanbase and transfers and stuff. It was weird. I don’t love that.
But I don’t see it tanking their season.
Tier 4: Bowl Game Possible
Old Dominion Monarchs
ODU is not one of the more talented teams in this conference, but they have gone bowling two of the last three seasons with Ricky Rahne in charge.
It feels like ODU will always be a coinflip for a bowl, but at least it’s an option.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Clay Helton was run out of town by USC (not undeservingly) and found himself in Statesboro and made back to back bowl games for Georgia Southern.
After all, Georgia Southern since coming into the FBS has been a consistent bowl contender.
But the back half of last season was very, very rough. And that is not a great sign heading into this season.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Will Hall and the Eagles had a lot of hype last year, and it went absolutely horribly, going 3-9.
A big part of that was a putrid defense, whereas the 2022 defense was really solid.
If it can get back to solid, Southern Miss can get back to 6 wins.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
Earlier last season, Butch Jones looked like he was about to bawl on the sidelines as his team looked completely disinterested and just way overmatched talent wise.
But after some easy wins, they turned it around and were able to scrape together 6 wins for their best season since 2019.
Maybe that glimmer of hope can get the Red Wolves grooving and in back to back bowls.
Tier 5: I’d Be Baffled
Georgia State Panthers
This one could blow up in my face, but we have to look at what’s in front of us.
A brand new head coach, who has never been a head coach before, and a ton of transfers on offense and defense.
This isn’t an easy conference to just show up and succeed, and maybe Dell McGee can do it.
But it’d surprise me for sure.
Louisiana Monroe Warhawks
ULM has some absolutely amazing uniforms.
If you want an aesthetic show, look at a picture of those.
Pretty much everything else about the program, however, is bad.
And it’s one of the rare programs that I’m not sure it will get better.
Conference Championship Prediction
On the East side, there’s really only two options.
It’s either App State or JMU.
And I’ll take the team who has returning coaches and talent in App State, where JMU has too many question marks.
As for the West, it’s wide open. And wide open means a fun team can make a run.
And Texas State is super fun.
It still won’t matter in the end, however.
Appalachian State Wins the Sun Belt.
