Sun Belt Announces Lopsided Divisions
The Sun Belt conference has grown a bit of a cult following over the last few years. ESPN has helped grow the "Funbelt” in popularity due to broadcasting conference games during the week. On Tuesday, the conference announced their 2022 schedule and divisions after some new additions, including an FCS powerhouse, made the jump to the Sun Belt. However, it is clear the Sun Belt will experience what other major conferences sometimes go through (right now it's the Big Ten) and that is stacked divisions. A closer look makes it even more obvious.
The "top dog" in the conference is Appalachian State. The Mountaineers have won 4 out of the last 5 Sun Belt Championships and look to expand on that number this season. Coastal Carolina serves as a "second in command". They have made quite the impression on the College Football world the last two seasons. The Chanticleers made the jump to FBS for the 2017 season and it only took them four years to become a power in the conference. A new major player in the Sun Belt is going to be Marshall. Coming from Conference USA, the Thundering Herd have been consistently in the upper half of the previous conference and are expected to at the very least be in the running for the Sun Belt crown. To add to the East's depth is a solid Georgia Southern program which is currently under a new direction with Clay Helton (previous coach of USC), and James Madison who was dominant in FCS.
With all this parity in the East, how does the West look? Well, Louisiana Lafayette has been a staple for the conference. In the last 10 years, they have 3 conference championships and have been the West representative ever since the league started hosting a championship game. After the Ragin Cajun's there isn't a whole lot of contenders. Arkansas State has been solid but is not on the same level as the top teams in the Sunbelt, Troy hasn't been successful since Neal Brown left for West Virginia, and Southern Miss (coming from Conference USA) was a middle of the road team at best and is coming off of a 3-9 campaign last year.
Even with its critiques of splitting the divisions by geographical location it still makes sense to separate the teams East and West. It makes travel exceptionally easier, and even a North/South split wouldn’t make much of a difference. The only change would be Georgia Southern for Arkansas State, which probably makes it even more lopsided going into next season. Most College Football programs go through vast ups and downs. Who's to say that App State and Coastal Carolina start to fall to the middle part of the conference while Southern Miss and Troy build up creating an overstocked West. Weirder things have happened in College Football, but for the time being the East carries most of the top cards, while the West only has one "ace" in their deck.
