#1
“Morals Over Money”+ holder of 3
#AState
degrees, former student body & ΑΤΩ president, founder of
#AState
Spirit Club, & early advocate of
#SunBelt
football.
My way too earlier prediction of G5 playoff contenders in order of merit:
1. Boise St
2. Memphis
3. App St
4. South Florida
5. South Alabama
6. Texas St
7. Air Force
8. Fresno St
9. Marshall
10. UNLV
To all SunBelt fans: just remember, no matter how much you love your coach today, he's an ***hole who loves money more than you, your school, or the players.
We’re the only conference in FBS with 12 teams .500 or better.
Given the scheduling advantages other conferences, especially the P5, have -
UNBELIEVABLE!
Not allowing JMU to compete in the
#SunBelt
championship & a bowl
IS A…
Disgrace to college athletics!
JMU has NOT been given any advantages in FCS or during transition,
If anything, they have been disadvantaged & this is the most significant barrier!
FREE JMU😡
JMU is now the
#1
academic university in the
#SunBelt
- ahead of several sec schools. They jump to National Universities,
#151
in 2023, from Regional Universities South,
#3
in 2022. This is a gigantic leap forward!
I see Coastal Carolina fans lecturing that JMU needs to follow the rules.
I remember when Coastal Carolina broke all the rules of college football scheduling & played BYU in a spur-of-the-moment, unscheduled, unplanned, unapproved pick-up game.
Note, this game counted toward
No, Liberty is not the most deserving.
TROY is more deserving. They have the MOST solid resume!
The committee needs to put as much scrutiny on picking the G5 NY6 representative as they do the playoff teams.
Who has the most challenging schedule & best wins?
Troy has wins
If Liberty goes undefeated, Tulane loses, and they STILL don’t get the NY6,
#CUSA
and all of the G5 minus SMU should riot. They are the CLEAR alternative to a 1 loss Tulane.
I DON'T GET FANS NOT SUPPORTING WHAT'S IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE
#SUNBELT
.
We need waivers for App St & JMU to play in bowls.
*We need a record # of SBC bowl teams.
*We need our best teams to play to win another bowl challenge.
*We need the $$$ & exposure from bowl games.
The
#SunBelt
front office should take the lead - waive the rules for JMU to play for the championship this weekend, then fight for JMU to receive a waiver for a bowl. This is what a supportive conference & STRONG conference leadership LOOKS LIKE - P5 schools hide behind rules!
I feel bad for Troy & JMU, but I feel the worst for Marshall. Had they stayed in cusa, they would be in a NY6 this year. The committee makes their decisions to protect the football cartel & Liberty in a NY6 makes a mockery of the G5 & we have no leadership or media to stand up
There’s no longer any incentive whatsoever for the Sun Belt to schedule tough out of conference.
The committee is lazy when it comes to parsing the G5. Just win what’s in front of you and the playoff bid is yours.
Attention all
#SunBelt
schools
SHIELD WALL!
If all 14 SBC hold their positions
We all will RISE 🔝
The pac 12, acc, aac, cusa & even the big 12 are ALL
Unstable, imploding, being picked apart, & declining
Each reshuffle is two steps backward
Let’s STAY TOGETHER, HOLD OUR
This “joke” is on every
#SunBelt
fan & leader that didn't support JMU. You all open the door for cusa programs to compete with us for recruits, TV money, etc. for a decade—stupid gets what stupid deserves.
If it wasn’t for the NCAA, JMU would be playing Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. JMU still needs to go through the transition rules but giving it to Liberty is a joke to the entirety of College Football.
I'm working hard to help build a stronger
#SunBelt
by creating a stronger, more interactive & more informed SBC community. If you appreciate my efforts & share my passion for the Sun Belt Conference, give me a follow & I will follow you back!
James Madison can legitimately claim a National Champion when they go undefeated.
This will be the
#SunBelt
’s first FBS National Championship.
If you don't like this FACT, let JMU play a worthy opponent in a bowl game & stop JMU.
There is no need for any
#SunBelt
administrator or fan to look, dream, or waste one second of thought on leaving the SBC for another conference.
Our schools have the BEST footprint for college football in America. We are located in or next to every TOP state for high school
The Sun Belt is on another level this year.
Per the CFB Composite Ratings, 10 of the 14 teams are level with the bottom 6-7 teams of the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12.
Sun Belt is the best “G5” conference now, and it’s not debatable.
They are most likely going to go undefeated.
THIS IS NOT THE SAME.
STOP SAYING, WELL, WE HAD TO WAIT.
YOUR TEAM DIDN’T PERFORM ON THIS LEVEL.
JMU gained NO advantage from the transfer rule.
In fact, JMU gained no advantages at all.
JMU actually faced many disadvantages
@ASUREDWOLF
No. We all had to endure the 2 purgatory. If they were 6-6 this story doesn’t even have legs. Yes, I get they are undefeated, unstoppable and should be in the SEC. Nevertheless it’s 2 years.
@thestrutpodcast
If Liberty gets the NY6 bid Keith Gill should be FIRED for mismanaging the
#SunBelt
championship game matchup. This will be a major missed opportunity for the SBC. The commissioner needs to lobby his *** off for Troy. I can guarantee you the SEC doesn't take his conference
Talk of any
#SunBelt
school going to other conference is absurd
We are the tightest, most similar, most competitive group of schools to every form a conference
Who's on top goes in a cycle
Whatever argument you make today to advance your school to a “better” conference could
The
#SunBelt
is killing these mid-week TV ratings.
I know some coaches & fans don't like these games,
But this is a golden opportunity for SBC to advance our brand.
We should have a game on every night.
Just STOP! JMU may be in the
#SunBelt
for two years or fifty years—regardless, this short-term—the world is ending & we have to have it all this year—thinking is not healthy, endearing, or strategic.
Come on, people. You are supposed to be the school with the most intelligent
I’m calling for JMU fans and college football fans to boycott watching the Sun Belt Championship game if it’s the
#2
team in the East vs the
#1
team in the west. People don’t want to see a fake Championship game.
We have a new
#1
in the
#SunBelt
for QB rating - T. Centenio. His score ranks 9th nationally. He is 7th in the SBC in passing yards but 1st in the SBC & 2nd nationally with 9 passing TDs.
On pace to become the SBC Offense Player of the Year!
It was fun watching the new
@TXSTBoko
make his debut in the middle of last night’s
#Fandemnium
. Like the dance party and fireworks, he was a big hit! Can’t wait to see him and the Class of 2027 back at Bobcat Stadium to cheer on
@TXSTATEFOOTBALL
!🐾
The
#SunBelt
leadership are MORONS for not having JMU & Troy meet in today's championship because it would be without question the game to decide the NY6 repreresentive if Tulane loses & Troy beat JMU.
No, Liberty is not the most deserving.
TROY is more deserving. They have the MOST solid resume!
The committee needs to put as much scrutiny on picking the G5 NY6 representative as they do the playoff teams.
Who has the most challenging schedule & best wins?
Troy has wins
2 bowl outcomes are essential:
UTSA & Tulane will be atop the downgraded aac next year.
After Troy beats UTSA & USC destroys Tulane
the
#SunBelt
should begin next season in the driver's seat for the NY6 bowl.
An SBC team must end the season as the highest-ranked G5.
To
#SunBelt
Nation: By all evidence, we’re by far the top G5 conference.
Out of jealousy & to discount our achievements, these other G5 conferences are taking potshots at our every failure.
STOP HELPING THEM BY ATTACKING EACH OTHER.
It is in every SBC fanbase's interest to
The
#SunBelt
had 7 football players rush for over 100 yards in week 1.
*Leading the SBC is Frank Gore Jr., aka Superback.
*The NCAA doesn't have all players listed, but this ranks 3rd nationally among listed players.
Liberty has an OVERALL losing record against current members of the
#SunBelt
. Liberty has 22 wins & 35 losses.
Liberty has NOT done well against the top teams in the East.
JMU 12-6
App St 7-3
Georgia Southern 3-1
Marshall 1-0
Coastal 7-8
Georgia St 0-1
ODU 1-3
Liberty’s
@ASUREDWOLF
We’ve beaten Sun Belt teams when they were in the top part of the conference before. We get ODU in a couple of weeks. We have a winning record against the SBC and the only team to really give us a problem has been ULL.
11
#SunBelt
teams are now in CBS Sport’s top 100 ranking.
Unfortunately, CBS Sports is typically always very biased against the SBC.
JMU is the highest-ranked SBC team at
#57
.
This disrespect should be bulletin board material for every SBC team.
Below are the rest of the SBC
@GroupOfFiveGuys
How can you claim to represent the GROUP OF FIVE when you obviously DON’T understand the GROUP OF FIVE?
The same SMU, JMU, or Troy team that showed up for an “ordinary” bowl game would not be the same team that showed up for the Fiesta Bowl.
Coaches & players who opted out
I agree - we should make ECU & UAB our only 2 aac targets
Memphis & South Florida are forever noses up against the
#SunBelt
We should stay away from private schools &
No one else in the aac is worth pursuing!
I suggest you sit back & allow others to carry your water. That will be the best PR JMU could ever get. The more the school & the fanbase push, the more people you push away. There will be a multitude of JMU promoters if you don't push them away.
Although, I won't believe it until I read it in a Stanford/CAL press release
Rumor is Navy & others will be left out of a PAC 4 - aac merger
So I have an out-of-the-box idea
Offer Navy & Army
#SunBelt
football membership
The logistics of the Army-Navy game prevent them from
The FREE 2022 SSN College Football Preview Magazine IS OUT!
Please go check it out.
They’ve got a different take on the order of finish in the
#SunBelt
.
Here's their predicted order of finish.
WHY? Wasn't South Dakota St & Montana a given?
I mean why play all those extra games when the final two were such a sure thing?
Cause it is fun.
Cause it is entertaining.
Cause it generates interest.
Cause it provides opportunity.
Cause it is a crucible.
Cause it is
I see
#SunBelt
fans up & down about their teams.
TRUTH?
JMU is the best team—if they play a complete game.
But most SBC teams are close in talent.
These games come down to:
1) Coaching
2) Player Focus
3) Player Energy
4) Rowdy Fans
5) Momentum &
6) Luck
If your program
This makes the
#SunBelt
look bad on so many levels. This decision by Commissioner Gill was WRONG. He did it to take the pressure off finding another bowl for the conference. This represents a significant opportunity cost for the SBC & goes against our conference principles.
Luke McCombs was awesome...until he said App State deserves a P5 big.
Luke, we're building a POWER 5 conference.
It's called the
#SUNBELT
.
S. B. C., S. B. C., S. B. C...
The
#SunBelt
is 24-13 in out-of-conference play—9 losses to P5 schools & 4 losses to aac schools.
We have 3 P5 wins & 5 wins against aac schools.
We also have 13 FCS wins, 2 Indy wins, & 1 cusa win.
The aac is 18-22 out-of-conference play—13 P5 losses, 5 SBC losses, 2
The
#SunBelt
is 17-9 in out-of-conference play—6 losses to P5 schools & 3 losses to aac schools. We have 2 P5 wins & 2 wins against aac schools.
The aac is 13-15 out-of-conference with 10 P5 losses (1 P5 win), 2 SBC losses, 2 cusa losses, & 1 MAC loss.
I’m adding this one to the list.
I am learning this season there are some universal truths in the
#SunBelt
that you just don't pick against—regardless if a team is up or down in a given year:
* ULM never beats Arkansas St
* Louisiana never beats Southern Miss
* Southern
11
#SunBelt
teams are now in the CBS Sports rankings top 100.
10 SBC teams within ~30 spots of each other.
All SBC teams are under-ranked by 10-20 spots due to P5 biases.
7 SBC teams are up in the poll, with Louisiana going up the most (11) & Texas St going down the most
The Marshall president is taking on the toughest challenges in higher ed
I hope all
#SunBelt
presidents & chancellors will do the same
The Marshall president is independently wealthy
It appears he became a college president to make a difference
This is what drove higher ed
Most recent CBS bowl projections have nine
#SunBelt
teams, including JMU - teams left out & still fighting for eligibility are South Alabama, ODU, & Marshall.
These three matchups will be AWESOME!
1. JMU vs. Liberty
2. Troy vs. Toledo
3. Texas St vs. SMU
The
#SunBelt
is 17-9 in out-of-conference play—6 losses to P5 schools & 3 losses to aac schools. We have 2 P5 wins & 2 wins against aac schools.
The aac is 13-15 out-of-conference with 10 P5 losses (1 P5 win), 2 SBC losses, 2 cusa losses, & 1 MAC loss.
* * * E L I T E * * *
*How many times has a (ANY) conference sent 12 or more teams to BOWLS in the same year?
7 times
*How many times has the BIG 10, BIG 12, or PAC-12 sent 12 or more teams to BOWLS in the same year?
0 times
*Which conference has done it the most?
SEC (5)
@marchant_kenney
@SunBelt
Need to learn HISTORY! When we started talking about
#SunBelt
football, La Tech decided to leave the SBC. They said we would never be successful, that we would be a joke, a laughing stock. When La Tech bailed, the entire future of SBC football was in doubt & almost disappeared -
I am learning this season there are some universal truths in the
#SunBelt
that you just don't pick against—regardless if a team is up or down in a given year:
* ULM never beats Arkansas St
* Louisiana never beats Southern Miss
* South Alabama never beats Louisiana
* Texas
11
#SunBelt
schools are now in the TOP 88 in CBS Sports Rankings.
6 schools within 12 spots of one another.
23. JMU
50. Georgia St
53. Troy
59. Texas St
67. South Alabama
76. Marshall
80. Louisiana
82. Georgia Southern
84. Coastal Carolina
85. ODU
88. App St
&
108.
Yesterday’s tornado in Wynne, Arkansas
- 25 miles from my hometown
Sucked the turf off the football field
Keep all tornado victims in your thoughts and prayers!
A critical number from yesterday:
#SunBelt
had 18 million viewers on ESPN platforms last year.
With 4 new fanbases + twice the number of viewing opportunities;
We should set a goal of 50 million viewers this year.
Go watch ESPN+ & visit the SBC page regularly for listings!
How the SBC is preforming after realignment:
- 12 / 14 Teams in football bowling.
- 5 NCAA bids in M Soccer
- 4 NCAA bids in Baseball
- 4 NCAA bids in Volleyball
- 2 NCAA bids in Softball
- 2 NCAA bids in W Soccer
To my Southern Miss brothers & sisters, $1.7 million is a small price to pay to buy back your honor & tradition. You have to make a change. You didn't become the Boise St of the South before there was a Boise St of the North without courage & boldness.
USM administration is historically very conservative and risk averse. $1.7M buyout. Odds are he gets a 4th year whether he deserves it or not even if it's a lame duck 2024.
@ChrisVannini
@COLD_CousCous
The
#SunBelt
is located where the best players grow up. The sec can't take them all, & they don't want to go north or west. It's only a matter of time before the SBC is better than the pac-12 (may already be) & the big 12.
Not too much to change from my assessment last week
STILL: The battle for the SBC crown is going to be EPIC
More competitive & fun than we had imagined
JMU, Marshall, GATA & ODU looked the best yesterday.
When JMU plays to win, watch out.
If Marshall can bottle up that 4th
@barstoolsunbelt
BLUF: The battle for the SBC crown is going to be EPIC
More competitive & fun than we had imagined
Georgia Southern looks like the best team in the East
Texas State & Southern Miss will challenge for the West
South Alabama may be the 6th or 7th best team in the
#SunBelt
App
I am working on a deep dive into the
#SunBelt
TV numbers & I came across this report.
I don't believe these numbers are accurate, but this is what is being circulated.
Here are the rankings for the
#SunBelt
on (weekly average) TV viewership from “Which college football
Here are the 2 realities that keep
#SunBelt
schools from the current expansion strategies
This is WHY all
#SunBelt
fans & administrators need to realize we are in this together & be ALL IN ON THE SBC
1) We have tiny TV markets in a game
centered on TV viewership
2) Our
The great thing about the new
#SunBelt
members is they all have great sportsmanship. They're classy, proud, competitive, eager & hardworking. They set the standard for future expansion. There are more schools w/attitudes like LA Tech out there than not. We did exceptionally well!
Concerning an SBC school backfilling SMU in the aac
Any school that leaves the
#SunBelt
for the aac
Will be making a strategic error that will have
Decades of unintended negative consequences
The SBC has been on a steady RAPID rise for over 10 years
The aac has been on a
Marshall lands a HUGE commitment from Will Moore. Moore held offers from Alabama, Ohio, Chattanooga, among others. One of the highest profile recruits in the D’Antoni era.
The 6’4 wing will provide shot-making and athleticism to the backcourt next season.
Yesterday was a tough day for the
#SunBelt
. But setback is a part of growth. Nothing that happened yesterday should prevent us from feeling like we did on Friday. Time to show our resilience. Resilience is about how high we bounce back.
ITS NOT SPECIAL TREATMENT…
It's an obsolete rule that should be done away with for the BENEFIT of everyone who comes after JMU.
Maybe JMU doesn't benefit, but others do.
Great for JMU for fighting the fight for right’s sake & making college football more fair, just, &
This JMU wanting special treatment thing is getting ridiculous. Yes, it's a dumb rule, but it's a dumb rule you agreed to when you accepted the invite.
It's like changing the rule that a TD is 8 points on the last posession in school yard football because you're down 7.
@UAB_Prospects
Absolutely, we don't care - we don't want anything to do with the PAC 4
WE KNOW WHO WE ARE
A fan-centric regional conference
Describe the aac in a single phrase
You can't
There is not one thing every school has in common other than
Being located near a big TV market &
It looks like 4
#SunBelt
schools made this list - Top 100 College Athletics Departments generating social media interactions in June 2022:
38 Texas St.
55 Coastal Carolina
67 App St.
95 JMU
I just scrubbed those I follow on this platform
I noticed that I WAS following & promoting several PEERS that don't follow me
I work had to promote the
#SunBelt
Followership goes BOTH ways.
I ❤️ the fact that student journalists
@grantjohnson_5
from JMU &
@austinyuknow
from Southern Miss are at media days. Any others? I think they add a lot of energy to the event. I hope other schools have student journalists there, too; if not, let's get them there next year!
Well, SMU is leaving the aac & Memphis is NOT better than the top
#SunBelt
teams.
Tulane beat South Alabama, but would they beat JMU or Coastal, or what about Troy or Marshall or App St?
That's 6 good teams -the acc only has three good teams (UTSA, not Memphis) & one is