Sun Belt Conference football
The Sun Belt Conference is a conference of 14 universities which participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. Since the 2022 season, all 14 full members have played football in the conference. Although the SBC was formed in 1976, it did not sponsor football until 2001.
The conference announced that beginning in 2018, the conference would split into two divisions for football. In the East: Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and Troy; In the West: Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana–Monroe, South Alabama, and Texas State. The winners of each division meet in the Sun Belt Championship Game. Beginning in 2022, the SBC added the Marshall Thundering Herd, James Madison Dukes, Old Dominion Monarchs, and Southern Miss Golden Eagles football programs to the conference, with the Alabama–Georgia border serving as the new dividing line for the divisions. Accordingly, the Troy Trojans moved from the East Division to the West Division, where Southern Miss joined them. Marshall, JMU, and ODU joined the East division at that time.
Texas State will leave the SBC for the Pac-12 Conference in 2026 and will be replaced in the West Division by the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs by the 2027 season.
Membership
Current
;NotesReorganization
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2001 till:2032
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:line value:black
id:Full value:rgb # all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
id:Ind value:rgb
id:FBSind value:rgb
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:darkblue shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:2001 till:end text:Arkansas State
bar:2 color:AssocF from:2001 till:2005 text:Idaho
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:2 shift: color:FBSind from:2013 till:2014 text:FBS Ind.
bar:2 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2018 text:
bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:end text:Big Sky
bar:3 color:Full from:2001 till:end text:Louisiana–Lafayette
bar:4 color:AssocF from:2001 till:2006 text:Louisiana–Monroe
bar:4 color:Full from:2006 till:end
bar:5 color:Full from:2001 till:2013 text:Middle Tennessee
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:CUSA
bar:6 color:Full from:2001 till:2005 text:New Mexico State
bar:6 shift: color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:6 shift: color:FBSind from:2013 till:2014 text:FBS Ind.
bar:6 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2018 text:
bar:6 color:FBSind from:2018 till:2023 text:FBS Independent
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:CUSA
bar:7 color:Full from:2001 till:2013 text:North Texas
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2023 text:CUSA
bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:American
bar:8 color:FBSind from:2001 till:2003 text:FBS Indep.
bar:8 color:AssocF from:2003 till:2005 text:Utah State
bar:8 shift: color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2026 text:Mountain West
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text:Pac-12
bar:9 color:Ind from:2001 till:2002 text:FCS Ind.
bar:9 shift: color:FBSind from:2002 till:2004 text:FBS Ind.
bar:9 color:AssocF from:2004 till:2005 text:Troy
bar:9 color:Full from:2005 till:end
bar:10 color:Ind from:2001 till:2004 text:FCS Indep.
bar:10 shift: color:FBSind from:2004 till:2005 text:FBS Ind.
bar:10 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2006 text:Florida Atlantic
bar:10 color:Full from:2006 till:2013
bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2023 text:CUSA
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:American
bar:11 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2002 text:Sun Belt
bar:11 shift: color:Ind from:2002 till:2005 text:FCS Indep.
bar:11 color:Full from:2005 till:2013 text:Florida International
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:CUSA
bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2007 text:Gateway
bar:12 shift: color:Ind from:2007 till:2008 text:FCS Ind.
bar:12 shift: color:FBSind from:2008 till:2009 text:FBS Ind.
bar:12 color:Full from:2009 till:2014 text:Western Kentucky
bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:end text:CUSA
bar:13 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2009 text:Sun Belt
bar:13 color:Ind from:2009 till:2011 text:Indep.
bar:13 shift: color:Ind from:2011 till:2012 text:FCS Ind.
bar:13 color:Full from:2012 till:end text:South Alabama
bar:14 color:Ind from:2010 till:2012 text:FCS Ind.
bar:14 shift: color:OtherC1 from:2012 till:2013 text:CAA Foot.
bar:14 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Georgia State
bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2011 text:Southland
bar:15 shift: color:Ind from:2011 till:2012 text:FCS Ind.
bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:15 color:Full from:2013 till:2026 text:Texas State
bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text:Pac-12
bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2014 text:SoCon
bar:16 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:Appalachian State
bar:17 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2014 text:SoCon
bar:17 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:Georgia Southern
bar:18 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2016 text:Big South
bar:18 shift: color:Ind from:2016 till:2017 text:FCS Ind.
bar:18 color:Full from:2017 till:end text:Coastal Carolina
bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2007 text:A-10
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:2007 till:2022 text:CAA Football
bar:19 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:James Madison
bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2005 text:MAC
bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2022 text:CUSA
bar:20 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Marshall
bar:21 color:Ind from:2009 till:2011 text:FCS Indep.
bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:2011 till:2013 text:CAA Foot.
bar:21 shift: color:Ind from:2013 till:2014 text:FCS Ind.
bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:2022 text:CUSA
bar:21 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Old Dominion
bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2022 text:CUSA
bar:22 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Southern Miss
bar:23 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:23 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2027 text:CUSA
bar:23 color:Full from:2027 till:end text:Louisiana Tech
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2001
Conference facilities
| School | Football Stadium | Capacity | Opened |
| Appalachian State | Kidd Brewer Stadium | 30,000 | 1962 |
| Arkansas State | Centennial Bank Stadium | 30,406 | 1974 |
| Coastal Carolina | Brooks Stadium | 21,000 | 2003 |
| Georgia Southern | Paulson Stadium | 25,000 | 1984 |
| Georgia State | Center Parc Stadium | 24,333 | 1996 |
| James Madison | Bridgeforth Stadium | 24,677 | 1975 |
| Louisiana | Cajun Field | 41,426 | 1971 |
| Louisiana–Monroe | Malone Stadium | 27,617 | 1978 |
| Marshall | Joan C. Edwards Stadium | 38,227 | 1991 |
| Old Dominion | S.B. Ballard Stadium | 21,944 | 1936 |
| South Alabama | Hancock Whitney Stadium | 25,450 | 2020 |
| Southern Miss | M. M. Roberts Stadium | 36,000 | 1932 |
| Texas State | Bobcat Stadium | 30,008 | 1981 |
| Troy | Veterans Memorial Stadium | 30,402 | 1950 |
;Notes
Records
School records
| Team | First Season | All-Time Record | All-Time Win % | FBS Bowl Appearances | FBS Bowl Record | All-Time Conference Titles | Current Head Coach |
| Appalachian State | 1928 | 666–360–28 | 8 | 7–1 | 22 | ||
| Arkansas State | 1911 | 489–513–37 | 10 | 4-6 | 12 | ||
| Coastal Carolina | 2003 | 155–80 | 2 | 1–1 | 8 | ||
| Georgia Southern | 1924 | 410–243–10 | 4 | 3-1 | 11 | ||
| Georgia State | 2010 | 52–96 | 5 | 3–2 | 0 | ||
| James Madison | 1972 | 377–229–4 | .621 | 2 | 1–1 | 10 | |
| Louisiana | 1902 | 555–566–34 | 11 | 8-3 | 10 | ||
| Louisiana–Monroe | 1951 | 321–450–8 | 1 | 0–1 | 5 | ||
| Marshall | 1895 | 617–561–47 | 18 | 12–6 | 13 | ||
| Old Dominion | 2009 | 92–79–0 | 3 | 1–2 | 0 | ||
| South Alabama | 2009 | 70–84 | 5 | 2–3 | 0 | ||
| Southern Miss | 1912 | 609–450–27 | 23 | 11–12 | 8 | ||
| Texas State | 1904 | 525–489–25 | 0 | 0–0 | 14 | ||
| Troy | 1909 | 558–426–28 | 8 | 5–3 | 21 |
;Notes
Team vs. team
The table consists of composite all-time records against conference opponents. Totals are through the end of the 2024 season.Current head coaching records
Records accurate entering the 2025 season.| Team | Head coach | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | Sun Belt record |
| Appalachian State | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| Arkansas State | 5 | 103–85 | 19–31 | 11–21 | |
| Coastal Carolina | 3 | 14–12 | 14–12 | 8–8 | |
| Georgia Southern | 4 | 66–43 | 20–19 | 12–12 | |
| Georgia State | 2 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 1–7 | |
| James Madison | 2 | 120–50 | 9–4 | 4–4 | |
| Louisiana | 4 | 23–18 | 23–18 | 14–10 | |
| Louisiana–Monroe | 2 | 12–13 | 5–7 | 3–5 | |
| Marshall | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| Old Dominion | 6 | 20–30 | 20–30 | 16–16 | |
| South Alabama | 2 | 22–17 | 7–6 | 5–3 | |
| Southern Miss | 1 | 32–20 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| Texas State | 3 | 28–12 | 16–10 | 9–7 | |
| Troy | 2 | 4–14 | 4–8 | 3–5 |
;Notes
Bowl games
As of the 2017 season, the Sun Belt Conference has 5 bowl game tie-ins. The following two games will feature a Sun Belt team every season.| Name | Location | Opposing Conference |
| New Orleans Bowl | New Orleans, Louisiana | CUSA |
| 68 Ventures Bowl | Mobile, Alabama | MAC |
Three of the following games will feature a Sun Belt team every year, as determined by an ESPN Events "flex model".