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Sun Belt Conference expansion: It may be real, and it will be spectacular. Not satisfied with the addition of South Alabama, the SBC is striking out for bigger game.
With the expansion carousel ride that carried the Mountain West, WAC, Big 12, Big 10, and Pac-10 around and around for our amusement all 2010 long winding down at last, it's naturally time for the Sun Belt to hop on board, because why not? With our longtime favorite South Alabama Jaguars (U-S-A!) moving up to I-A in 2012, the SBC will be a 10-team league, and just two programs away from being a legit dozen and all the privileges that affords. Naturally, as we've come to expect from all conferences mired in these matters, there are hilarious provisos involved:
The Sun Belt would only consider universities with an established Football Bowl Subdivision program currently aligned with another conference. And the conference would want any new member to fit into its geographical footprint.
WE AIN'T THE WAC, in other words. (Tragically, this knocks out our first choice of Florida A&M, whose band and terrifying mascots would only enrich our national fabric of college football with amped-up coverage.)
Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State, both ex-Sun Belt teams, are listed as potential targets, but in case this doesn't happen, pony up. We want a Sun Belt conference championship. More accurately, imagine the parties. Imagine the parties in Ruston if a conference championship game comes to town. What schools would you be willing to jettison from your own conference to make this happen?
The Sun Belt Is Ready To Be A Power Conference
by Holly Anderson
Look at this website, the official online news and information source of the SEC. The nation's premier college football conference, a federation containing both LSU and Florida, boasts a buttoned-down web presence that would not be out of place running a Big Ten Network commercial in the sidebar. It is a very nice website.
Now check out the Sun Belt's website. Can you see the background image? Here it is. Look at member school Louisiana's own site, featuring cartoon chili peppers and live alligators. Just try and act like you don't want this conference and its teams gunning for a BCS game, you lying liar.
Apr 12 12:11p