Sun Belt anticipated a brighter outlook

Two teams had bowl bids in 2004; one will be a challenge this year


09:25 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 25, 2005

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – The Sun Belt began its season hoping to build on a breakout 2004 season in which the conference sent two teams to bowl games for the first time.

Right now the Sun Belt would settle for one team reaching the six-win plateau and becoming bowl eligible. The goal is no longer a foregone conclusion because of a tough year in nonconference play and unprecedented competitive balance within the league.

"I think we will have someone get to six wins," Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters said. "It's important for the league for someone to get there, but it's something you can't control."

The Sun Belt's teams have surrendered that control during a dismal nonconference campaign. So far the conference's teams have combined to post a 1-22 mark against other Division I-A teams with four out-of-conference games left on the league's schedule.

The Sun Belt's overall out-of-conference mark is 5-23.

The Sun Belt wanted to avoid a dismal nonconference performance this season by building on what it accomplished last season and adding Florida Atlantic and Florida International – a pair of schools that moved from Division I-AA and showed potential. FAU upset Hawaii and reigning Sun Belt champion North Texas last season.

The Florida contingent was supposed to strengthen a core that included UNT and Troy. The Mean Green played in the New Orleans Bowl, and Troy played in the Silicon Valley Football Classic.

So far no team in the league has been able to match what UNT or Troy accomplished in 2004. Louisiana-Monroe is the last unbeaten team in Sun Belt play at 3-0, but it lost all four of its nonconference games.

Sun Belt coaches attribute the slow start to tough nonconference schedules that can make cracking the six-win barrier a challenge. Most teams in the Sun Belt play multiple games on the road against more established teams to earn guaranteed paydays that fund their program. FAU has played at Kansas, Minnesota and Louisville and has hosted Oklahoma State.

"That's the way it has always been," Middle Tennessee coach Andy McCollum said. "We all start the season with tough schedules. Once we get into conference play, there is no room for error."

UNT overcame those challenges to win four straight league titles, but its streak could end after a 2-4 start. If the Mean Green or another team does not win six games, the Sun Belt would have to petition an NCAA committee to go to the New Orleans Bowl, which hosts the conference champion.

"The rules say that if the champion doesn't have six wins, then the bowl committee can take another team," Waters said. "We would petition to have the league champion be eligible to an NCAA committee, but you never know what might happen with that committee."

E-mail bvito@dentonrc.com

This is why you guys need to add Texas State and possibly Missouri State asap. If you are playing 8 or 9 league games you will always have a team or two above .500.

No, we need to win more games. Not add teams that don't want anything to do with 1-A football.

Raider_ATO Wrote:No, we need to win more games. Not add teams that don't want anything to do with 1-A football.

Hell just make sure you guys win you all of your D1-aa games and you wouldn't have this problem.