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Is the Sun Belt Conference SEC lite?
Posted on 4/3/25 at 8:20 am
Posted on 4/3/25 at 8:20 am
The sunbelt is located pretty much in the same footprint as the SEC. Seems to have similar campus cultures that are heavily involved in Greek life and football centric with baseball also being relevant.
Also seems like most of the sunbelt students/alumni are also fans of the SEC team in their state. Or at the very least they are very familiar and go to SEC game days.
Examples: Troy/USA= Bama/Auburn, Southern Miss= OM/State, Coastal= SC/Clemson, ULL/ULM=LSU, GA Southern=UGA, Ark State=Arkansas, Tx State= TAMU/UT,
There are a few outliers such as App State, JMU & ODU where I think those are pretty exclusive and they don’t have an SEC or even ACC equivalent.
Also seems like most of the sunbelt students/alumni are also fans of the SEC team in their state. Or at the very least they are very familiar and go to SEC game days.
Examples: Troy/USA= Bama/Auburn, Southern Miss= OM/State, Coastal= SC/Clemson, ULL/ULM=LSU, GA Southern=UGA, Ark State=Arkansas, Tx State= TAMU/UT,
There are a few outliers such as App State, JMU & ODU where I think those are pretty exclusive and they don’t have an SEC or even ACC equivalent.
6
Posted on 4/3/25 at 8:21 am to turnpiketiger
quote:
Is the Sun Belt Conference SEC lite?
No, but the Southland Conference is.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 8:34 am to turnpiketiger
If by SEC lite you mean in the south, then yeah.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 8:38 am to turnpiketiger
quote:
Examples: Troy/USA= Bama/Auburn
You see a lot of Bama and Auburn gear in Troy, at least I did when I was there and going back to games after graduation. But you also get some FSU/Florida, and UGA from the students from those states that came to Troy since it is fairly close to both states. I went there because I got a good scholarship, but we grew up Bama fans and my cousins and siblings all graduated from Alabama.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 9:04 am to turnpiketiger
The Sun Belt has grown into a good conference.
There was a map I saw a few years ago that showed people's favorite college sports team by ZIP code. There were only 2-3 non-P5 schools that even had representation, e.g. if you looked at a Ruston ZIP code it was LSU purple not LA Tech red, if you looked at an Orlando ZIP code it was Florida blue not UCF gold, and so on.
If memory serves, the G5 schools I remember having their own ZIP codes were USM, ULL, and ECU. Two of those schools are in the Sun Belt and the other one really should be. IDK if it will ever happen, but I think it would be really great for college sports if that stupid AAC thing would just die. They have a little more money than the SBC, because of their big city presence, but everything else about that conference just exemplifies what a drag college sports have become.
There was a map I saw a few years ago that showed people's favorite college sports team by ZIP code. There were only 2-3 non-P5 schools that even had representation, e.g. if you looked at a Ruston ZIP code it was LSU purple not LA Tech red, if you looked at an Orlando ZIP code it was Florida blue not UCF gold, and so on.
If memory serves, the G5 schools I remember having their own ZIP codes were USM, ULL, and ECU. Two of those schools are in the Sun Belt and the other one really should be. IDK if it will ever happen, but I think it would be really great for college sports if that stupid AAC thing would just die. They have a little more money than the SBC, because of their big city presence, but everything else about that conference just exemplifies what a drag college sports have become.
This post was edited on 4/3/25 at 9:37 am
Posted on 4/3/25 at 9:24 am to Porpus
The AAC and C USA both are garbage G5 leagues. It’s all about the Mountain West, MAC & Sun Belt.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 9:39 am to turnpiketiger
quote:
The AAC and C USA both are garbage G5 leagues. It’s all about the Mountain West, MAC & Sun Belt.
I'd even call them fraudulent. C-USA was never a real conference because there was never even sharing of media money, nor were there ever real exit fees. How is that a conference?
The AAC is such crap that teams formerly associated with it forced it to change its name. Its creation was basically a circuitous effort to reestablish original C-USA without USM. Why not just pay USM to go away quietly if that's what you wanted? Assholes.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 9:42 am to turnpiketiger
Sun Belt used to be the Fun Belt
Now the Southland is where the good times are at
Now the Southland is where the good times are at
Posted on 4/3/25 at 11:12 am to Porpus
I think you will see the MAC, AAC, Sunbelt and CUSA divide and reform in the next five years.
I hate what college athletics has become - it is simply semi professional ball. I’ll go watch the saints play if I want to watch professionals play.
I hate what college athletics has become - it is simply semi professional ball. I’ll go watch the saints play if I want to watch professionals play.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 11:23 am to Paul Allen
quote:
Southland Conference is
The Michelob Ultra to the SEC Bud Heavy and Sun Belt Bud Light.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 12:02 pm to Porpus
quote:
The AAC is such crap that teams formerly associated with it forced it to change its name. Its creation was basically a circuitous effort to reestablish original C-USA without USM. Why not just pay USM to go away quietly if that's what you wanted? Assholes.
This feels personal to you
Posted on 4/3/25 at 12:09 pm to KillTheGophers
quote:
I think you will see the MAC, AAC, Sunbelt and CUSA divide and reform in the next five years.
Yeah I mean that has happened multiple times. My daughter was talking to my wife about something, and FAU came up. College recruiting related, and my wife says oh yeah I've heard of them, they're in Troy's conference. Had to tell them that they used to be in the Sun Belt, but are now in the American, along with several of the old Sun Belt like North Texas, UAB, and USF. And the C-USA has WKU, FIU, NM State, and MTSU that were former Sun Belt schools. All she remembered was us going to home games for a few years and that was one of the schools we played.
Posted on 4/3/25 at 12:33 pm to turnpiketiger
quote:
This feels personal to you
It is, but I think a lot of USM fans (or former USM fans) feel this way. USM put a lot into building C-USA, even though many of us thought it was a really stupid idea from the start. To have those schools turn around and start a "new" conference without us is a slap in the face. I know it's all about money, but how much money is, say, ECU going to make long-term being in AACUSA vs. the Sun Belt? And now someone in this thread said FAU is in there- WTF, man? That's a shite school with a shite athletics program. Something doesn't smell right.
This post was edited on 4/3/25 at 12:34 pm
Posted on 4/3/25 at 10:35 pm to Porpus
quote:
FAU
Better athletics than USM
Posted on 4/4/25 at 12:53 am to Chuckiee
quote:
It is, but I think a lot of USM fans (or former USM fans) feel this way. USM put a lot into building C-USA, even though many of us thought it was a really stupid idea from the start. To have those schools turn around and start a "new" conference without us is a slap in the face. I know it's all about money, but how much money is, say, ECU going to make long-term being in AACUSA vs. the Sun Belt? And now someone in this thread said FAU is in there- WTF, man? That's a shite school with a shite athletics program. Something doesn't smell right
You know what doesn't smell right. USM suing it's way to the Sunbelt.
If Judy was half what they pay her no way USM would be in the Sunbelt now.
She could've and should've done what was right by the by laws and put USM into poverty by the time they left.
So you wanna talk about assholes. USM is an always will be an a-hole for the move they made.
Posted on 4/4/25 at 8:05 am to turnpiketiger
It is if you’re talking about culture.
No one on this board will say it because it feels too much to them like they’d be admitting that the conference is close to the SEC in quality of play (it’s not).
When you consider location, competitive balance, what sports are valued, and the relative quality of play it is SEC lite
No one on this board will say it because it feels too much to them like they’d be admitting that the conference is close to the SEC in quality of play (it’s not).
When you consider location, competitive balance, what sports are valued, and the relative quality of play it is SEC lite
Posted on 4/4/25 at 8:35 am to WeareLATech
quote:
She could've and should've done what was right by the by laws and put USM into poverty by the time they left.
No school had ever been penalized for leaving non-Conference USA in any meaningful way, even schools that parked their sports there for a few years like TCU. The idea that USM, a school that stuck with non-Conference USA for almost 30 years, would be "put into poverty" for leaving is total insanity. That said, USM did end up paying some financial penalty, and I believe that's more than can be said of Louisville, TCU, Memphis, Cincinnati, etc.
I understand your frustration, though. LA Tech really has nowhere left to go. Your administration got "wrong footed" pretty badly. Basically, you fell for the same bait-and-switch as USM. Now you're the Washington Generals to whatever God-awful FL or GA commuter school wants to start playing D1 sports.
This post was edited on 4/4/25 at 8:37 am
Posted on 4/4/25 at 1:56 pm to KillTheGophers
quote:
I think you will see the MAC, AAC, Sunbelt and CUSA divide and reform in the next five years.
I’m not so sure, especially in the SBC’s case. With the exception of possibly 3 programs, TxSt/JMU/GaSt, the entire league is made up of very similar universities. Mid sized cities to rural locations and very similar academic missions amongst its member institutions.
In that aspect it is nearly identical to the makeup of the SEC. The departures of the major metro programs to CUSA and the invitations to successful FCS programs reshaped and stabilized the SBC.
Posted on 4/4/25 at 3:02 pm to Porpus
quote:
I understand your frustration, though. LA Tech really has nowhere left to go.
Thanks to the now AD at Rice.
He wasn't and still isn't well liked by tech alumni and fans.
His comments about the Sunbelt were very poorly guided. If he would've talked to anyone and I mean anyone outside of the top 1% donors then he wouldn't have made that comment.
He truly ONLY talked and cared about the top 1%.
The people he talked to thought that being in a conference with ULM and ULL was beneath them.
Well ya Bozo's, congratulations ULM is in a better spot than Tech right now.
As of yesterday Louisiana Tech is the only D1 FBS university without a student fee.
Only way that changes is if Henderson filibusters for 20+ hours on how the fee shouldn't require a student vote.
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