By Jordan Hansen
Part seven of The Daily Iowan’s look at the college-football landscape: the Sun Belt.
1) Appalachian State
After going 11-2 last season, the Mountaineers went to their first bowl as a Football Bowl Subdivision school, beating Ohio. For a team that is just three years removed from being a Football Championship Subdivision program, that’s quite impressive. Appalachian State returns a pretty good number of players and will certainly contend for a Sun Belt championship once again.
2) Arkansas State
The defending conference champions, the Red Wolves continue to be one of the most consistent programs in the Sun Belt. The Wolves have had four eight-or-more-victory seasons since 2011 and could be well on their way to another this year. Oh, and fun fact: Gus Malzahn and Hugh Freeze (coaches at Auburn and Ole Miss, respectively) spent a year as head coaches at Arkansas State.
3) Georgia Southern
Life as a mid-major is difficult. If the team does well, the coach often jets off for better positions at different schools, which can kill recruiting. It’s hard to build a team, which the Eagles know firsthand. Head coach Willie Fritz is now in the same position at Tulane, and Tyson Summers is the new man in charge. A powerful rushing offense has gotten the team off the ground and should help continue its dominance in the conference.
4) Georgia State
A team that brings back a load of experience, the Panthers’ major question mark is replacing quarterback Nick Arbuckle. If they can find an answer among last year’s backups and transfers, this could be a team to be reckoned with. If they don’t, that bowl game last year will be nothing but a distant memory.
5) Troy
Is Troy ready to make the step into contention? Returning most of the defense helps, but there are some serious questions to be answered on offense. Bowl eligibility could be in the future if consistency can be found.
6) Louisiana-Lafayette
The Ragin’ Cajuns have been one of the Sun Belt’s more consistent programs over the past five years. From 2011-14, Louisiana-Lafayette went 9-4 each season, winning the New Orleans Bowl three times. However, recent sanctions have put a bit of a damper on things (which included 11 lost scholarships), and last year’s 4-8 mark didn’t help, either. There’s still plenty of talent on this team but questions to answer as well.
7) South Alabama
There’s some hope in the Jaguars’ offense, with a number of solid offensive players returning this season. However, finding a quarterback who can play consistently is a must and will make or break the team.
8) Idaho
This could be one of the Vandals’ last seasons as a bowl-subdivision school. The Sun Belt voted to remove Idaho and New Mexico State from the conference following the 2017 season. There’s a good chance the Vandals move down after that. There’s a slight chance they could play as an independent school, but that seems unlikely.
9) New Mexico State
Man, it must be terrible to have to spend two more seasons in a conference that’s already voted you out. An incredibly awkward situation as the Aggies might also be headed to the championship subdivision. Then again, this has been one of the worst bowl-subdivision teams over the past few years, so it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise.
10) Texas State
First-year coach Everett Withers will have his hands full trying to turn around a program that went 3-9 a year ago. There’s still a waiting period with this team.
11) Louisiana-Monroe
After bottoming out at 2-11 last season, it will be hard to be much worse. There’s a new coaching staff in town, but it will take some time for Matt Viator to figure out how to rebuild this program.
