The Sun Belt had a pretty good 2018, having a team ranked in the top 25 – well for a week and they had five teams play in Bowl games – winning three and losing one The Arizona Bowl in Over Time. Louisiana–Monroe also ended the season Bowl eligible but given there were more qualifying teams than places, they didn’t get an invite. They may get one this year.

Sun Belt East

1st Appalachian State Mountaineers

The Mountaineers had a great 2018 giving Penn State a game in their opener and briefly making the AP top 25 rankings. They had a game postponed but ended up with a 10-2 record by winning the Conference Championship before adding to their growing reputation with a comfortable win in the New Orleans Bowl. They have arguably the best QB in the conference in Zac Thomas and look to have a favourable conference schedule with the only real road test being at Troy. Ok, their non-conference games include road trips to ACC & SEC teams but even so they look like picking up enough wins to reach the Conference final again.

Predicted Record 9-3

2nd Troy Trojans

Troy has drawn the short straw this year getting Arkansas State, all be it at home and a really tough game away at SEC Missouri. Still, new Head Coach Chip Lindsey has inherited a decent team with a number of starters returning including  RB B.J. Smith. Losing QB Sawyer Smith who transferred to Kentucky is a bit of a blow but Kaleb Barker played well enough in the first half of 2018  to indicate he will be the starter, so its not all doom and gloom.  The title may be decided in their match up with Appalachian State on the final day.

Predicted Record 9-3

3rd Georgia Southern Eagles

Georgia Southern had a great 2018 under new head coach Chad Lunsford ending up one of the nation’s most improved teams. The Eagles went 10-3 with one of those losses being to Clemson and they beat Appalachian State in late October. They are bringing back 12 starters but the triple option won’t coms as such a surprise this year and plenty of teams will be ready for them. The schedule is also brutal with trips to LSU, Minnesota, Appalachian, Arkansas State & Troy! Winning any of those would be an achievement. Still, a Bowl slot looks likely.

Predicted Record 7-5

4th Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

2019 will be Coastal Carolina’s third season in the Sun Belt after moving up from the FCS and after winning 3 games in 2017 they stepped it up a bit winning 5 last year including a great win over UAB. They should have a good running game again as CJ Marable is back, and they have a schedule with a few winnable games on it. However, getting Bowl eligible looks a stretch.

Predicted Finish 3-9

5th Georgia State Panthers

The Panthers entered the 2018 season with reasonable expectations following a Bowl-winning year in 2017. However second-year head coach Shawn Elliott’s team failed to follow through and they conceded at least 34 points in each of those losses and 40 plus in five. However, they did manage to score a few points and they still have QB Dan Ellington under centre, who was also their leading rusher last year, and they did have a lot of young players on the squad in 2018 so some improvement is possible. However, losing leading WR Penny Hart to the NFL is not helpful and unless the running game improves and the defense gets shored up it could be another losing season.

Predicted Finish 3-9

 

Sun Belt West

1st Arkansas State Red Wolves

The Red Wolves will go into the 2019 season with a few issues, the main one of which is that Defensive coordinator David Duggan will be in temporary charge of the team following the sad news that Head Coach Blake Anderson’s wife has passed away from cancer. Not surprisingly he is on a leave of absence and there is no timescale for his return.

David Duggan will be in charge of a squad which is depleted by the loss of two of its best players in recent memory, the Sun Belt’s 2018 Player of the Year QB Justice Hansen & 2018 Defensive Player of the year Ronheen Bingham. Big shoes to fill. Still, it’s not all doom & gloom as they still have RB Marcel Murray and a couple of good Wide Receivers in Omar Bayless and Kirk Merritt. The QB situation is a concern but in what looks like a significantly weaker division the Red Wolves stand out.

Predicted Finish 8-4

2nd Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns

The Cajuns had a nice 2018 under then new head coach Bill Napier, who got the offense ticking. They even managed a win over Arkansas State and got them back into a Bowl game. The offense should be good again with Trey Ragas & Ja’Marcus Bradley both back. The issue is the defence which needs to offer something as Andre Nunez cant keep trying to win shoot outs. The schedule is not too bad but road games at Ohio and Arkansas State won’t be easy and they also face SEC Mississippi State and both Appalachian State & Troy. That looks like five losses and they could drop another game hence our prediction. Still, a second consecutive Bowl Game would be a good season.

Predicted Finish 7-5

3rd Louisiana Monroe Warhawks

The Warhawks season will most likely depend on how well QB Caleb Evans performs and with a horrible non-conference schedule and road games at Appalachian & Georgia Southern scraping 6 wins looks like a tall order. With RB Derrick Gore and WR Marcus Green both gone and question marks over the defense a losing season looks on the cards.

Predicted Finish 5-7

4th Texas State Bobcats.

The Bobcats went 3-9 last year but had four one-score losses, and they are bringing a load of starters back (although that might not be a good thing). QB Gresch Jensen has transferred from FCS Montana State and if as expected he gets the starter’s job, he probably will be an upgrade on Tyler Vitt who threw 10 interceptions as against 7 TDs in 2018, admittedly 5 came against Troy but still not good. They have a new head coach in Jake Spavital, so we expect a bit of a bounce, but not enough to reach Bowl eligibility.

Predicted Finish 4-8

5th South Alabama Jaguars

Second season head coach Steve Campbell should have a better year in 2019, and  6′ 5 sophomore QB Cephus Johnson might be an upgrade on Orth who faded as the season wore on. Tre Minter means they should pike up the yards on the ground, but with a horrible non-conference schedule including opening at Nebraska and also includes Memphis and a trip to UAB it’s hard to see much improvement in 2019.

Predicted Finish 3-9