The Sun Belt has a new look to it in 2022 with four new additions beefing up the conference. Three of these have been poached from the Conference USA and Marshall, in particular, will add a lot of interest given they have been to Bowl games nine times since 2011. Southern Miss has similarly enjoyed quite a bit of success of late, while Old Dominion has also had some success since switching from FCS in 2014.
Most interesting though is the arrival of former FCS powerhouse James Madison. Over the last few years, they have been one of the teams capable of going toe to toe with North Dakota State, who they beat in the 2016 FCS Championship. They are not going to be bowl eligible this year but despite that, they will be keen to make an impression.
The Sunbelt has 14 teams now but once again we think it will be the usual suspects battling it out for the Championship.
Sun Belt East
The East looks wide open this year and unlike in the West, we could make a case for a few of the teams. However, Coastal Carolina looks like the team to beat in 2022. They only lost two games in 2021 and that was by a sum total of 5 points! One of those losses was to Appalachian State but they get them at home this year and that might be the difference.
Appalachian State has appeared in three of the last four Sun Belt Conference Championship Games, and they will prove troublesome. However, they have a rough opening non-conference schedule which should see them 0-2. They should win most of their conference games though and that game against the Chanticleers will most likely prove decisive.
Georgia State finished 2021 Strongly and they have 15 starters returning. If QB Darren Grainger maintains his improvement then they will be tough to beat. Their running game is probably the best in the conference.
James Madison is hard to fathom. They were powerhouses at the FCS level, once winning 26 consecutive games (in 2016 & 17). Will this success port over to the FBS? We are erring on the side of caution and pegging them for six wins. However, as Appalachian State has shown with a bit of time to build an FCS team can become a G5 force. They can’t win the title or play in a bowl game whatever their record in 2022 in any event.
Marshall has a hard schedule in their Sun Belt Debut and might struggle to reach bowl eligibility this year.
Sun Belt West
The West looks a whole lot more clear-cut with Louisiana strong favourites (in our book anyway) to win the division for a fifth straight year. Michael Desormeaux is their new head coach but he has spent years with the team both as a player and positional coach so there will be no culture shock.
There is enough talent returning to ensure his first full season in charge goes well and the scheduler has been kind. Outside of a trip to Florida State, it’s hard to spot a loss and they could end up ranked in the top 25 for the third year running.
The only likely challenger is South Alabama, who have a relatively easy conference schedule. Their non-conference schedule is pretty tough though and thus they might struggle to win more than seven games.
Of the remainder, Troy & Sothtern Miss might scrape bowl eligibility.
Our predicted finishing order and wins total is below…
Sun Belt 2022 Predicted Finish
East Division
Coastal Carolina 10-2
Appalachian State 9-3
Georgia State 8-4
James Madison 6-6
Marshall 5-7
Old Dominion 4-8
Georgia Southern 3-9
West Division
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns 11-1
South Alabama 7-5
Troy 6-6
Southern Miss 6-6
Texas State 5-7
Arkansas State 4-8
Louisiana–Monroe 3-9
Sun Belt Champions?
We are predicting Louisiana for the repeat. They could easily be 11-1 coming into the game and could be in the AP top 25 by then. They should face off against another team with a chance of a final AP ranking but neither will rank well enough to get the G5 large NY Six Bowl place.
