Group Of Five – Sun Belt College Football Preview 2024
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Sun Belt Football
The Sun Belt still has divisions. It’s the lone holdout while everyone else done away with them. The Sun Belt still has the East and West and again the power likely be on the East side even though two-time defending Sun Belt champ Troy is in the West.
JAMES MADISON & TROY are the most likely teams to make the Sun Belt CCG per my Preseason v1 power ratings
— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) June 12, 2024
The SBC is the only conf still using divisions
App St should pose a threat in the East while Louisiana, S Alabama, Texas St & Arkansas St should all challenge in the West pic.twitter.com/KAFpathpNN
Can so many programs adjust fast to the new coaches? Five new coaches are taking over. Combine that with Tim Beck going into his second season at Coastal Carolina and GJ Kinne in his 2nd year at Texas State, and half of the conference is going into 2024 with recent hires.
Even bigger, James Madison, Troy, and South Alabama are conference contenders with new coaches to adjust to.
Can GJ Kinne keep the O going at Texas State? The Bobcats went from second-to-last in the conference last season to No. 1 averaging 125+ more yards per game. Can Tim Beck do even more at Coastal Carolina even though he is losing starting QB Grayson McCall to NC State? After a decent year with a bowl win the program is his to take further.
Butch Jones pulled out a nice campaign at Arkansas State, Clay Helton has the passing game cranking at Georgia Southern, and Shawn Clark is keeping the Appalachian State success going. All three have their respective programs in a good spot.
𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙, 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙
— App State Football (@AppState_FB) June 23, 2024
It’s different on the mountain ⛰️ #GoApp pic.twitter.com/vLd6O0jBSx
Predictions
The Sun Belt won’t be able to pull it off to get into the expanded College Football Playoff. Liberty got in the New Years Six last season by beating up a weak Conference USA and building up a gaudy record. As they did not have here any games against Power Five programs on the slate.
The Sun Belt will have plenty of teams’ worthy of the Group of Five spot in the CFP, but the conference will pick itself off again to keep that from happening. There are too many good teams in the conference.
The quarterback play across the board will be the best among the Group of Five programs. Even though seven of the top nine passers in last year’s conference have to be replaced. However, that’s where the transfer portal kicks in.
James Madison lost Jordan McCloud (the Sun Belt Player of the Year) to the high-powered Texas State offense, but it did just fine getting former star Washington recruit Dylan Morris.
Who wins the @SunBelt Player of the Year in 2024?
— Barstool Sun Belt (@barstoolsunbelt) June 18, 2024
With Noah Kim (Michigan State) and Tate Rodemaker (Southern Miss) also among the headliners, the Sun Belt will have a wealth of good quarterback to battle it out on the field this fall.
Do not count on seven teams with winning records again at the end of the season. It’s highly doubtful that 12 of the 14 schools, with ULM and Southern Miss the odd ones out, making a bowl game this season.
It’ll still be a great year for the conference with a whole lot of parity, and the Sun Belt East might just be one of the big things to watch this season, but figure on the bowl count coming in closer to eight or nine.
𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗢𝗪𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚.
— Sun Belt (@SunBelt) June 6, 2024
After leading the nation with 12 @BowlSeason participants a year ago, the Sun Belt Conference & @espn announce @SunBeltFB's 2024 primary bowl slate, including kickoff times & network designations. ☀️🏈
📰 » https://t.co/BJa3C75500 pic.twitter.com/PUeihvTQ6Y
10 Best Sun Belt Players
1. Jason Henderson, LB Old Dominion, Sr.
2. Jordan McCloud, QB Texas State, Sr.
3. Ismail Mahdi, RB/KR Texas State, Soph.
4. Joey Aguilar, QB Appalachian State, Sr.
5. Marques Watson-Trent, LB Georgia Southern, Sr.
FBS off season program of the day
— College Football Daily (@FBSCFBnews) June 18, 2024
TEXAS STATE BOBCATS
– QB-RB duo of Jordan McCloud & Ismail Mahdi will be ridiculous
– Really solid new defensive players
– GJ Kinne has the staff he needs to WIN big games
– Solud schedule this fall
Texas State is one of my SBC favorites pic.twitter.com/QaJXwkQgl9
6. Dylan Morris, QB James Madison, Sr.
7. Jaiden Voisin, S South Alabama, Sr.
8. Joey Hobert, WR Texas State, Sr.
9. Ayo Adeyi, RB James Madison, Sr.
10. Ben Bell, DE Texas State, Sr.
10 Biggest Sun Belt Games
Keeping this to Sun Belt vs Sun Belt games.
1. James Madison at Appalachian State, Nov. 23
2. Coastal Carolina at James Madison, Oct. 10
3. Coastal Carolina at Troy, Nov. 2
4. Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina, Nov. 7
5. Troy at South Alabama, Oct. 15
𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘.
— Sun Belt (@SunBelt) May 30, 2024
Sun Belt Conference & @espn announce @SunBeltFB kickoff times & network designations for Weeks 1-3 & midweek contests throughout the 2024 season—including 23 games on linear networks. ☀️🏈
📰 » https://t.co/wR6Gh0ZPrN pic.twitter.com/6gpmFFXW05
6. Marshall at James Madison, Nov. 30
7. James Madison at Georgia Southern, Oct. 19
8. Texas State at Troy, Oct. 3
9. Appalachian State at Marshall, Oct. 5
10. Louisiana at Texas State, Oct. 29
10 Top Sun Belt Transfers
1. Ayo Adeyi, RB James Madison (North Texas)
2. Tunmise Adeleye, DT Texas State (Michigan State)
3. Christian Fitzpatrick, WR Marshall (Michigan State)
4. Will Norman, DT Marshall (Florida)
5. Steven Parker, EDGE Texas State (UIW)
6. Ashley Williams, EDGE Louisiana (Arizona State)
● QB Spotlight ●
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) May 23, 2024
Dylan Morris
Washington ➡️ JMU
• Morris should've definitely got some great coaching the last few seasons from Kalen DeBoer and knowledge from Michael Penix Jr. Heading to the #SunBelt could be just what he needs to jumpstart his career. In his career he's… pic.twitter.com/o7XKaudxbM
7. George Pettaway, RB James Madison (North Carolina)
8. Garner Langlo, OT Appalachian State (Auburn)
9. Nakai Poole, WR James Madison (Mississippi State)
10. Nick Campbell, DT Appalachian State (NC State)
Top Sun Belt Quarterback Transfers
– Jordan McCloud, Texas State (James Madison)
– Dylan Morris, James Madison (Washington)
– Noah Kim, Coastal Carolina (Michigan State)
– Tate Rodemaker, Southern Miss (Florida State)
– Christian Veilleux, Georgia State (Pitt) & Zach Gibson, Georgia State (Georgia Tech)
– Dexter Williams, Georgia Southern (Indiana)
– Braylon Braxton, Marshall (Tulsa) & Mitch Griffis, Marshall (Utah)
– Timmy McClain, Arkansas State (UCF)
– Charles Wright, Appalachian State (Texas)
New Sun Belt Head Coaches
Major Applewhite, South Alabama
His biggest flaw was that he wasn’t out-of-this-world at Houston. He helped turn South Alabama into a fun offensive team with plenty of firepower. Now he gets another opportunity as the head man. The passing attack should keep being a bother.
South Alabama has hired OC Major Applewhite to be the next HC of the program.
— College Football Daily (@FBSCFBnews) January 18, 2024
This is a GREAT hire already being in the program 3 years with a FANTASTIC offense. 👀
Watch out for the Jags in 2024 pic.twitter.com/1WBERjxcpO
Bob Chesney, James Madison
No pressure, just take this powerhouse built up by Curt Cignetti (Indiana) and keep it at this unreasonably high level. Chesney was amazing at Holy Cross before getting this.
Dell McGee, Georgia State
It might be a tough first season thanks to a brutal schedule, but McGee knows how to get an offense going. A running game coach over the last five years at Georgia, he’ll bring the power to the attack.
Gerad Parker, Troy
This might be among the most important under-the-radar hires of the offseason if this works in the Trojans favor. Troy is the two-time defending Sun Belt champ who lost coach Sumrall to Tulane. Now it’s taking a flier on a guy who was 0-6 as an interim coach at Purdue back in 2016.
Bryant Vincent, ULM
Can anyone win at ULM? Vincent was a part of the UAB rebuild and now it’s his job to figure out a way to make ULM good at football.
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— Brad Harvey (@BradCSCast) June 14, 2024
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