Over the last two seasons, a sense of excitement has surrounded the Sun Belt Conference and its future ahead as it enters its 25th season of football play. In many circles around the sport, many coaches are saying the Sun Belt Conference is the Southeastern Conference of the Group of 5. In many metrics, those people are right; just last season, had it not been for a once-in-a-lifetime athlete at Boise State, either the Marshall Thundering Herd or Louisiana would have had the chance to compete in the College Football Playoff. On top of the football success, you have a renewed emphasis on basketball, while baseball continues to dominate. Coastal Carolina made a deep run to the College World Series Finals.

Coming into the fall of 2025, the Sun Belt has a few times primed for a run at the College Football Playoff and possibly play spoiler once they get there. Among those are James Madison, Louisiana, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, and even South Alabama, with Coach Charlie Huff and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles having an outside chance at playing spoiler as an outside dark horse to make some noise this fall. Then you have the sustained success that feeds the college baseball fever across the Sun Belt footprint, while the excitement for hoops has never been higher.

Outside of Texas State, leaving for the weird new age PAC 12, the Sun Belt is actually in a position of consistency with the current members, and with the TV contract coming up in the next few years, is in a position to potentially to poach a few big names like Memphis, Tulane, UAB, and East Carolina among the likelihood of Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State getting the nod as well. The best of the Sun Belt Conference is right there for the taking, and it all starts this fall when the Sun Belt Conference looks to continue its climb with a bid to the College Football Playoff. For the current members of the conference, the building on the success of this past season is now looked upon as a challenge to return another national championship to the Sun Belt.

However, what separates the Sun Belt from even those of the P4 level is its true tradition of sticking with a regionally based conference. In this modern era of college athletics, sometimes going back to what made us all fall in love with college sports in the first place is the only way forward. The Sun Belt has all that and then some; it combines regional rivalries with a solid product on the field of play to give college sports a much-needed boost in the arm as we navigate these uncertain times.

As the rest of the country tries to keep up with the times, the traditions of the Sun Belt and the geography of the conference are just two of many reasons that give fans across the footprint something to be excited about as the Sun Belt continues to develop into the people’s conference.

Photo Credits- Sun Belt on X