Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. The Sun Belt is a far-flung conference, with member institutions distributed primarily across the southern latitudes of the United States in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas.

Related Topics:
College athletic conference - NCAA - United States - Alabama - Arkansas - Colorado - Florida - Kentucky - Louisiana - Tennessee - Texas

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After the 1990-91 basketball season all members of the Sun Belt except Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Jacksonville, and incoming member Arkansas-Little Rock departed for other conferences. The Sun Belt merged with the American South Conference made up of Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Texas-Pan American, New Orleans, Lamar, and Central Florida. Football was not sponsored by the Sun Belt Conference until 2001, when the league added New Mexico State, North Texas and Middle Tennessee State as full members and added Louisiana-Monroe and Idaho as football only members.

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The Sun Belt is one of the lower ranked Division I-A football conferences, having won just 15 (14 percent) of 105 non-conference games against Division I-A opponents and 7 (37 percent) of 19 games against Division I-AA opponents during the 2001-2003 regular seasons. It has one bowl tie-in, the New Orleans Bowl, which currently pits the Sun Belt champion against an agreed-upon school from Conference USA.

Related Topics:
New Orleans Bowl - Conference USA

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