2019 Sun Belt Football News and Notes:
Week 1 Release (PDF) | Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats | Championship Game | Media Guide

AROUND #SUNBELTFB
• Sun Belt Conference football kicks off the 2019 season with all 10 teams in action. The conference’s Week 1 slate features matchups on the ESPN family of networks – one on ESPN, two on ESPNU, two on the SEC Network, four on ESPN+ and one on ESPN3.

• Appalachian State opens the season receiving votes in both the Associated Press and Amway Coaches powered by USA Today Sports Top 25 polls. The Mountaineers received five points in the AP Poll and four points in the Amway Coaches preseason polls. Appalachian State earned the Sun Belt’s second-ever Top 25 ranking last season – 25th in the Oct. 21, 2018 AP Poll. The Mountaineers’ ranking tied the highest-ever ranking for a Sun Belt team with Troy’s ranking of 25th in the Nov. 13, 2016 AP Poll.

• Troy received one vote in the Amway Coaches Poll to make it three-straight seasons for the Trojans appearing among the teams receiving votes in that poll. Troy’s two votes in the preseason edition of the 2018 Associated Press Poll was a program first in the initial AP Poll.

• The Sun Belt opened with five wins over the first week of the 2018 season. That marked the conference’s best opening week since winning seven wins in 2014 and six wins in 2016 as an 11-team conference.

• A total of 68 Sun Belt football student-athletes – Appalachian State (4), Arkansas State (13), Coastal Carolina (14), Georgia Southern (7), Georgia State (2), Louisiana (6), ULM (8), South Alabama (4), Texas State (8) and Troy (2) – have already earned their undergraduate degrees and are playing college football this fall while pursuing second diplomas. The Sun Belt contingent is among the 1,451 student-athletes identified across all divisions of college football at the NCAA and NAIA levels. 

• The Sun Belt has proven itself against Power Five conference opponents in recent history, posting eight wins in the last eight seasons and at least one win in seven of the last eight seasons. Five of the league’s eight Power Five wins have come on the road.

2011 – North Texas 24, Indiana 21 (Denton, Texas)
2012 – ULM 34, No. 6 Arkansas 31 [ot] (Monroe, La.) and Western Kentucky 32, Kentucky 31 [ot] (Lexington, Ky.)
2013 – ULM 21, Wake Forest 19 (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
2014 – ULM 17, Wake Forest 10 (Monroe, La.)
2016 – South Alabama 21, Mississippi State 20 (Starkville, Miss.)
2017 – Troy 24, No. 25 LSU 21 (Baton Rouge, La.)
2018 – Troy 24, Nebraska 19 (Lincoln, Neb.)

• The Sun Belt looks to keep its winning ways going in non-conference play after posting the best non-conference winning percentage (regular-season and postseason games) of any Group of Five conference in 2018. The league’s 24 non-conference victories were the most in conference history, eclipsing the 22 wins in 2016.

• Four head coaches are making their Sun Belt debuts this week – Eliah Drinkwitz at Appalachian State, Jamey Chadwell at Coastal Carolina, Jake Spavital at Texas State and Chip Lindsey at Troy.

• The Sun Belt is slated to open the 2019 National Football League regular season with 54 former standouts on active rosters and three on reserved lists. The conference boasts representatives on 24 different NFL teams. 

• Several Sun Belt players enter the season already ranked in the conference’s career lists:

- Georgia Southern redshirt junior quarterback Shai Werts ranks sixth in career rushing yards as a quarterback with 1,630 yards. He ranks behind Arkansas State’s Ryan Aplin with 1,756 career rushing yards from 2009-12.

- Georgia Southern redshirt senior placekicker Tyler Bass ranks third in career field goal completion percentage at 85.0 percent (34 of 40 made). The conference’s all-time leader is Louisiana’s Brett Baer at 90.0 percent (45 of 50 made) from 2009-12.

- Appalachian State junior placekicker Chandler Staton (92 of 92 made) and Troy junior placekicker/punter Tyler Sumpter (79 of 79 made) rank tied for first in career PAT percentage at 100.0 percent. Staton and Sumpter join Troy’s Ryan Kay (78 of 78 made in 2013-16) as the only players in conference history to have a perfect career PAT percentage.

- Georgia State redshirt senior placekicker/punter Brandon Wright ranks fourth in career punting average at 43.8 yards per punt. The conference’s all-time leader is Idaho’s Austin Rehkow at 44.8 yards per punt from 2014-16.

- Georgia Southern senior cornerback Monquavion Brinson ranks tied for fifth in career passes defended with 31. The conference’s all-time leader is Arkansas State’s Blaise Taylor with 36 career passes defended from 2014-17. 

• The 2019 Sun Belt football weekly awards for Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week and Special Teams Player of the Week begin on Monday, Sept. 2. 

• The 2019 Sun Belt Football Championship Game pits the East and West Division champions with the best conference winning percentages on Saturday, Dec. 7. The second edition of the league’s football title game is slated for live coverage on ESPN or ESPN2 at 11 a.m. CT/Noon ET. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Thursday, August 29
Texas State at 12/11 Texas A&M (SEC Network), 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 31
RV/RV Mississippi State vs. Louisiana (ESPNU), 11 a.m.
South Alabama at 24/RV Nebraska (ESPN), 11 a.m.
Georgia State at /RV Tennessee (ESPNU), 2:30 p.m.
Eastern Michigan at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 2:30 p.m.
East Tennessee State at RV/RV Appalachian State (ESPN+), 2:30 p.m.
Campbell at /RV Troy (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
SMU at Arkansas State (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
Georgia Southern at 6/6 LSU (SEC Network), 6:30 p.m.
Grambling State at ULM (ESPN3), 7 p.m.

All Times Central and Subject to Change