NEW ORLEANS — If a rising tide has the ability to lift all boats, perhaps a rising Sun Belt Conference has the ability to lift all 14 programs that call it home. 
 
The new-look Sun Belt—with the additions of James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss—burst onto the national scene during the 2022 season when Old Dominion defeated in-state foe Virginia Tech, 20-17, in the conference’s season-opener on Friday, Sept. 2. 
 
The league followed that up with its Statement Saturday in Week 2 of the 2022 campaign, when Marshall knocked off No. 8/9 Notre Dame, 26-21; App State bested No. 6/6 Texas A&M, 17-14; and Georgia Southern outpaced Nebraska, 45-42—becoming the first non-autonomy conference to knock off multiple Top 10-ranked opponents on the same day (Sept. 10, 2022) in nearly two decades (Sept. 20, 2003) in the process. 
 
After earning a visit from ESPN’s College GameDay for the second time in conference history and producing a conference-record seven Bowl Season participants in 2022, fans and pundits alike questioned what the Sun Belt Conference would do for an encore in 2023. Expectations were high, and the conference responded, opening the 2023 season with three-straight weeks with a victory over an autonomy five opponent—Texas State defeated in-state foe Baylor, 42-31 in Week 1; James Madison topped in-state opponent Virginia, 36-35 in Week 2; and South Alabama dominated Oklahoma State, 33-7 in Week 3. 
 
The victories ran the Sun Belt’s tally to 18 wins over autonomy five programs over the past eight seasons, with 12-of-14 current members contributing to that total. In four of the past five seasons (2019, 2020, 2022 & 2023), the conference has had three-or-more victories over autonomy five foes. Texas State and South Alabama’s wins over Baylor and Oklahoma State, respectively, also improved the Sun Belt’s record to 7-7 against Big 12 opposition since the start of the 2019 season. 
 
“Any time you can knock off a Big 12 opponent, it’s always going to raise some eyebrows around the state,” said first-year Texas State head coach GJ Kinne, who boasts numerous family ties to Baylor, whom his Bobcats defeated in his first game at the helm for the program’s first-ever autonomy five win. 
 
For Southern Miss and ULM—the two teams that have yet to contribute to the conference’s recent autonomy five win tally—you don’t have to look far to find success against autonomy five opposition. The Golden Eagles defeated Kentucky in 2016, while members of Conference USA, and ULM had three-straight seasons with a victory over an autonomy five foe from 2012-14—defeating nationally-ranked Arkansas in 2012 and Wake Forest in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014. 
 
The youngest FBS conference—having begun sponsoring football in 2001—the Sun Belt has proven it can compete at the national level in just its 22nd season. 
 
“I’m never surprised. I expect it to happen,” said fifth-year James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti—who has helped guide the Dukes to an 11-3 mark, including the Week 2 win over Virginia, since making the jump to the FBS and the Sun Belt Conference a year ago. “The competitive difference between a lot of the autonomy five teams and the very competitive non-autonomy teams isn’t as much as maybe the average fan might think it is.”
 
Having produced multiple 10-win teams for five-straight seasons and having had a team listed in the final College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings for four-straight years, the Sun Belt is indisputably home to a number of those very competitive non-autonomy teams.
 
“We’re clearly continuing to move the dial forward in terms of the Sun Belt’s place in the college football landscape and our relevance from top to bottom in the league,” said third-year South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack, who led his team to a program-best 10-win season in 2022. 
 
For the Jaguars—who began sponsoring football in 2009, joined the FBS ranks in 2012 and opened the $78 million state-of-the-art Hancock Whitney Stadium on campus in 2020—the dominant Week 3 win over Oklahoma State gave Wommack the opportunity to shine a light on his program and the university at large.  
 
“We’re a young university and we’re certainly a young football program,” said Wommack. “We have a great product, but we need to create exposure and create opportunities to showcase what this product is. For us, when you have these autonomy five victories, those are moments that allow us to showcase how great this university and football program can be.” 
 
For the Sun Belt, which celebrated its rise from Times Square in New York City to Los Angeles during its banner 2022 campaign, it’s no longer a matter of if—but when—that next opportunity to showcase itself will be.

     
 
Marshall, which knocked off No. 8/9 Notre Dame to kick off the Sun Belt’s Statement Saturday in 2022, has the conference’s next date with an autonomy five program this Saturday, when Virginia Tech visits Huntington for the first time since 2011 at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. 
 
When asked what it would take for the Thundering Herd to give the Sun Belt four-straight weeks with a victory over an autonomy five opponent, third-year Marshall head coach Charles Huff responded, “We have to prepare really well this week, play extremely hard and then consistently execute on Saturday.”  
 
Consistent execution has become the hallmark of the new-look Sun Belt, which paces the non-autonomy conferences with a 24-13 non-conference record entering Week 4 play and the FBS with a .614 bowl winning percentage since the dawn of the CFP era in 2014. 
 
Kinne, one of the latest additions to the Sun Belt coaching fraternity whose playing and coaching career has touched nearly every non-autonomy league, sums up the Sun Belt’s rise in one powerful statement. “It’s not even close what the best non-autonomy conference is.” 
 
And we’re just getting started.