MeanGreen61

• Western Kentucky (No. 3 seed) vs. North Texas (No. 6 seed) Western Kentucky may be one of the league’s top-two teams, but it hasn’t won the Sun Belt title in five years. The pressure is on for a breakout tournament run at Mobile. Rest assured, North Texas is not the quarterfinal matchup the Hilltoppers hoped for. UNT still has a few key players from last year’s Sun Belt Tournament championship squad. UNT is physical and athletic, two components that could give WKU problems. Meanwhile, WKU is without key reserve Mike Walker, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury two weeks ago. Daily News Journal Blog http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...S/80308016/1006

Stadium could cost as little as $118 million http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/...ag-120-million/

Right again CMJ

Correct. Including tonite's tournament game, the attendance average for this season was 3,178 for 17 games. 1 game over 6,000 (6,791) 1 game over 5,000 (5,237) 1 game over 4, 000 (4,631) 6 games over 3,000 (3,136, 3453, 3410, 3,218, 3,122, 3,246) 6 games over 2,000 (2,157, 2,218, 2,231, 2,318, 2,834, 2,531) 2 games under 2,000 (1,667 & 1,826)

Pixs of FIU's new stadium. Posted on the Belt board courtesy of ManzanoWolf. http://www.fiusports.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?P...&ZID=987752

Using the "Toppers will choke again" principle, I have WKU fans crying and complaining until next season when they again proclaim the Toppers as too good for the Belt. My hope is that they get sent home by those nasty Mean Green guys so they don't even make it to the finals.

Serious mistake to overlook FAU. They are returning virtually their entire offense and should be favored to repeat as the Belt champ. Troy is losing their QB and he'll be a difficult one to replace.

"Darker suits complement his green tie collection"

Dennis - Newcomer of the year White -Freshman of the year CONFERENCE RELEASE http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1404398

Neal was a Scout 3-star recruit.

Interesting story about NT's season opener opponent. Will this team really be together for their opener with the Mean Green ? There is a difference, though, between fondness for junior college players and what he is trying to pull off in his third season as the Wildcats head coach. Of sound mind and body, Prince deliberately went out and signed 19 junior college players, out of 32 total, in the Class of 2008. His three recruiting classes have included an incredible 37 jucos. And there are more student Princes to come. "This," the coach said. "is a strategy for us." A strategy that, at first glance, is reeking of more than a hint of desperation. Prince is coming off a 5-7 season, and the Big 12 North is improving around him by the day. His defense gave up 198 points in the final four games, the most in school history in a four-game span. And just recently, the AD who hired him, Tim Weiser, announced he is leaving to become a Big 12 deputy commissioner. FULL STORY http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10674645

In the class of 2008 alone, FBS institutions (formerly Division I) signed 62 offensive lineman that originally hailed from the state of Texas. I-AA programs signed 17 more. DII institutions added 28 to the list. Junior colleges inked still 41 more, which brings our total to a whopping ... ... 148. That's right, nearly 150 offensive linemen from Texas preps or junior colleges have either signed with or transferred to post-high school programs for the upcoming season. ARTICLE http://www.texasfootball.com/index.php?s=&...hange_well_id=2

Transitional WKU not a full football member, but not included in OC listings. Arkansas State @ Texas A&M v Southern Miss @ Memphis @ Alabama Florida Atlantic @ Texas v UAB @ Michigan State @ Minnesota Florida International @ Kansas @ Iowa v South Florida @ Toledo Louisiana Lafayette @ Southern Miss @ Illinois v Kent State @ Kansas State v UTEP Louisiana Monroe @ Auburn v Arkansas (Little Rock) v Alabama A&M @ Mississippi Middle Tennessee v Maryland @ Louisville @ Mississippi State @ Memphis North Texas @ Kansas State v Tulsa @ LSU @ Rice Troy @ LSU v Alcorn State @ Ohio State @ Oklahoma State

Should we just concede and ask them to mail us a check? It's not green kool-aid that sees this as a possible opportunity. First game of the season. K-State did go 5-7, lost a lot of people and didn't exactly have a great defense themselves. They cratered at the end of the season losing their last four games (2 to teams with losing records) and giving up 31,73,49 & 45.No one has predicted a win, but they ain't exactly LSU either. Emmit please don't volunteer to give the boys a pep talk before the game or they may run onto the field waving white flags.(Just kidding )

Sun Belt Conference What to watch • Offense will be the focus for Troy after losing two-time Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year Omar Haugabook and coordinator Tony Franklin, who took the same position at Auburn. Tanner Jones and Jamie Hampton both took snaps last season and will compete for the starting job with Jonathan Chandler and Levi Brown. • Gary DeLoach returns to North Texas for his second stint as defensive coordinator. He takes over a unit that ranked last in the Sun Belt and 113th nationally in yards allowed (486.4 per game). A chief concern is the defensive line, which loses standout Jeremiah Chapman and fellow end Montey Stevenson, who combined for 26.5 tackles for loss last season. • Louisiana-Monroe owned the Sun Belt's second-ranked rushing offense last season but lost standout back Calvin Dawson, the league's leading rusher, along with three starting linemen. Josh Andrews will get a shot at left tackle, but center could be a trouble spot. The Warhawks are also dealing with the departures of four assistant coaches, most recently co-offensive coordinator Nate Kaczor. NON-BCS CONFERENCES http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3270367

February 12, 2008 Fresh from the oven: Which conferences love cupcakes? With the conference schedules firming up for the 2008-2009 football season, The Wizard of Odds and CFBStats have a conference-by-conference breakdown of games scheduled against DI-AA opponents during the last three seasons. The biggest offenders? The WAC, Big XII, and SEC. According to the study, the WAC scheduled 16.1% of their games against DI-AA teams, with the Big XII Conference just behind (15.6%). The SEC (15.2%) finished comfortably ahead of the Big East (14.5%) and Conference USA (13.4%), who round out the top five. But it's not just D-IAA cupcakes that the major conferences enjoy. The BCS teams also love scheduling mid-major creampuffs to fill their schedules, too. The Big XII again led the way, with nearly seventy-percent of their non-conference games scheduled against non-BCS opponents. The SEC faired slightly better at roughly sixty-three percent, but still weighed in as the second biggest offender, well ahead of the Pac10 (56.8%), Big 10 (55.9%), Big East (53.6%) and the ACC (52.6%). According to the Wiz, the Big XII played 199 non-conference games from 2004-2007, with 167 of those against DI-AA or non-BCS opponents. Runner-up among college football's elite is the SEC, which played 198 nonconference games in the four-year period, 30 against I-AA and 124 against non-BCS. Other BCS breakdowns: Pacific 10: 146 nonconference, 14 vs. I-AA, 83 vs. non-BCS. Big Ten: 186 nonconference, 20 vs. I-AA, 104 vs. non-BCS. Big East: 166 nonconference, 24 vs. I-AA, 89 vs. non-BCS. Atlantic Coast: 196 nonconference, 25 vs. I-AA, 103 vs. non-BCS. Anyone care to wager as to where this trend is going? ARTICLE http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/007494.php

About the same. Sun Belt - 16347 MAC - 16,220

Another useless thread.

11. Sun Belt - The league took a monster step forward last year with Troy shocking Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic beating Minnesota and Memphis, and in one of the biggest upsets in an upset-filled season, UL Monroe stunning Alabama. Troy, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee will be strong, while North Texas could have the most exciting offense this side of Texas Tech. The best team should be ... Florida Atlantic COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS http://cfn.scout.com/2/733128.html

FWIW Kansas State is ranked #10 by ESPN in their Big XII power rankings. Maybe an opportunity here ? 10. Kansas State Wildcats What we know: That Ian Campbell is a more productive player at defensive end than at linebacker. He'll get his chance to return there this spring. What we don't know: If QB Josh Freeman will respond to the philosophy of new coordinator Dave Brock, who will also be searching for playmakers to replace Jordy Nelson and James Johnson. How the Wildcats can get to Kansas City: By getting a huge boost from their juco heavy class, particularly on defense after last season's late collapse. Big XII Spring Power Ranings http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3257114

A few hoops recruiting, LSU search notes A few interesting tidbits came up today on the men’s basketball front while I was here in Lafayette for the UNT women’s game. The first was a host of new names popped up on Rivals.com in connection with UNT recruiting. The most interesting of the bunch was James Cotton, a 6-8 power forward from Rise Academy. Cotton played in the National Prep Alliance National Invitation Tournament and caught the attention of Baylor and Marquette in addition to UNT. Cotton would fit UNT’s needs for another post player with the ability to get up and down the floor along the lines of Quincy Williams. The problem is Cotton still has some work to do to qualify academically. UNT also appears to have made the Missouri junior college tour. Marquis Young, a 6-9 forward from Mineral Area CC; small forward Marcus Scott of Park Hills; shooting guard Chad Thompson of Moberly and point guard Barry Wellington of Mineral Area are all indicating interest in UNT. I have also been meaning to mention that small forward Eric Trammiel of Paris JC, where Bill Foy coached before coming to UNT, is also on the Mean Green’s radar. While we are on the topic of UNT basketball, there were a couple of interesting quotes from LSU athletic director Skip Bertman today in the Baton Rouge Advocate on the school’s search for a new head coach to replace John Brady. “We need a unifier, someone who will be a part of the community,” Bertman told the Advocate. “There is a certain amount of intimacy involved in LSU athletics. Everyone knew Dale (Brown, former men’s basketball coach). Everyone knows (baseball coach) Paul Mainieri now. Everyone seems to have closeness with LSU. We need a basketball coach who can do that.” Judging by my e-mail, I might be the only one who thinks UNT head coach Johnny Jones is going to be a serious candidate for this job. But is there a coach who knows LSU better and could pull the community together more quickly than Jones, a former LSU player, assistant coach and consensus first-class guy? The other interesting tidbit in the Advocate is that the school will not use a search firm in the hiring process. “We had names, information you could get from a search firm, say 10 guys, their salary range, what their buyouts are,’ Bertman told the Advocate. “We have all the information.” Feel free to comment on the blog on who you would like to see UNT sign or your take on Jones and the LSU job.

In '06 it was Belt 4 CUSA 3 (Including the NO Bowl). Arkansas State lost to SMU, beat Memphis ULL beat Houston (CUSA champ) UNT beat SMU, lost to Tulsa Troy lost to UAB, beat Rice (NOBowl)

The Sun Belt and CUSA play 7 games this year plus the NO Bowl season end matchup. interesting to see if the Belt will continue to top the CUSA in number of wins. Memphis vs Arkansas State Rice vs North Texas Louisiana-Lafayette @ Southern Miss Tulsa @ North Texas UAB @ Florida Atlantic UTEP @ Louisiana-Lafayette Southern Miss @ Arkansas State

Guess we're a silent partner Post from the WAC board Under Armour teams Maryland Texas Tech South Carolina Auburn North Texas New For 2008 South Florida Utah Hawaii

Since we've got the off season threads on realignment/who do ya want to be in a conference with startin' to pop up, thought I'd post the conference footprint map.