DRC: SB Conference history..changes since

[OldTimer]

Football: A new Belt

Conference has changed since its inception in 2001

11:49 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

The Sun Belt Conference poster printed to commemorate the league’s first season in Division I-A football still sits in North Texas head coach Darrell Dickey’s office.

As the Mean Green prepare to begin Sun Belt play Saturday, a look back at that old poster that includes the league’s original teams and coaches shows just how much has changed since 2001, when UNT won the first of its four straight SBC titles.

New Mexico State and Idaho have left for the WAC along with Utah State, which joined the league and then left. Troy, Florida International and Florida Atlantic have moved up from Division I-AA to join the conference and all the original coaches other than Dickey have since departed.

DMN

North Texas running back Kevin Galbreath (5) looks for an opening in front of Cincinnati defenders in the 2002 New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

Even the one remaining constant -- UNT entering the season as the defending conference champion -- came to an end last year when the Mean Green finished with a 2-9 record.

Those growing pains have been tough for the Sun Belt, but just about everyone affiliated with the league agrees that while the conference isn’t where it wants to be, it is in its best shape yet heading into its sixth season.

“Every team in the league has upgraded its program, is playing a lot better, recruiting a lot better and I thought it was a pretty good league with a lot of potential to begin with,” Dickey said. “I see that potential being tapped. We have all had our tough outings, but we have all had our days when we made some noise against the teams from bigger leagues. And we usually do it under very difficult circumstances.”

UNT created some of those rumblings earlier this season when the Mean Green beat Conference USA member and longtime rival SMU for just the fourth time in the teams’ 32-game series.

Arkansas State beat Army and several other teams in the league were competitive with teams from more prominent conferences, including Troy and Florida International. The Trojans hung with Florida State before falling 24-17, while the Golden Panthers gave Maryland a scare before losing 14-10.

The coaches and players in the league would like to see wins in those types of games become commonplace in a conference that still has its struggles. Oklahoma beat MTSU 59-0 last weekend when Nebraska beat Troy 56-0.

“I am hard-pressed to show improvement on the basis of wins, but the quality is a lot better,” Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters said of the league. “Florida International has come close to winning in all four of its games. It shows that we are starting to be more competitive. I talked to the guys who are running the recruiting services and they think that we are recruiting better.”

For most of the league’s existence what no one could improve on was UNT’s performance in conference play. The Mean Green lost their first conference game before running off 26 straight wins that helped UNT capture four straight league titles.

“North Texas set the bar for several years,” Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Rickey Bustle said. “They ruled the conference and were what everyone was striving to be.”

The rest of the league finally caught up with UNT last season when UL-Lafayette finished in a tie with Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe for the conference title. ASU represented the Sun Belt in the New Orleans Bowl, an event that has been a sore spot for the conference.

The league’s champion faces a team from Conference USA each season. UNT beat Cincinnati in the 2002 edition of the game and is the only Sun Belt team to win in five tries.

Tough losses have been the norm for the conference. The league’s best overall winning percentage was .412 in 2004, but has been between .329 (2001) and .384 (2002) in every other season.

Heading into the heart of the 2006 conference season, which team will represent the Sun Belt in New Orleans is less certain than ever. Four teams received first-place votes in the Preseason Coaches Poll and several have shown signs that this could be their season to break through.

“It’s a given that anyone can beat anyone in this league,” Arkansas State head coach Steve Roberts said. “All the games are very competitive because each team has improved.”

The league’s coaches only expect that improvement to continue with a lineup of teams that has developed over the last few seasons. Troy joined the conference in 2004 and immediately earned a berth in the Silicone Valley Football Classic.

Florida International and Florida Atlantic are also expected to develop into powers after starting their programs from scratch in the last few years in one of the nation’s hotbeds for college football recruits. Both joined the conference last season, but are struggling this year at 0-4.

“There is no question this is the best set of teams we have had,” Bustle said. “We added two good programs from Florida, and Troy has also helped the league.”

Troy head coach Larry Blakeney attributed Troy’s growth as a program in part to joining the Sun Belt and ending its status as a Division I-A independent. Troy beat nationally-ranked Missouri of the Big 12 in 2004. Former Trojan defensive end DeMarcus Ware became the first player from the Sun Belt selected in first round of the NFL draft in 2005 and is now a budding star with the Dallas Cowboys.

UNT has also made strides during its time in the Sun Belt. The school built a new athletic center, thanks in large part to a $1 million donation to the athletic department by Jim McIngvale, a Houston businessman and friend of Dickey. The school has also installed new turf in Fouts Field.

UNT’s circumstances are no doubt better than when the Mean Green joined the Sun Belt, but Dickey said they are still tough.

“We have made some progress in some areas, but we still probably have the toughest circumstances in the league,” Dickey said. “Everyone gets a I-AA game at home. We don’t do that. … Other teams have been able to balance their schedules a little better. They play money games, but they turn around and play Division I-AA or Division II games.”

UNT has played a tough schedule early this season with games against defending national champion Texas and two defending conference champions in Tulsa (Conference USA) and Akron (Mid-American Conference) on the road to go with a home game against SMU.

UNT is hoping that tough early non-conference slate has prepared it for the challenge of entering an improved Sun Belt as just another team instead of as the defending champion for the first time in four years.

The Mean Green are loaded with several standout players, including former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas, all-conference offensive lineman Dylan Lineberry and wide receiver Johnny Quinn and will need all the firepower it can muster to compete in an improved conference.

“All the teams in the league have good players now,” UNT senior offensive lineman Joel Foster said. “The skill level is the same. It comes down to who wants it more.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

Sun Belt winning percentage

The following is the winning percentage of the Sun Belt Conference’s teams since the 2001 season

Year Record Percentage

2001 26-53 .329

2002 33-53 .384

2003 32-65 .330

2004 42-60 .412

2005 34-55 .382

Sun Belt membership

Current lineup

North Texas

2001-pres.

Arkansas State

2001-pres.

Florida Atlantic

2005-pres.

Florida International

2005-pres.

Louisiana-Lafayette

2001-pres.

Louisiana-Monroe

2001-pres.

Middle Tennessee

2001-pres.

Troy

2004-pres.

Former members

New Mexico State

(Now in WAC)

2001-04

Idaho

(Now in WAC)

2001-04

Utah State

(Now in WAC)

2003-04

[FirefightnRick]

"Other teams have been able to balance their schedules a little better. They play money games, but they turn around and play Division I-AA or Division II games."

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North Texas, Arkansas State and Florida International did not schedule a 1-AA team this season.

Rick

Edited September 28, 2006 by FirefightnRick