Georgia State, a fast-growing school in downtown Atlanta, has a fast-growing athletic department as well. The Eagles just hired former USC head coach Clay Helton to take over the program. Their fans are legion and although they're struggling a bit now, the program won six I-AA/FCS national titles. Georgia Southern, another traditional football powerhouse, is the team that twice knocked ODU and Taylor Heinicke out of the FCS playoffs. Both schools are within driving distance of Norfolk. Wood Selig said the Sun Belt has no pretentionsĪppalachian State is a traditional powerhouse with a rabid fan base, and a national name that began when App, then an FCS program, upset Michigan in the Big House in 2007.Ĭoastal Carolina has spent much of the last two seasons in the Top 25. Marshall is the Conference USA's traditional football powerhouse and the West Virginia school is the one that the Monarchs have considered their biggest C-USA rival.ĭr. It will be the nation's best Group of 5 division. But in football, it's going to be more than that. The East Division in which ODU will play is going to be a bear in all sports. Hemphill, Ph.D., are working hard to get that done. Yes, I said, Athletic Director Wood Selig and President Brian O. Some grabbed me as I was walking by and breathlessly asked if it really was possible to join the Sun Belt next season. "I can't wait," was the refrain I heard from most people. ODU fans can be a picky bunch, but as I wandered through the tailgate lots prior to last weekend's football game with Louisiana Tech, I could not find anyone who wasn't enthused about the move. App State is 33 rd among those receiving votes. While the ACC has one team ranked in the Top 25, the Sun Belt has two – No. In 2019, App State swept the Carolinas, beating both North and South Carolina on the road. What's it like to play in the Fun Belt? How about the first week of 2020, when three Sun Belt teams played at Big 12 teams and all three won. No wonder seven Sun Belt Conference games drew TV audiences of more than one million in 2020. App State won on a last-second field goal. The caliber of football is appealing, but it's the fans, and the noise they make, that draw in TV audiences.Ī few weeks ago, when Appalachian State upset Coastal Carolina on a Thursday night, 31,000 fans crammed into Kidd Brewer Stadium for a nationally televised game. The Sun Belt is known as the "Fun Belt," and that's in part because the league plays mid-week games on national TV. ODU is also joining a league with an identifiable national reputation. That means ODU finally will have what it has long desired – a home in the Football Bowl Subdivision with regional rivals that will matter to fans. Georgia State in Atlanta is the furthest from Norfolk, 9 hours away, but a stone's throw compared to Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. Three schools will be within driving distance of ODU. ODU will compete in the Sun Belt East Division, a more regionally focused group with more natural rivals that are closer to Norfolk than Conference USA's East Division. ODU, Marshall and Southern Miss all announced last week they are leaving Conference USA to join the Sun Belt.Īnother school will become the league's 14 th member late this week or early next. – I never would have dreamed of saying this a month ago, but when all the dust has settled, the Sun Belt Conference will emerge as the winner in the Group of 5 conference realignment skirmish of 2021.Īnd that means Old Dominion University's athletic program will also win.
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