What was old is new again in the world of college football. The trend of conferences playing a championship game was once a fast-rising trend, even within the minnow conferences of FBS football.
A shifting landscape killed that idea for a few notable conferences, but now it looks like it’s come around again. Following the news that the Big 12 Conference is set to add a championship game (with a true round-robin schedule still in place), it appears that the Sun Belt is set to make the leap and add a championship game of its own. Sources indicated to the AP that a teleconference called for Wednesday was to make the announcement of the addition of the championship game.
It would be the first such game for the Sun Belt conference, but the last of the FBS conferences to add such a game. Just like the Big 12, the projected total of teams will be 10 in the first year of the championship game. The Sun Belt will see football-only members New Mexico State and Idaho exit this fall, while Costal Carolina will move up from the FCS ranks to join the conference. This is all made possible by a January rule change that allows conferences with fewer than the old requirement of 12 teams to now set up their own championship games.
It’s also a move that makes a lot of geographic sense for the Sun Belt, which has two pretty distinct areas of emphasis for its conference alignment. One area includes schools in North and South Carolina along with Georgia and eastern Alabama, while the other sees schools in Arkansas, the western part of Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.
While moves for a championship game at the “Power 5” level have all been about money, a move like this for the Sun Belt Conference is likely more about getting eyes on its league and keeping up with the rest of the college football world.
