The 2024 Sun Belt Conference football season will be the 24th season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

play for the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

(SBC). The season is scheduled to begin August 31, 2024 and conclude with the Conference Championship Game on December 7, 2024. The season will be part of the

2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 155th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

. The conference will consist of 14 football member split into two divisions. The conference released its full season scheduled on March 1, 2024.

Previous season

During the 2023 Sun Belt Conference season, the James Madison Dukes won the East division, while the Troy Trojans won the West division. James Madison was not eligible to play in the conference championship game due to NCAA rules regarding transitioning from FCS to FBS, and so East division runner-ups

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

played in the championship game. In the Conference Championship Game, Troy defeated Appalachian State by a score of 49–23.

Preseason

Preseason Media Poll

The SBC released its preseason poll on July 22. Appalachian State was named the favorite to win the East Division, while Texas State was named the favorite to win the West Division.

Preseason All-Conference teams

*Offensive Player of the Year:

Joey Aguilar Joey Aguilar is an American football quarterback for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. He previously played at Diablo Valley College. Early life Aguilar was born in Antioch, California and attended high school at Freedom High School. In ...

(Senior, Appalachian State quarterback) *Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Henderson (Senior, Old Dominion, linebacker)

Head coaches

* On November 26, 2023, Louisiana–Monroe announced that it had fired head coach Terry Bowden after 3 seasons with the team. On December 5, 2023, the school announced that former UAB head coach

Bryant Vincent Bryant Vincent (born October 18, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Vincent was elevated to interim head coach at UAB in June 2022 after Bill Clark announced his retirement. ...

would take over as the new head coach for 2024. * On November 30, 2023, James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti announced that he would leave the school to take the head coach position at Indiana for the 2024 season. Assistant head coach and offensive line coach

Damian Wroblewski Damian Wroblewski (born May 4, 1976) is an American football coach and former center, who is the current offensive line and assistant head coach of the James Madison Dukes. He played college football at Lafayette for coach Bill Russo from 1996 t ...

was named the acting head coach for James Madison's bowl game. On December 7, 2023, the school announced that

Bob Chesney Robert Edward Chesney (born August 10, 1977) is an American football coach. On December 14, 2017, he was named the 28th head football coach at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. A graduate of Dickinson College, Chesney w ...

would become the new head coach for 2024. Chesney had previously been head coach at

Holy Cross Holy Cross or Saint Cross may refer to: * the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus * Christian cross, a frequently used religious symbol of Christianity * True Cross, supposed remnants of the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified * Feast ...

. * On December 8. 2023, Troy head coach Jon Sumrall was announced as the new head coach of Tulane in the American Athletic Conference for the 2024 season. The school's defensive coordinator

Greg Gasparato Greg Gasparato is an American football coach who is currently the defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offe ...

was named the interim head coach. On December 18, 2023, Troy announced

Gerad Parker Gerad Michael Parker (born January 4, 1981) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He is the tight ends coach at Notre Dame. He was previously the offensive coordinator at West Virginia University. Parker played college footba ...

as the new head coach for 2024. Parker was previously the offensive coordinator at

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

. *On January 15, South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack was hired as the defensive coordinator at Alabama. South Alabama promoted their offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to the head coach position to replace Wommack. *On February 15, Georgia State head coach

Shawn Elliott Shawn, Shaun, or Sean Elliott may refer to: * Shawn Elliott (actor) (1937–2016), American actor and singer * Shawn Elliott (American football) (born 1973), American football coach and defensive end * Sean Elliott (born 1968), American basketbal ...

resigned from his position to join South Carolina as a Tight Ends coach On February 23, Georgia State named Dell McGee as the new head coach. McGee had previously been the Running Backs coach at Georgia.

Rankings

Schedule

The 2024 schedule was released on March 1, 2024

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Championship Game

Sun Belt records vs other conferences

2024–2025 records against non-conference foes:

Sun Belt vs Power 5 matchups

This is a list of games the Sun Belt has scheduled versus

power conference The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA D ...

teams ( ACC, Big 10, Big 12,

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Sun Belt vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, or Mountain West.

Sun Belt vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against

FBS Independents National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to sc ...

, which includes UConn, or

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...