Sun Belt Shines

Traditionally, Sun Belt teams are the ones that the big conference schools schedule early on in the season when they are tired of beating up on themselves in intra-squad scrimmages and need someone else to practice with prior to the rigorous conference schedule beginning.  They may also schedule them for homecoming when they need a guaranteed win for the students, alumni and distinguished guests (recruits).  It’s a symbiotic relationship from which both schools benefit: the big school gets a pretty much guaranteed win, and the smaller programs get a big payday for their school.

Things have changed though.  Last year, Louisiana Monroe went to Tuscaloosa and came out of Bryant-Denny Stadium with a win over SEC powerhouse Alabama.  Yes, the same Alabama Crimson Tide that has 12, count ‘em, 12 national titles.  Troy beat the Cowboys of the Big Twelve’s Oklahoma State, too.

So far in this young season, Sun Belt teams have come close to playing spoiler in some big conference school’s seasons.  In week one Arkansas State beat Texas A&M and in week two Middle Tennessee beat Maryland, who then beat #23 California.  On top of the victories, Sun Belt teams, with the exception of our beloved Golden Panthers, have been able to play competitive football, too.  Last week Arkansas needed a last minute touchdown to beat ULM.  This past weekend MTSU played Kentucky very closely, as did Arkansas State with Southern Miss, Brett Favre’s alma mater.  Louisiana-Lafayette almost sipped the fun out of Champagne, Illinois, losing to Ron Zook’s 24th ranked Fighting Illini 20-17.  I also believe that, had it not rained as badly as it did, FAU might have been able to beat Michigan State in East Lansing.  Instead, Mother Nature did her part to shut down Rusty Smith and the high flying offense of the Owls.  I don’t know who to blame Cortez Gent’s sudden case of the dropsies on though.

Granted, the Goliaths that have fallen at the hands of Davids of the Sun Belt have been  middle of the pack teams, with the exception of Alabama.  The Sun Belt has yet to conquer the Floridas, Ohio States and Texas’ of the world, but that day may dawn sooner than later.  Maybe the Sun Belt teams aren’t too far from passing their counterparts in Conference USA or the MAC as the whipping boys of the NCAA.  

Is this the week that FIU’s football program gets the signature win it so desperately needs?  Perhaps.  After all, FIU did play well against Kansas, despite what the lopsided score would indicate.  Our opponent this week, the Bulls of the University of South Florida, who are led by stud quarterback Matt Grothe, needed a heroic effort from their star to rally past the Jayhawks in Tampa this past weekend.  

USF may be the most talented team we’ll face all season.  They play with speed and finesse on offense and hit hard on defense.  But we are opening our new stadium this week and I’m sure that Coach Cristobal is pounding that into the boys every day in practice.  The university has invested a ton of money not only in the construction of the stadium, but in the marketing of this as a program on the rise.  The last thing they want to see is the Panthers getting blown out in The Cage‘s inaugural game.