Earlier in August I did the now annual Google Survey poll on your thoughts for the 2026 Sun Belt season. Responses were …. unenthusiastic compared to recent years. As you can see below, a combo of NIL and free transfer fatigue negatively impacted college football fandom. The total number of responses were half of two years ago, which I’ll admit as an App State fan is likely due to less App State fans voting.

Responses that royally screwed up were removed and a couple troll comments were omitted or edited.

Part Two will be the thoughts on the individual teams.

East – average ranking from 49 voters (first place votes)

1. JMU – 1.918 (24)
2. ODU – 2.857 (9)
3. Marshall – 2.959 (10)
4. Ga Southern – 4.102 (4)
5. App State – 4.143 (1)
6. Coastal – 5.224 (1)
7. Georgia State -6.755 (0)

West – average ranking from 49 voters (first place votes)

1. Troy – 1.469 (34)
2. Louisiana – 2.612 (7)
3. Arkansas State – 3.673 (5)
4. Louisiana Tech – 4.224 (1)
5. South Alabama – 4.776 (0)
6. Southern Miss – 4.939 (1)
7. ULM – 6.388 (1)

Who will win the 2026 Sun Belt Championship Game? (52 responses)

JMU – 16
Troy – 9
ODU – 7
Marshall – 7
Louisiana – 4
Ga Southern – 3
Arkansas State – 3
Louisiana Tech – 1
Coastal Carolina – 1
App State – 1

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What are your overall thoughts on the 2026 Sun Belt football season?

JMU will not win back-to-back

might be wider open than people think

NIL and transfers have gutted the Sun Belt for the past two seasons.

2026 is going to be a down year.

Down. Ripe for Marshall

Better than last year

Scalp city and another CFP

Weak overall this yr

I am excited to see the rivalries and the close proximity to other programs. I like the divisions being separate. It creates strong intra-division rivalries while maintaining interesting matchups for championships or inter-divisional matchups.

I think that the conference misses the CFB but still has a strong year
I’m looking forward to seeing what La Tech will bring to the table. I also hope that the SBC can continue to maintain its “rise.”

Meh, who bought the best team during the off season

I don’t think we’ll have any top 25 teams this season but have a very deep G5 conference that will lead to a ton of fun conference games this year.

With so much turnover it’s impossible to point at one team and say “Yeah, they’re the best.” I’m just hoping we as a conference can win our OOC games. Rising tide and all that.

Concerned conference may be on a bit of a down swing overall. JMU had an amazing year last year, but the West was a mess, and the rest of the East wasn’t a ton better.

We are not as good as I hoped.

are we down to 4th of G6 already?

not much new

Excitement for a new era

CAN’T WAIT

Outside of Marshall, no clear favorites. Should be entertaining.

I think we overtake the AAC

I’m less excited than usual, but it’s still football season so yay.

Even with JMU making the playoff last year, it felt like the conference as a whole took a step back when it needs to perform and put the other G6 conferences on notice. I’m hoping to see surprising results that have the SBC competing outside of the Conference well…but I’m not expecting it because NIL seems like its harming a lot of teams.

Great teams. Way stronger than 2025

Who bought the most talent

Stop blaming NIL for the league’s troubles and make smarter hires.

Strong spot but the cracks are showing

I think Marshall is going to run away with the league this year. And it won’t be particularly close.

Excited

Shines

Hopefully the league is better than the early predictions nationally

It’s a crap shoot.

Need more aggressive commissioner to get to next level

Down year

Expecting very few P4 wins. The talent has been eroded with transfers leaving for the P4 every year.

Upbeat

No idea, every G6 conference resets in the offseason.

Hopeful. League is on a trajectory to be the best G6.

Who the heck knows with all of the turnover on every team.

2025 really saw a drop in performance off due to NIL and revenue sharing gutting some teams. Hopefully 2026 sees a rebound.

The ULM/LT/ull/Southern Miss quadrangle of hate is gonna be some good eatin’

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Who will be the best players in the Sun Belt this season?

(many responders left this blank)

The ones in Maroon

MJ Stroud

Del Rio Wilson

CDRW

No idea.

(Unfortunately) Max Johnson, and Kanye Roberts is going to be one of the best backs this year

Goose Crowder

I don’t know

The ones that won’t  be in the Sun Belt the following year.

George Pettaway. 

Carlos Del Rio-Wilson

Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (Marshall), Keenan Phillips (USA), Donnie Smith(Troy)

Carlos Del Rio-Wilson

Max Johnson 

Max Johnson 

Nobody comes to mind.  Hard to judge bought talent.

Who knows?

Carlos Del Rio Wilson and Lunch Winfield

Lunch Winfield 

Probably not some P4 retread. 

???

Who knows?  Anyone that is good transfers to a P4 team. 

Lunch Winfield

Chauncy Cobb!!!!

Wide open.

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BONUS QUESTION: How has NIL/revenue sharing changed your college football fandom?

We’re still broke but now it’s a bigger problem

Hate it

new to have some form of binding contracts

I’m not as passionate about college football anymore. I still root for my team and watch a lot of Sun Belt games but I just no longer care as much.

Yes

Only watch or care about my team anymore and not like I used to.

None

Ruined it. Wouldn’t give 100% monies upfront. Earn it throughout season or payout 70% at end of season. KPIs should be written into all deals

NIL hasn’t made it less interesting. The constant transferring has made it hard to watch.

It has made it less enthusiastic. Now players move and there is more turnover. It’s hard to support a program when the faces are new every year and the best players leave for more NIL money.

It gets really hard to remember more than 10 players

It hasn’t changed my fandom. For a few decades now, the G6 schools have always been the underdog… always gotten the short end of the stick. NIL/rev share doesn’t change that.

Killing it

I am still as big of a fan that I was, I just miss being able to learn about a guy and follow him over his whole 4-5 year collegiate career.

I watch less football outside of the Sun Belt. Most years I honestly don’t remember nor care who made the College Football playoff. Largely switched to pro sports.

Hate it.

nil is out of control but I still follow college football

lolol – seriously? I don’t give a (crap) about the farm teams anymore.

Made it frustrating and exciting as the new arrivals hit the field.

Slowly killing it.

Made it more challenging to know what’s going on in roster management, but not dampened

I hate NIL and it’s made me lose interest

I hate it but I love college football anyway

Minimized my passion somewhat, because now all the student athletes just feel like “guns for hire” instead of being passionate about being Mountaineers like I, most Alumni, and the General Student body feels/felt.

Hate it.

Hate it.

Losing me fast

I mostly just pay attention to G6 and FCS football for now.

We are so screwed

Not much.

Still don’t understand nil portal stuff

We have to just figure out how to win within our limited budget

Mostly negative. I’m glad the players are getting some compensation.

My issue is with the systemic and NCAA failures more than anything.

It’s killing G5 football and basketball

Is ruining college athletics.

10 years ago I was a super fan, even with my team on the skids. Now, I have lost A LOT of interest due to NIL and the transfer portal. Why should I put my real, hard earned money into a past-time that I have no “say so” or influence, and the people I’m paying extra money, above ticket prices, are in no way held accountable by any fans. I could donate my life savings and borrow 30 million dollars to donate , and my team would probably not crack the top 25 any time this decade, if ever again.

Still a huge fan. Still go to the same amount of home and road games, but I have to study the roster for the first few games because I haven’t learned who #87 is yet. I miss the continuity and watching guys develop over 4 years.

Schools needs contracts with buyouts for players.

College? It’s a minor league professional activity now. The unlimited transfer rule only makes it worse.

Yes. When the normal fans are guilted into paying thousands of dollars to 18 year old kids in the hopes they stay for more than one year, it puts a damper. Almost no players are playing for the team on their chest.

They’re playing for the money only.

It’s just not as exciting as it used to be. I’m less engaged overall. I have no desire watching players get paid millions, it sucks that players look to transfer each season just to hit another pay day, and it’s not fun that the already stacked deck had a huge injection to the unevenness that already existed for schools at out level. That said, I’ll follow the entire season and go to every home game.

I do hope y’all figure out a way to keep more of your best players and not go the way of the MAC. It’s not fun watching the league’s best talent get vacuumed up every year.

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Do you think these 14 teams will be the Sun Belt Conference when the 2031 season, five years from now, kicks off? And if not, what changes do you foresee?

Yes

Nope – will be a new look and different cfb as we know it
I hope so, if SBC hasn’t picked up a few other programs

NO

Yes

JMU to the moon and App for the ride

Yes

Probably not. Those Virginia schools may go somewhere.

No. I think some east division schools leave. As much as people think ULM will drop down, if they didn’t do it before under worse circumstances like the pandemic or early SBC days, they won’t now.

“Absolutely not, No. 1. I think JMU either leaves for the American or a depleted ACC in a new Pac-12 situation (if App can string together a couple good seasons it is possible they tag along, which is my hope), No. 2. I think the sun belt gets rid of divisions during the next wave of realignment, No. 3. I think that Western Kentucky could replace JMU, or Ohio is the MAC falls apart”

Yes, they will be here.  I believe ACC will take some combo of Memphis, Tulane, UTSA, and USF.  That will cause a deep weakness in the American’s ability to snatch other schools.  Combine that with the American likely losing media rights dollars around the same time, along with the SBC likely gaining more money in media rights.  I believe it won’t become a worthwhile venture to leave the SBC.  There is a strong possibility that the SBC could take a few American schools.

Nope.  2030 all hell breaks loose again.

No, we’ll lose 1-3 teams (maybe JMU and maybe someone like App State being pulled away and maybe ULM dropping back) and backfilling with 1-2 teams from the combination of: Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Ohio, Jax St., or some other similar teams. 

James Madison will be gone. Appalachian State and Old Dominion might be as well. The SBC will eventually add Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, and maybe Liberty if they’re truly desperate.

I think future membership in the SBC is entirely prevalent on whether the Protect College Sports Act passes congress.  Ask me in three months.

No I don’t 

No.  Changes, I dont know

No. JMU, ODU, APP, Marshall all gone to either AAC or PAC east

No. If the American is poached and the service academies are no longer there, I see a merger of the SBC and AAC.

YES

Yes

No

Yes

Probably not the way things are going. I think 30-36 teams will move to form a “Super League” and leave behind teams currently in the Big 10, SEC, ACC, and Big 12. When that happens the ACC and Big 12 conference will mostly be kept out and try to reconstruct themselves with the remainders and grabbing teams from the G6 conferences. The G6 conferences will reshuffle and I don’t think a lot of the teams in the SBC will be in the SBC later.

14.   Some will go.  Some new will join.  

14.   Some will go.  Some new will join.  

No difference.

No, APP JMU and Troy will be in the AAC

No, I think the east will find a way to separate for the west

Yes

Yes

Hard to say how many big changes are coming 

No. The college football landscape is changing way too much for things to look the same in 2031.

Be the same 

Yes. No changes will be made.

JMU will leave to American. Possibly App State also

No.  The top East teams will leave for a better conference.  Marshall, App State, James Madison

Yes

If they are smart, they’ll stay. The American is about to be a sinking ship when USF and Memphis go to ACC.

If the college football bill passes in Congress I think the SBC holds together, and perhaps even picks up a team (or two), perhaps in TN, KY or FL. The SBC’s best years are ahead. The pieces are in place. Patience will pay off.

Unlikely. Georgia State or JMU will be somewhere else.

Yes – there will not be any changes to Sun Belt membership by 2031. 

Eh idk wouldn’t shock me if the AAC poached JMU and ODU at some point, JMU’s always thought they were too good for the Belt anyway