The realignment wheel keeps spinning. And so does my head.
Per ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, both of the 1-AA ranks, will join the Sun Belt Conference in all sports beginning in 2015. A formal announcement is expected to come later this week.
The two programs will be ineligible for the FCS championship this upcoming season, and will also be ineligible for a Sun Belt title/postseason play as they transition to the FBS level next year.
The move, assuming it does come to fruition, would give the Sun Belt 10 football members and 12 basketball members as it continues to try to keep its head above water in the ever-shifting landscape of college athletics. FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee and North Texas have all left the Sun Belt to join Conference USA. Georgia State, Texas State and UT-Arlington all joined the SBC within the past year.
Still not in the conference? Former WAC members Idaho and New Mexico State, for now. While football independence remains the short term answer for both, their long-term fate could include Sun Belt membership for football only. As the Idaho Statesman writes, the University of Idaho will ask the state board for permission to join the SBC should an invite come.
And you don’t ask for permission if an invite isn’t on its way.