The 2016 Sun Belt Conference football opponents were officially announced on Friday. Each team will play four conference home games and four conference road games.
The complete 2016 Sun Belt Football schedule with dates will be released on Tuesday, March 1.
2016 Sun Belt Football Opponents
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Home: Idaho, ULM, Georgia State, Texas State
Road: New Mexico State, Georgia Southern, UL Lafayette, Troy
Miss: Arkansas State, South Alabama
Home: South Alabama, ULM, New Mexico State, Georgia Southern
Road: Troy, Texas State, UL Lafayette, Georgia State
Miss: Idaho, Appalachian State
Home: ULM, Troy, Appalachian State, UL Lafayette
Road: Arkansas State, Georgia State, South Alabama, New Mexico State
Miss: Texas State, Idaho
Home: Texas State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, ULM
Road: Idaho, Appalachian State, Troy, South Alabama
Miss: New Mexico State, UL Lafayette
Home: South Alabama, Troy, New Mexico State, Georgia State
Road: UL Lafayette, Texas State, ULM, Appalachian State
Miss: Arkansas State, Georgia Southern
Home: Texas State, Georgia Southern, UL Lafayette, Appalachian State
Road: South Alabama, Idaho, Arkansas State, Troy
Miss: Georgia State, ULM
Home: Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Troy, New Mexico State
Road: ULM, Idaho, Arkansas State, UL Lafayette
Miss: Appalachian State, Texas State
Home: UL Lafayette, Idaho, Arkansas State, Troy
Road: Appalachian State, Georgia State, ULM, New Mexico State
Miss: Georgia Southern, South Alabama
Home: Georgia State, Appalachian State, New Mexico State, Arkansas State
Road: Texas State, South Alabama, Idaho, Georgia Southern
Miss: UL Lafayette, ULM
Home: South Alabama, Arkansas State, Appalachian State, Idaho
Road: Georgia Southern, ULM, New Mexico State, Texas State
Miss: Troy, Georgia State
Home: Texas State, Idaho, UL Lafayette, South Alabama
Road: Georgia State, Arkansas State, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern
Miss: New Mexico State, Troy
They should move Ga. State v Idaho to AT&T stadium in Dallas….
The Sun Belt should start sublicensing some of their football games to NBCSN starting next season to get more of their games on national TV. This would also give the network right of first refusal to any new bowls with a Sun Belt tie-in.
Idaho released its home and road opponents in the SBC for both 2016 and 2017 here:
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sportslink/2016/jan/15/idahos-upcoming-sun-belt-opponents-announced/
Note that Idaho is playing teams from both west (3) and east (5) in 2017 including CCU. This indicates no divisions in 2017.I suspect this might change if Idaho and NMSU are extended. But the schedule seems to assume not
Or, they’re going with somewhat non-geographic divisions. What are the possibilities? I’d guess something like this, with 5 divisional games, 1 locked cross rival (order as listed), and 2 other division rotating:
Sun Conference: NMSU, Tex St, Ark St, ULM, ULL, GaSo
Belt Conference: Idaho, Coastal, App St, Troy, USA, GaSt
.
It’s like one of those logic puzzles. From the article, we know Idaho can’t be in the same division in 2017 with Tex St, Ark St, and Ga So.