The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have received and accepted an invitation to join Conference USA, the Bowling Green Daily News has reported.
WKU will join C-USA in all sports effective July 1, 2014. An official announcement could come as early as Monday.
The Hiltoppers, now led by head coach Bobby Petrino, have been a member of the Sun Belt since 2009. They are expected to replace Tulsa, who is reportedly heading to the Big East.
ESPN’s Brett McMurphy confirmed that WKU is Conference USA bound and also tweeted out two possible teams that might replace the Hilltoppers in the Sun Belt: James Madison and Liberty.
If one of those teams does move up from the FCS, they would join Appalachian State and Georgia Southern as first-year FBS teams in the Sun Belt in 2014.
Conference USA will now have 13 teams in 2014 when Western Kentucky and Old Dominion join and East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa depart. In 2015, C-USA will be at 14 after the addition of Charlotte.
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