The Sun Belt has options

The first instinct after a conference loses a marquee member is to look at what it might poach from somewhere else. The Sun Belt's version of that fantasy involves the American Conference falling apart and East Carolina or someone like it falling into the league's lap.

That is probably not going to happen.

The American just added JMU at $23 million in entrance fees without reducing distributions to existing members. The conference's ESPN deal distributes roughly $7 million per school annually — nearly three times the Sun Belt's approximately $2 million. Commissioner Tim Pernetti's conference reportedly doubled its value in 11 months. Whatever you think of the American's competitive ceiling, its financial structure is stable enough that a departure doesn't trigger a fire sale.

If Memphis or Tulane or USF eventually gets a Power 4 invitation, the American will backfill from strength. It won't be liquidating assets.

The Sun Belt should not wait for someone else's conference to break and start evaluating what's available. Commissioner Keith Gill said the conference will "examine and evaluate all opportunities." Here are four worth examining.

Liberty

Liberty puts the Sun Belt back in the Virginia market the same day JMU leaves it. The Flames have resources that most G6 programs can only imagine — a $62.5 million athletics budget that ranks among the highest in the Group of 6, a 25,000-seat stadium and a commitment to athletics that shows up on the balance sheet.

Lynchburg is not Harrisonburg. But the commodity is the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Liberty delivers it. The Flames are 5-1 through six games this season and competing at the top of CUSA.

The fit questions are real. Liberty's institutional identity is polarizing in ways that could complicate conference relationships. But on geography, resources and competitive profile, Liberty fills the JMU-shaped hole in the Sun Belt's map.

Kennesaw State

Kennesaw State is a growth play. The school sits in metro Atlanta with 51,375 students and access to one of the deepest recruiting bases in the country. The Owls won the 2025 CUSA Championship, beating Jacksonville State in the title game, and are competing in their third season at the FBS level.

The problem is the stadium. Kennesaw State plays in a facility that seats roughly 11,000. The Sun Belt's smallest current venue — Georgia State's Center Parc — holds 24,333. The gap between where Kennesaw State is and where it would need to be is more than double.

A program with Atlanta's population base and enrollment could build toward something substantial. But conferences that add programs based on potential are making a bet, not a trade. Kennesaw State is a long play, not a quick fix.

Western Kentucky

Western Kentucky has Sun Belt heritage. The Hilltoppers competed in the conference from 1982 through 2014 — 32 years. They bring all-sports competitiveness, a 22,000-seat stadium in Bowling Green and a track record across multiple platforms.

WKU knows what Sun Belt membership looks like. A reunion adds a new state to the conference's footprint and brings back a steady, competitive program that fills rosters across sports and shows up. In a conference that values broad-based success, that profile has merit.

The question is whether the Sun Belt wants to circle back or move forward. WKU represents stability. It doesn't necessarily represent growth.

Jacksonville State

The best overall option might be Jacksonville State.

Since joining FBS and Conference USA three years ago, the Gamecocks have compiled a 20-4 conference record — the best in CUSA over that span, and it isn't close. Western Kentucky is second at 17-7. Jax State has played in a bowl game every season, going 2-1. The Gamecocks won the 2024 CUSA Championship, beating Western Kentucky 52-12, and played for a second straight championship in 2025. At every level of its move up — Division II, FCS, FBS — Jacksonville State has punched above its weight class.

CUSA would not be eager to see them go. Jax State is the conference's best football program, and losing them would drop CUSA to nine football members. But the Sun Belt fit is better.

And the rivalry makes the case on its own.

Troy and Jacksonville State have played 64 times, dating to November 27, 1924 — a series called the Battle for the Ol' School Bell. Both schools were founding members of the Gulf South Conference in 1970. They were Division II rivals, then Southland Conference opponents, then programs climbing through the same levels of college athletics. Troy left for Division I in 1991. Jax State followed. The two schools rose through the ranks on parallel tracks, from normal schools that trained teachers to FBS programs that compete nationally.

But when Troy moved to FBS in 2001 and eventually joined the Sun Belt, the rivalry went dormant. For 24 years, one of college football's longest-running series sat on ice.

It came back last December.

Jacksonville State beat Troy 17-13 in the Salute to Veterans Bowl at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery. The Ol' School Bell changed hands for the first time in a quarter century. The schools hadn't played since 2001.

Adding Jax State to the Sun Belt reunites that rivalry on an annual basis and puts three Alabama programs — Troy, Jacksonville State and South Alabama — in the same conference. Troy and South Alabama have built a strong in-state rivalry since South Alabama moved to FBS in 2012. Troy and Jacksonville State's rivalry reaches back a century. Jax State and South Alabama would add another in-state matchup.

That Alabama triangle doesn't just fill a roster spot. It gives the Sun Belt a geographic anchor — three programs committed to winning, separated by the length of a state. For a conference that has built its identity on geographic cohesion and regional rivalries, that matters more than a splashy out-of-market addition.

There will be a line of thought that Jacksonville State doesn't add something new to the Sun Belt's portfolio or replace what was specifically lost in JMU — the CFP résumé, the massive media exposure, the Virginia market. That argument has merit. It is exactly why Liberty, Kennesaw State and Western Kentucky are also worth evaluating. Each brings a dimension the Sun Belt doesn't currently have.

But Jacksonville State doesn't need the Sun Belt to start winning. It is already winning — 20-4 in conference, a championship, a bowl game every year. And in a conference that values the things Keith Gill described — "a geographic footprint and a divisional model that fosters regional rivalries, engages passionate fanbases and supports its member institutions' pursuit of excellence in all sports at a reasonable cost" — Jax State fits every word.

The Sun Belt does not need to panic. Gill is right that the conference has had the best four-year stretch in its history. But JMU's departure is a signal to act, not to wait.

The programs that fit the Sun Belt's model are available. The conference should go get them before someone else does.