Conference Power Rankings: Big Ten Better than Expected in Week 1
9. Sun Belt
The Sun Belt might be ready to put the college football world on notice that it isn’t the worst conference. After Georgia State squeaked by in the first game of the season last Wednesday night against Abilene Christian, 38-37, the conference had a huge boost with Louisiana Monroe’s 17-10 victory over Wake Forest, a Power Five team, the next night. New Mexico State’s win against Cal Poly had the conference at 3-0 going into Saturday.
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Then, on Saturday, another win over an ACC team almost happened as Georgia Southern forced N.C. State to rally to beat them, 24-23. Arkansas State, Texas State, and Louisiana Lafeyette all scored blowout wins. But UAB’s dismantling of Troy wasn’t a good look.
The reason that this conference isn’t ranked higher is that there wasn’t much to go on. Believe it or not, Louisiana Monroe’s win against Wake Forest was expected, and Georgia Southern is one of the best teams in the conference. Outside of the way those two teams played, there’s not much to go on. Appalachian State got blown out by Michigan, which obviously was supposed to happen, and the only match-up between two non-Power Five FBS teams was that UAB vs. Troy game.