Are these 4 teams enough to keep Conference USA football competitive?

Conference USA football is set to announce new members to its suddenly barren conference after experiencing a mass exodus from most of its current members.

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported that an agreement is in place for four teams to join the flailing Group of Five conference.

In recent weeks, Conference USA football had been informed of the departures of Florida Atlantic, Marshall, Charlotte, Old Dominion, UTSA, UAB, Rice, North Texas, and Southern Mississippi.

Middle Tennessee State and Western Kentucky are expected to leave Conference USA and join the Mid-American Conference.

That leaves Florida International, Louisiana Tech, and UTEP as the only teams who have not left the conference.

Which teams are joining Conference USA football during realignment?

The four new teams that are joining the conference, according to the report are a mix of independent teams and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams.

Liberty, Jacksonville State, Sam Houston, and New Mexico State are the teams that will create a totally new-look conference.

Liberty is the most intriguing of the teams set to join the conference as they have a big-name coach, a growing fan base, and have been ranked and appeared in recent bowl games.

Jacksonville State made national headlines early in the season for pulling off an upset of Florida State in Week 2 of the college football season.

New Mexico State has been independent since the 2018 season but had previously been a member of the Sun Belt and the WAC. They’ve been to one bowl game since 1960.

Sam Houston is a team reach in tradition and won the FCS National Championship during the 2020 season. The team continues to be on a hot streak — they haven’t lost a game since 2019.

Unless Conference USA can find a way to add some other teams, this looks by and far to be the weakest conference in the Group of Five moving forward.