The Sun Belt Conference was founded on Aug. 4, 1976, primarily as a basketball league. Like many conferences, it has experienced membership changes over time. It eventually added football to its list of sponsored sports. The Ragin’ Cajuns and other football teams have since built rich histories in the Sun Belt West Division.
This article highlights each school’s best and worst seasons at the Division I level. These seasons may have occurred while in the Sun Belt or another conference. Division I includes both Division I-A and the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) following the 1973 split.
Arkansas State
Arkansas State went 11-0 in its 1975 return to Division I, but its most successful season came in 1986, when it reached the Division I-AA national championship game. Arkansas State, then known as the Indians (a name used until 2008), went undefeated against I-AA opponents. The team lost to then-No. 19 Mississippi State and tied Ole Miss 10-10. Still, an unbeaten run in the Southland Conference earned a No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Arkansas State eventually fell to No. 4 Georgia Southern, 48-21, in the championship game.
Arkansas State has had three seasons at the Division I level where it finished 1-10. The 1991 season stands out the most. Competing as an independent while transitioning to Division I-A, the team’s only win came in a narrow 20-17 victory over Division II Troy State.
Louisiana
Louisiana recently wrapped up a strong run from 2019 to 2021, recording three straight seasons with double-digit wins. During that stretch, the Ragin’ Cajuns finished in the Top 25 of both the Associated Press and College Football Playoff rankings. Their 2020 campaign was especially notable. They ended the season ranked No. 15 in the AP poll and were named Sun Belt co-champions after the title game against Coastal Carolina was canceled due to COVID-19. Louisiana defeated UTSA in the First Responder Bowl and followed with a 13-1 record in 2021.
⏪ Bowl 🏆 Rewind ⏪
𝗟𝗢𝗨𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗔: 31
UTSA: 24 #cULture | #GeauxCajuns pic.twitter.com/VHCYndhBO4— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Football (@RaginCajunsFB) December 29, 2020
Louisiana has had three one-win seasons, but 1997 is often considered the worst. Playing as an independent, the Ragin’ Cajuns faced five teams from power conferences. But the defining moment was a loss to then-Division II North Alabama. The Lions finished 9-3 but did not qualify for the playoffs.
Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana-Monroe’s most memorable season came in 1987, when the program—then known as Northeast Louisiana—won the Division I-AA national championship with a 43-42 victory over Marshall. Trailing 42-28 in the fourth, All-American quarterback Stan Humphries led a comeback with two late touchdowns. They finished the season 13-2, a remarkable turnaround after going 5-6 the year before.
The 2020 season was one to forget. For just the third time in school history—and the first since 1964—ULM went winless. Only one loss was by fewer than seven points: a 35-30 defeat to Georgia Southern. A 70-20 blowout loss to rival Louisiana marked the worst in the history of the rivalry and led to the dismissal of fifth-year head coach Matt Viator.
South Alabama
The program began with two undefeated seasons in 2009 and 2010 but played only four opponents from either the FCS or FBS. South Alabama joined the FCS in 2011 but didn’t post a winning season until 2022. The Jaguars went 10-3 that year, tying with Troy for the Sun Belt West title. A loss to Troy on Oct. 20 kept them from reaching their first conference championship game. South Alabama earned a New Orleans Bowl berth but lost to former Sun Belt member Western Kentucky, 44-23.
In their first Sun Belt season, the Jaguars finished 2-11. They opened the year with a 33-31 loss to UTSA, a second-year program in its own FBS transition. One of the Jaguars’ two wins came against FCS opponent Nicholls State, a narrow 9-3 victory. That game marked the beginning of a four-game stretch in which they scored 10 points or fewer.
Southern Mississippi
Southern Miss experienced its highest and lowest points in consecutive seasons. In 2011, Southern Miss recorded its 18th straight winning season, captured the Conference USA title, and defeated Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl—their first bowl win since 2008. After the regular season, head coach Larry Fedora announced he would leave for North Carolina following the bowl game.
66 days until kickoff! #TBT to @ADavis1025 on the game winning drive (3-4, 66 yds) in the 2011 Hawaii Bowl #SMTTT pic.twitter.com/tCeTAHuq1E
— Southern Miss Football (@SouthernMissFB) June 30, 2016
New head coach Ellis Johnson oversaw the program’s first winless season since 1925. Southern Miss was competitive in only five of its 12 games. Johnson and his entire staff were fired after the season, which ended with a 42-24 loss to rival Memphis.
Texas State
The Bobcats posted their first double-digit win season in 2005, their best finish since winning back-to-back Division II national titles in 1981 and 1982. Their only regular-season losses came against FBS opponent Texas A&M and Southland rival Nicholls State. That loss led to a shared conference title. Texas State reached the FCS semifinals but lost 40-37 to eventual runner-up Northern Iowa.
Since moving up from Division II in 1984, Texas State has had five seasons with just two wins. The 1993 campaign stands out. Then known as Southwest Texas State, the Bobcats won only one game against Division I opponents. They opened the season with a 20-14 win over Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville before losing six straight.
Troy
When the Trojans moved up to Division I-AA in 1993, they made an immediate impact by going undefeated in the regular season. They eventually lost to then-Southern Conference member Marshall, 24-21, in the semifinals and finished the year 12-1-1. That year marked the start of a dominant I-AA run, as Troy made the playoffs in seven of the next eight seasons before moving to the FBS in 2001.
A streak of five straight Sun Belt titles ended in 2011 with a 3-9 record. However, the 2014 season is often seen as the low point. While all of Troy’s 2011 losses came against FBS teams, the 2014 squad lost 38-35 to FCS program Abilene Christian. It came just weeks after a 48-10 loss to UAB, a team that would suspend its program by season’s end.
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