Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes.Indd
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2011 SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL For Immediate Release: Monday, August 29, 2011 • Week 1 Contact: John McElwain ([email protected]) 601 Poydras Street, Suite 2355, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 • www.sunbeltsports.org.org • 504.299.9066, ext. 215 2011 SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL STANDINGS CONFERENCE RECORD OVERALL RECORD SUN BELT IN THE BCS W L For Opp Pct W L For Opp Pct The Sun Belt Conference is a BCS Conference. Arkansas State 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 In fact, the Sun Belt Conference is one of just FIU 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 11 BCS Conferences. The Sun Belt Confer- Florida Atlantic 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 ence champion will earn an automatic berth Louisiana-Lafayette 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 Louisiana-Monroe 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 in a BCS bowl game if that team is ranked in Middle Tennessee 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 the top 12 of the fi nal BCS standings or if that Troy 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 team is ranked in the top 16 of the fi nal BCS North Texas 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 standings and its ranking is higher than that of WKU 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 a champion of a conference that has an annual UPCOMING GAMES automatic berth in one of the of BCS bowls. In the fi rst 10 years of the BCS arrangement, more September 1 * North Texas at FIU - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) than $100 million was distributed to confer- (1) Kentucky at Western Kentucky - 8:15 p.m. (ESPNU) ences that do not have an annual automatic September 3 berth to one of the BCS bowls. Nine percent of Middle Tennessee at Purdue - 11:00 a.m. (Big Ten Network) Arkansas State at Illinois - 2:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network) the net revenues from the BCS arrangement is Louisiana-Monroe at Florida State - 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU) Troy at Clemson - 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3) guaranteed in aggregate to Conference USA, Florida Atlantic at Florida - 6 p.m. (ESPNU) Louisiana-Lafayette at Oklahoma State - 6 p.m. (Fox Sports) the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, September 9 and Western Athletic Conferences for their FIU at Louisville - 6 p.m. (ESPN) participation in the BCS arrangement. When a September 10 team from one of those fi ve conferences plays Florida Atlantic at Michigan State - 11 a.m. (ESPN/ESPN2) Houston at North Texas - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) in BCS bowl game, those conferences receive Georgia Tech at Middle Tennessee - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) an additional nine percent of net revenues. Navy at Western Kentucky - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) Grambling State at Louisiana-Monroe - 6 p.m. When more than one team from those confer- Louisiana-Lafayette at Kent State - 6 p.m. Memphis at Arkansas State - 6 p.m. ences play in a BCS bowl game, those confer- All times Central (CT) and subject to change; * denotes Sun Belt Conference game; TV carrier in parenthesis ences will receive an additional $4.5 million for (1) denotes game to be played at LP Field - Nashville, Tenn. each additional team. IT’S GAME WEEK! FOOTBALL SEASON IS BACK! Toss out all the preseason chatter and will also be the debut of new North Texas head predictions, it’s time to play football. coach Dan McCarney. The season starts Thursday night with two Also laying claim to being one of the games as FIU faces North Texas in an early best offensive players in the Sun Belt is WKU’s season conference affair and WKU faces instate Bobby Rainey who will be featured in the rival Kentucky in Nashville. In total, there are Thursday night ESPNU broadcast against the 15 games scheduled for Thursday night. Wildcats. The contest will be held at LP Field in Thursday’s matchup between the Mean Nashville. Green and Panthers will feature, arguably, the A full slate of non-conference action is two best and most feared offensive players scheduled for Saturday with each game being in the Sun Belt in FIU’s T.Y. Hilton and North broadcast for home viewers to enjoy. Arkansas Texas’ Lance Dunbar, the 2011 SBC Co- State’s Hugh Freeze and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Preseason Offensive Players of the Year. The Mark Hudspeth will mark their first games as game is set to be broadcast on ESPN3.com and head coaches of their respective programs. 1 - WWW.SUNBELTSPORTS.ORG 2011 SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE SUN BELT FOOTBALL MEMBERSHIP The Sun Belt Conference is currently comprised of nine football playing members – Arkansas State (found- Sun Belt Conference ing football member in 2001), Florida Atlantic (joined league as football member in 2005), FIU (joined Coaches Teleconference Call league as football member in 2005), Louisiana-Lafayette (founding football member in 2001), Louisiana- Contact John McElwain Monroe (founding football member in 2001), Middle Tennessee (founding football member in 2001), North ([email protected]) for info Texas (founding football member in 2001), Troy (joined league as football member in 2004) and Western Conducted every Monday from Kentucky University (joined league as football member in 2009). The league will expand to 10 football August 29 to November 28 playing members when South Alabama enters in 2012. Schedule of Events (All times Central): SUN BELT CONFERENCE BOWL PARTNERS 10:30 a.m. -- Announcements The Sun Belt Conference is currently in the second year of four year partnerships with the GoDaddy.com 10:32 a.m. -- Howard Schnellenberger, FAU Bowl and the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Sun Belt teams will represent the league in the games follow- 10:38 a.m. -- Larry Blakeney, Troy ing the 2011, 2012 and 2013 regular seasons. 10:44 a.m. – Hugh Freeze, ASU 10:50 a.m. – Mark Hudspeth, ULL BOWL GAME WINNING PERCENTAGES SINCE 2005 10:56 a.m. – Todd Berry, ULM W L % 11:02 a.m. -- Rick Stockstill, MT 1. MWC 20 8 0.714 11:08 a.m. – Dan McCarney, NT 2. BIG EAST 21 11 0.656 11:14 a.m. -- Mario Cristobal, FIU 3. SEC 33 19 0.635 4. PAC 10 19 14 0.576 11:20 a.m. – Willie Taggart, WKU 5. SUN BELT 6 5 0.545 11:26 a.m. -- Commissioner Wright Waters 6. BIG 12 24 23 0.511 7. ACC 22 28 0.440 Sun Belt Conference Video Feed 8. WAC 10 14 0.417 Contact Travis Llewellyn 9. CUSA 14 21 0.400 ([email protected]) for info. 10. BIG TEN 16 28 0.364 Conducted every Tuesday from 11. MAC 5 18 0.217 August 30 to November 29 - 2:00 p.m. (CT) Since the 2005 football season – the fi rst season following major college football realignment – the Sun The Sun Belt Conference will provide a weekly Belt Conference ranks fi fth out of the 11 FBS conferences in postseason bowl game winning percentage. video feed of head coach interviews and game In fact, the Sun Belt Conference ranks ahead of noted “Big Six” leagues – the Big 12, ACC and the Big Ten. highlights each Tuesday during the 2011 football Furthermore, the Sun Belt Conference outpaces its non-automatic qualifying BCS partners in the WAC, season. The video feed will be made available Conference USA and the MAC. exclusively through a digital download this season SUN BELT CONFERENCE BOWL APPERANCES SINCE 2005 (6-5 Record) using the website https://sunbeltsports.egnyte. 2005 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Southern Miss 31, Arkansas State 19 com/. New videos made available on this site will 2006 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Troy 41, Rice 17 be uploaded on Tuesday of each week by 2 p.m. 2006 Motor City Bowl – Central Michigan 31, Middle Tennessee 14 The videos will also be maintained and archived 2007 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Florida Atlantic 44, Memphis 17 throughout the season. Members of the media 2008 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Southern Miss 30, Troy 27 (OT) may also fi nd supplementary content on this site 2008 Motor City Bowl – Florida Atlantic 24, Central Michigan 21 such as logos and photos. For login informa- 2009 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Middle Tennessee 42, Southern Miss 32 tion please contact Travis Llewellyn (llewellyn@ 2009 GMAC Bowl - Central Michigan 44, Troy 41 (OT) sunbeltsports.org) or John McElwain (mcelwain@ 2010 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl - Troy 48, Ohio 21 sunbeltsports.org). 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl - FIU 34, Toledo 32 2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl - Miami (Ohio) 35, Middle Tennesee 21 DUNBAR, RAINEY FEATURED IN USA TODAY The Sun Belt Conference’s two most noted running backs, who also happened to be among the national rushing leaders in 2010, were featured in USA Today during the 2011 off season. Will comparing the two running backs in his August 16 article, Greg Rosentien wrote “Dunbar and Rainey both believe they are primed for big senior seasons. But no matter how the two running backs fare this year, one thing is certain: It’ll be fun to watch.” 2 - WWW.SUNBELTSPORTS.ORG 2011 SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE SCHNELLENBERGER TO RETIRE AT SEASONS END 2011 Preseason Sun Belt Poll Florida Atlantic University’s Head Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger announced Thursday, August 11 As voted on by the league’s nine head coaches.