Power Ranking Every College Football Conference Heading Into 2014

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Last season the Toppers finished as runners-up along with Troy. Louisiana-Monroe, and South Alabama. The Sun Belt Champions were Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State. Going 4-3 in the Sun Belt was a major disappointment to me as well as many other WKU fans. Given that Conference USA is "only a step ahead of the Sun Belt," anything less than a runners-up finish this season would be considered another major disappointment. Hopefully, 2014 will be the year that WKU plays to its full potential. What say you?


Sun Belt Conference

"The Sun Belt had a nice 2013 with bowl wins by North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, but the conference is severely weakened not only by the loss of Western Kentucky to Conference USA, but the additions of FBS weaklings Idaho and New Mexico State, along with FBS debut teams Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. This conference is an FBS league -- just barely."

Conference USA

"Another conference that is significantly weakened is Conference USA. While WKU is entering, East Carolina, Tulsa and Tulane are gone to the AAC. Once a fun conference with some notable teams that had at least some sort of strong football history, Conference USA is now only a step ahead of the Sun Belt in the college football conference pecking order, which is no real compliment."



Power Ranking

 

[svw311]

Originally posted by nashvillegoldenflash:
Last season the Toppers finished as runners-up along with Troy. Louisiana-Monroe, and South Alabama. The Sun Belt Champions were Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State. Going 4-3 in the Sun Belt was a major disappointment to me as well as many other WKU fans. Given that Conference USA is "only a step ahead of the Sun Belt," anything less than a runners-up finish this season would be considered another major disappointment. Hopefully, 2014 will be the year that WKU plays to its full potential. What say you?


Sun Belt Conference

"The Sun Belt had a nice 2013 with bowl wins by North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, but the conference is severely weakened not only by the loss of Western Kentucky to Conference USA, but the additions of FBS weaklings Idaho and New Mexico State, along with FBS debut teams Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. This conference is an FBS league -- just barely."

Conference USA

"Another conference that is significantly weakened is Conference USA. While WKU is entering, East Carolina, Tulsa and Tulane are gone to the AAC. Once a fun conference with some notable teams that had at least some sort of strong football history, Conference USA is now only a step ahead of the Sun Belt in the college football conference pecking order, which is no real compliment."

I would tend to agree with those statements on both conferences - if you take into consideration the teams that are leaving C-USA - it is just a step ahead of the Sun Belt, for now. I think the reputation for C-USA will get better as the season progresses and teams continue to improve.

While I think the additions of App State and Georgia Southern will be nice for the Sun Belt in the long run, New Mexico State and Idaho have a massive overhaul of improving to do when it comes to their programs.