Sun Belt Title Chase Could Be Wide Open in 2024
After Reaching Conference Title Game, Appalachian Is the Team to Beat in the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Odds

Outgoing Transfers Could Impact the Balance of Power in Sun Belt
It was a bit of a bizarre season in the Sun Belt in 2023 as James Madison won the East Division title only to be prohibited from playing for the Sun Belt title as the Dukes continued to transition from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision level. That is not the case this year, although James Madison is not leading the pack in the 2024 Sun Belt NCAAF Odds.

Appalachian State, which finished a game in back of James Madison in the East Division, has the shortest Sun Belt title odds followed by Texas State and Louisiana.
With the College Football Playoff expanding from four to 12 teams, the champions in the top five conferences will earn spots in the field. Now that the Pac-12 has ceased to exist, that means at least one of the Group of Five conferences will have a team in the field so there is even more on the line heading into the 2024 season.
- Appalachian State comes in at +1500 to make the CFP followed by Louisiana (+2000), and James Madison (+2200). Don’t look for any Sun Belt teams to be in the College Football Rankings when the season gets underway but it is not how you start, but how you finish that matters.
It Could Be Crowded At the Top in the Sun Belt
The final Sun Belt game in 2023 didn’t go as planned for Appalachian State with Troy rolling to a 49-23 win in the Sun Belt championship game.
Linebacker Nate Johnson, cornerback Ethan Johnson, and safety Jordan Favors earned All-Sun Belt preseason honors from Athlon, so Appalachian’s defense appears to be in good hands.
Losing running back Nate Noel to Missouri is a big blow. Louisville offensive tackle Luke Burgess joins Syracuse safety Myles Farmer and North Carolina A&T safety as the top incoming transfers for the Mountaineers.
- It might be hard for Appalachian State to match its offensive numbers but the defense could be better as the Mountaineers have the shortest odds at +300 to win the Sun Belt.
- Quarterback Jordan McCloud, who transferred in from James Madison, led Texas State (+500 in the 2024 Sun Belt NCAAF Odds) to tie with Arkansas State for the most players on Athlon’s preseason All-Sun Belt team.McCloud completed 68% of his passes for 3657 yards with 35 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season. He also ran for eight touchdowns.
Key Incoming Transfers and Challenging Matchups in the Sun Belt Conference
Former Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura, Michigan State defensive lineman Tunmise Adeleye, and Incarnate Word edge rusher are other key incoming transfers.
Appalachian State and Texas State will not meet during the regular season, and that is not the best scheduling in Sun Belt history. An Oct. 12 game at Louisiana could be a bit challenging.
- Louisiana (+550 to win the conference title) was just 3-5 in conference play a season ago. Quarterback Zeon Chriss and edge rusher Kendre Gant both transferred to Houston. However, Arizona State edge rusher Ashley Williams, Mississippi State offensive tackle Zay Alexander, Georgia safety Jaden Dugger, LSU defensive lineman Fitzgerald West, and Missouri linebacker Carmycah Glass could all make their presence felt. They could also be popular options in the NCAAF picks and parlays.
Ready to Put Their Dukes Up
James Madison kept ripping off win after win while being left out of the conference title chase, which didn’t reflect well on the Sun Belt.The bid for an undefeated season ended with a three-point loss to Appalachian State.
James Madison and South Alabama both hold +800 odds in the 2024 Sun Belt NCAAF.
The Dukes were pretty active in the transfer portal, with North Texas running back Ayo Adeyi and North Carolina running back George Pettaway among the newcomers to keep an eye on.
South Alabama saw leading receiver Caullin Lacy leave for Louisville and quarterback Carter Bradley embark on a professional career.
The offensive line should be aided by the additions of Mississippi State’s Jayden Hobson and Purdue’s Malachi Preciado.
- Troy (+1000), Coastal Carolina (+1200), Arkansas State (+1400), Marshall (+1600), Georgia Southern (+2000), and Old Dominion (+2500) all have the potential to jump into the top three in the Sun Belt if any of the favorites stumble.
Troy had transfers end up at Texas A&M, West Virginia, and Indiana, so it won’t be easy to make it to back-to-back Sun Belt titles. Georgia State and Marshall both brought in more than 30 transfers.
- Other than Louisiana Monroe (+25000 to win the Sun Belt) any of the other teams could make some noise in the Sun Belt championship chase.
Openers Could Be Quite Challenging
Southern Miss and Georgia State deserve credit for stepping it up in the scheduling department.
The college football lines list Southern Miss as a 25.5-point underdog at Kentucky, while Georgia State is a 20.5-point underdog versus Georgia Tech on Aug. 31.
The college football lines list Southern Miss as a 25.5-point underdog at Kentucky, while Georgia State is a 20.5-point underdog versus Georgia Tech on Aug. 31.
UL Monroe will face Jackson State on the 29th, while Coastal Carolina, a 4.5-point underdog, will take on a Jacksonville State team expected to contend for the Conference USA title.
In Week 2, Marshall plays at Virginia Tech and Appalachian State travels to Clemson. That is a pretty good way to get ready for what is to come in the Sun Belt.
There might not be a conference race that is harder to predict than the Sun Belt so the teams that prepare by facing teams from the power conferences might have the edge when play gets underway in the Sun Belt. Nine of the 14 teams a season ago finished either 4-4 or with losing records in Sun Belt games. Will it be more of the same during the 2024 season?