After nearly 25 years in Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference, the
Marshall Thundering Herd will be joining the Sun Belt Conference. With much of college
football in complete disarray over conference realignment, the Thundering Herd were able to find
their new home and it has the potential to be an excellent fit. The new home for the Herd will see
a program with a lot of history joining a up and coming league, with a chance for both parties to
gain significant benefit.
The Herd, with 13 conference championships and 2 Division I-AA National
Championships, bring a passionate fanbase with a blue-collar type of program to a league that
has capitalized on opportunities to get their league national exposure. All you have to do is turn on
an ESPN network on Tuesday night, and you will see the Sun Belt, Fun Belt game of the week
on a day where football is not even really considered. Yet there is the Sun Belt giving their
conference members national exposure on a weekly basis. When the talk of conference
realignment started, and the American Athletic Conference was riffled through by the Big 12
Conference, Marshall was hoping for maybe an invite to join the AAC but was able to align
themselves with a rising league with a lot of potential for its member schools.
Sun Belt Expansion
Joining the Herd as new members of the Sun Belt are: Old Dominion, James Madison,
and Southern Mississippi, and each school presents their new conference home with its own
flare. James Madison has been a powerhouse the last couple of years in the FCS and looks to
continue the success that they have seen in other sports at the Division I level. Southern Miss and
Old Dominion will join the move with Marshall from the Conference USA, and Southern Miss
will bring with them a rich football tradition in Hattiesburg, MS. Bringing in these programs to a
conference to a conference that is already trudging its own path, despite not being one of the
Power 5 Conferences, will only enhance the football that will be played in the Fun Belt
Conference.
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1 Comment
Great Article