The 2023 Sun Belt Conference football season was the 23rd season of

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

play for the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

(SBC). The season began on August 31, 2023, and ended with its conference championship game on December 2, 2023. It was part of the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. The conference consists of 14 member schools split into two divisions. The conference released its full season schedule on February 24, 2023.

Previous season

During the 2022 Sun Belt Conference football season, Coastal Carolina won the east division, while

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

won the west division. In the conference championship game, Troy defeated Coastal Carolina by a score of 45–26. Troy advanced to the

Cure Bowl The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year since 2015 in Orlando, Florida. It is currently held at Camping World Stadium, and in the past has been held at FBC Mortgage Stadium and ...

where they defeated UTSA. Coastal Carolina advanced to the

Birmingham Bowl The Birmingham Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game played annually in Birmingham, Alabama. First held in 2006, the game is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The University of Alabama at Birmingham ...

, where they lost to

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

Preseason

Preseason Media Poll

The SBC released its preseason poll on July 24. James Madison was named the favorite to win the East Division, while Troy was named the favorite to win the West Division.

Preseason All-Conference teams

* Offensive Player of the Year:

Grayson McCall Grayson McCall (born December 13, 2000) is an American college football coach and former American football quarterback who is currently an offensive analyst for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. He played college football for the Chanticleers ...

(Redshirt Senior, Coastal Carolina quarterback) * Defensive Player of the Year:

Jason Henderson Jason Douglas Henderson (born September 4, 1971) is an American writer of computer games, novels and several comic book series. He is the writer of the young adult novel series Alex Van Helsing from HarperCollins and the comic book series '' Sw ...

, (Junior, Old Dominion linebacker)

Head Coaches

*On November 27, 2022, Texas State announced that it had fired head coach

Jake Spavital Jacob Stephen Spavital (born May 1, 1985) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Baylor Bears. He previously served as the offensive coordinator at Cal Golden Bears in 2023. Coaching career Early coachin ...

. Spavital had posted a record of 13–35 over four years at the school. On December 7, 2022, Texas State announced Incarnate Word's head coach G. J. Kinne would take over as the new head coach for the 2023 season. *On December 4, 2022,

Jamey Chadwell Jamey Chadwell (born January 10, 1977) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Liberty University, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Chadwell served as the head football coach at North ...

announced that he was leaving Coastal Carolina to take over the head coaching position at

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

. Later on December 4, Coastal announced

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

offensive coordinator Tim Beck as the new head coach beginning in 2023.

Postseason changes

* On November 26, Louisiana–Monroe announced that it had fired head coach

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, a position he held until the conclusion of the 2023 season. Bowden was th ...

after 3 seasons with the team. On December 5, the school announced that former UAB head coach

Bryant Vincent Bryant Vincent (born October 18, 1975) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for the University of Louisiana Monroe, a position he has held since 2024. Vincent was elevated to interim head coach at UAB in June 2022 ...

would take over as the new head coach for 2024. * On November 30, James Madison head coach

Curt Cignetti Curt Cignetti (born June 2, 1961) is an American football coach who is currently serving as the head football coach at Indiana University. He has previously held head coaching positions at James Madison University, Elon University, and Indiana ...

announced that he would leave the school to take the head coach position at

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

for the 2024 season. Assistant head coach and offensive line coach

Damian Wroblewski Damian Wroblewski (born May 4, 1976) is an American college football coach and former center. He is the assistant offensive line for the University of Maryland. He served as the interim head football coach for James Madison University in 2023. H ...

was named the acting head coach for James Madison's bowl game. On December 7, the school announced that

Bob Chesney Robert Edward Chesney (born August 10, 1977) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for James Madison University, a position he has held since 2024. A graduate of Dickinson College, Chesney served as the head footbal ...

would become the new head coach for 2024. Chesney had previously been head coach at Holy Cross. * On December 8, Troy head coach Jon Sumrall was announced as the new head coach of

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

for the 2024 season. The school's defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato was named the interim head coach. On December 18, Troy announced

Gerad Parker Gerad Michael Parker (born January 4, 1981) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Troy University, a position he has held since 2024. He was previously the offensive coordinator and tight ends ...

as the new head coach for 2024. Parker was previously the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

Rankings

Schedule

The 2023 schedule was released on February 24, 2023.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Championship Game

Postseason

Bowl Games

Rankings are from Final CFP rankings. All times Central Time Zone.

Selection of teams

*Bowl eligible (12): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy *Bowl ineligible (2): Louisiana–Monroe, Southern Miss

Sun Belt records vs other conferences

2023–2024 records against non-conference foes: Postseason

Sun Belt vs Power 5 matchups

This is a list of games the Sun Belt has scheduled versus power conference teams ( ACC, Big 10,

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Sun Belt vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against teams from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

, or

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

Sun Belt vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against

FBS Independents National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule ...

, which includes

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, or

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, a medical school in Worcester and a law school in Dartmouth ...

Sun Belt vs FCS matchups

Home game attendance

Bold – At or Exceeded capacity
†Season High

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Sun Belt individual awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Sun Belt Conference football coaches at the end of the season.

All-Conference teams

The following players were selected as part of the Sun Belt's All-Conference Teams.

All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points.

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

NFL draft

The

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

will be held at

Campus Martius Park Campus Martius Park ( ') is a re-established park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the Great Fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for ''Field of Mars'', where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of Judge Augustus Woodward's ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...