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2006 PREVIEW: THE SUN BELT
They're here, they're queer, get used to it
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 Anonymous. Geographically vague. Sensitive. Defensive. Teetering on the edge of the vast chasm separating divisions I-A and I-AA Football Bowl Subdivision and NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in the abyss of obscurity, ridicule and shame. There is no explanation for the existence of this vagabond effort, for its members - currently at eight; by tomorrow, who knows? - to coalesce in order to subject the unsuspecting fan to its in-your-face inferiority.
And yet someone must stand up for the Sun Belt. Is it not a conference? If you buy a ticket, do its teams not play? Does its champion not attend a bowl? No, SMQ is not a Sun Belt fan - not that there's anything wrong with that - but that doesn't give him or anyone one license to treat it with any less dignity or respect, with any fewer rights, dammit, than any conference. It's easy to say, 'Let them play, I just don't want to know about it.' But it's time the college football world opens and realizes: the Sun Belt is not going away. And if SMQ has to be the one to set aside his prejudices and do what's fair and right by previewing the Sun Belt, by helping it emerge from the shadows and be proud of what it is, by helping fellow college football fans to learn that Sun Belt teams are just like our teams (and to learn which teams, exactly, those Sun Belt teams are), then it's a mission he bears solemnly and dutifully to fulfill:
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My father's a Sun Belt fan...Look, you wanna go to a Sun Belt game right now? Do want to go to a Sun Belt game with me right now? Let's go! C'mon, let's go baby! C'mon!
PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Louisiana-Lafayette
2. North Texas
3. Middle Tennessee State
4. Troy
5. Arkansas State
6. Florida International
7. Louisiana-Monroe
8. Florida Atlantic
7.  LOUISIANA-MONROE
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2005: 5-6 (5-2 Sun Belt) / Last Five Years: 16-41 (15-17 Sun Belt)
2006 Schedule
What Everyone Should Know: The War Hawks, nee Indians, buckled under the NCAA's PC pressure this offseason, when they declared birds of prey in deadly battle fueled by political motives to be far less offensive. This sensitive transition required a logo change, as well, or about seven of them, to be exact:
   
Which are nothing at all like:
   
ULM's last logo, of course, was a virtual carbon copy of Florida State's arrow, so we can surmise that creativity is not exactly the university's strong suit.
Good At: Part of it was the athleticism of departed QB Steven Jyles to avoid rushers, but the offensive line returns intact after allowing only nine sacks in a little over 400 pass attempts last year, definitely one of the best rates anywhere. More than half of those came against Georgia and Arkansas - and this from a line made up exclusively of freshmen and sophomores. The same five ought to be back next year, too.
Not So Good At: Minus Jyles and all-SBC receiver D...[Message truncated] |
