The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States.
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Established in 1921, the Southern Conference ranks as the fifth-oldest major college athletic conference in the United States, and either the third or fourth oldest in continuous operation, depending on definitions.
Gerald Hundley Moore is a former American college football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at North Texas State University—now the University of North Texas—from 1979 to 1980, at Texas Tech University from 1981 to 1985, and at Appalachian State University from 1989 to 2012, compiling a career college football coaching record of 242–134–2. In his 24 years at Appalachian State, Moore posted a losing season only once. He led his 2005 Mountaineers team to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship. This was the first national championship for any college football team in the state of North Carolina. Moore and the Mountaineers repeated as champions in 2006 and 2007, achieving the first "three-peat" in NCAA Division I FCS/I-AA history. Moore was forced out as head coach at the conclusion of the 2012 season. He was selected for inclusion into the Southern Conference Hall of Fame, and College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete across an array of professional and amateur levels of competition, along with athletes who compete at the World and Olympic levels in their respective sport. Major league professional teams based in North Carolina include teams that compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The state is also home to NASCAR Cup Series races. At the collegiate and university level, there are several North Carolina schools in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina also has many minor league baseball teams. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams based throughout the state.
The Georgia Southern Eagles football program represents Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference. The current head coach is Clay Helton. The Eagles have won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners. Georgia Southern first continuously fielded a football team in 1924, but play was suspended for World War II and did not return until 1981. The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 to 1992 and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 to 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships. In 2014, Georgia Southern moved to the FBS level and joined the Sun Belt Conference, winning the conference championship outright in its first year. Georgia Southern's main Sun Belt rivals are Appalachian State and Georgia State.
The James Madison Dukes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent James Madison University (JMU), in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The name "Dukes" is derived from Samuel Page Duke, the university's second president. The Dukes play as members of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), which sponsors sports at the NCAA Division I level. In football, JMU participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I, formerly known as Division I-A. JMU was a charter member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA),. The Dukes officially left the CAA and joined the SBC in 2022, participating in Division I FBS football and other sports sponsored by the conference.
The 2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game was a regular season college football game between the Appalachian State Mountaineers and Michigan Wolverines. It was held at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on September 1, 2007, and was the first game of the season for both teams. The Wolverines entered the game ranked No. 5 in both major Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) polls and media outlets considered them to be preseason favorites to win the Big Ten conference championship as well as possible contenders for the national championship, while the Mountaineers were ranked No. 1 in The Sports Network's Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) poll and were preseason favorites to win their third consecutive FCS national championship.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers football team is the intercollegiate American football team representing Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The Mountaineers have competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Sun Belt Conference since 2014. Appalachian plays its home games in Kidd Brewer Stadium, named after former head coach Kidd Brewer, whose 1937 squad was unbeaten and unscored upon during the regular season, outscoring opponents 206–0.
The 2007 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team represented Appalachian State University in the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Jerry Moore and played their home games at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are the athletic teams that represent Coastal Carolina University. They participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) in most sports, having joined that conference as a full but non-football member on July 1, 2016. At that time, the football team began a transition from the second-level Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the top-level Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The team played the 2016 season as an FCS independent, joined SBC football for the 2017 season, and became full FBS members for 2018 and beyond. A Chanticleer is a proud and fierce rooster. Before joining the SBC, the Chanticleers had been members of the Big South Conference since that league's formation in 1983. Coastal fields varsity teams in 19 sports, 8 for men and 11 for women. The university regularly competed for the Sasser Cup, the Big South's trophy for the university with the best sports program among the member institutions, winning the trophy nine times, tied with rival Liberty University.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team represents Coastal Carolina University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Chanticleers are members of the Sun Belt Conference, fielding its teams at the FBS level since 2017. The Chanticleers play their home games at James C. Benton Field at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.
Fredric Scott Satterfield is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Satterfield served as the head football coach at Appalachian State University from 2013 to 2018 and the University of Louisville from 2019 to 2022.
The Appalachian State–Georgia Southern football rivalry, also known as Deeper Than Hate, is a college rivalry between the Mountaineers of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and the Eagles of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Despite being located in separate states, the two universities have similar academic profiles, both having developed from teachers' colleges, and having enrollments of approximately 20,000. In addition, both Appalachian and Georgia Southern historically held a very strong presence during their time in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, having combined to win nine national championships, four Walter Payton Awards, and two Buck Buchanan Awards. On March 27, 2013, both schools were invited to join the Sun Belt Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) beginning in 2014.
The 2014 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team represented Appalachian State University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Scott Satterfield and played their home games at Kidd Brewer Stadium. This season was the Mountaineers first season in the Sun Belt Conference. In their second year of their two-year FCS-to-FBS transition, the Mountaineers were eligible for the conference championship; however, they were not bowl-eligible.
The 2007 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens. It was played on December 14, 2007, at Finley Stadium, home field of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The culminating game of the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season, it was won by Appalachian State, 49–21.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers football statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the Appalachian State Mountaineers football program in various categories, including passing, rushing, receiving, total offense, defensive stats, kicking, and scoring. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. The Mountaineers represent Appalachian State University in the NCAA Division I FBS Sun Belt Conference.
The 2021 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team represented Appalachian State University during the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mountaineers were led by second-year head coach Shawn Clark. Appalachian State played their home games at Kidd Brewer Stadium on the school's Boone, North Carolina, campus, and competed as a member of the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Appalachian State–Marshall football rivalry, known colloquially as The Old Mountain Feud, is a college rivalry between the Mountaineers of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and the Thundering Herd of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. The rivalry is significant for the competitiveness of the contests, as well as its place in contemporary Appalachian culture. Both campuses residing in the Appalachian Mountains, the two public universities both were once teacher's academies.
The 2023 Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game was a college football game that was played on December 2, 2023 at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the campus of Troy University in Troy, Alabama. It was the fifth edition of the Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game and determined the champion of the Sun Belt Conference for the 2023 season. The game began at 4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN. The game featured the Troy Trojans, the West Division champions, and the Appalachian State Mountaineers, the East Division runner-up. Troy defeated App State 49–23. Sponsored by Hercules Tires, the game was officially named as the 2023 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship.
