List of Sun Belt Conference football champions

This is a list of yearly Sun Belt Conference football champions. Co-champions are listed in alphabetical order. From 2001 to 2017, there had not been a tie breaker for conference champions. Since 2018, an outright conference champion is determined by the Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game.

Schools are listed by their current athletic branding, not necessarily what they used in a given season.

Champions by year

Pre-championship game era (2001–2017)

Year	Champions	Conference record	Overall record	Bowl result
2001	Middle Tennessee	5–1	8–3	—
	North Texas	5–1	5–7	L New Orleans Bowl 20–45 vs. Colorado State
2002	North Texas	6–0	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 25–19 vs. Cincinnati
2003	North Texas	7–0	9–4	L New Orleans Bowl 17–27 vs. Memphis
2004	North Texas	7–0	7–5	L New Orleans Bowl 10–31 vs. Southern Miss
2005	Arkansas State	5–2	6–6	L New Orleans Bowl 19–31 vs. Southern Miss
	Louisiana	5–2	6–5	—
	Louisiana-Monroe	5–2	5–6	—
2006	Middle Tennessee	6–1	7–6	—
	Troy	6–1	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 41–17 vs. Rice
2007	Florida Atlantic	6–1	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 44–27 vs. Memphis
	Troy	6–1	8–4	—
2008	Troy	6–1	8–5	L New Orleans Bowl 27–30 vs. Southern Miss
2009	Troy	8–0	9–4	L GMAC Bowl 41–44 vs. Central Michigan
2010	FIU	6–2	7–6	W Little Caesars Pizza Bowl 34–32 vs. Toledo
	Troy	6–2	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 48–21 vs. Ohio
2011	Arkansas State	8–0	10–3	L GoDaddy.com Bowl 20–38 vs. Northern Illinois
2012	Arkansas State	7–1	10–3	W GoDaddy.com Bowl 17–13 vs. Kent State
2013	Arkansas State	5–2	7–5	W GoDaddy Bowl 23–20 vs. Ball State
	Louisiana	5–2	8–4	W New Orleans Bowl 24–21 vs. Tulane
2014	Georgia Southern [a]	8–0	9–3	—
2015	Arkansas State	8–0	9–3	L New Orleans Bowl 28–47 vs. Louisiana Tech
2016	Appalachian State	7–1	9–3	W Camellia Bowl 31–28 vs. Toledo
	Arkansas State	7–1	8–5	W Cure Bowl 31–13 vs. UCF
2017	Troy	7–1	10–2	W New Orleans Bowl 50–30 vs. North Texas
	Appalachian State	7–1	8–4	W Dollar General Bowl 34–0 vs. Toledo

1. Ineligible for postseason play due to FCS-to-FBS transition rules.

Sun Belt Conference Championship Game (2018–present)

Year	East Division	Score	West Division	Site	Date	Attendance
2018	[[2018 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team|Appalachian State]]	30–19	[[2018 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team|Louisiana]]	Kidd Brewer Stadium • Boone, North Carolina	December 1, 2018	14,963
2019	[[2019 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team|No. 21 Appalachian State]]	45–38	[[2019 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team|Louisiana]]		December 7, 2019	18,618
2020†	[[2020 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team|No. 12 Coastal Carolina]]	No Contest	[[2020 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team|No. 19 Louisiana]]	Brooks Stadium • Conway, South Carolina	December 19, 2020	N/A
2021	[[2021 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team|Appalachian State]]	16–24	[[2021 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team|No. 24 Louisiana]]	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	December 4, 2021	31,014
2022	[[2022 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team|Coastal Carolina]]	26–45	[[2022 Troy Trojans football team|Troy]]	Veterans Memorial Stadium • Troy, Alabama	December 3, 2022	21,554
2023	[[2023 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team|Appalachian State]]	23–49	[[2023 Troy Trojans football team|Troy]]		December 2, 2023	20,183
2024	[[2024 Marshall Thundering Herd football team|Marshall]]	31–3	[[2024 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns team|Louisiana]]	Cajun Field • Lafayette, Louisiana	December 7, 2024	20,067
2025	No. 25 [[2025 James Madison Dukes football team|James Madison]]	31–14	Troy	Bridgeforth Stadium • Harrisonburg, Virginia	December 5, 2025	19,386

† 2020 game canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic. ^[1]

Championships by team

Rank	Team	Championships	Years
1	Troy	8	2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2022, 2023
2	Arkansas State	6	2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
3 (T)	Appalachian State	4	2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
	Louisiana	4	2005, 2013, 2020, 2021
	North Texas	4	2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
4	Middle Tennessee	2	2001, 2006
5 (T)	Coastal Carolina	1	2020
	FIU	1	2010
	Florida Atlantic	1	2007
	Georgia Southern	1	2014
	Louisiana–Monroe	1	2005
	Marshall	1	2024
	James Madison	1	2025

Bold indicates an outright title.

(T) indicates a tie.

Italics indicate team is no longer a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

See also

• List of Sun Belt Conference football standings

References

1. "Sun Belt Conference Championship Football Game Canceled". sunbeltsports.org. Retrieved 24 December 2020.