Jags Voted To Finish Third In Conference Coaches’ Poll
According to a poll of the Sun Belt Conference coaches released on Saturday, South Alabama was selected to finish third in the eleven-team league.
Co-Champions Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State were selected to finish first and second again this season with the Ragin’ Cajuns being a unanious first-place selection. Behind the Jaguars is in-state rival Troy selected to finish fourth.
Appalachian State is rated the highest among the four new addition to the conference as they were selected to finish seventh with Georgia Southern chosen to finish eighth, fellow newcomer Idaho chosen to finish ninth, Georgia State 10 and New Mexico State chosen to finish last in 11th place.
Prior to last season, the Jaguars, entering their first season as full FBS and Sun Belt Conference membership, was selected to finish seventh in the then-eight-team league. However, after a three-game winning streak to finish the season, the Jaguars posted a 6-6 record overall and a 4-3 record in conference play to finish tied for third place with the same conference record as Troy, Western Kentucky (who joined Conference USA on July 1), and Louisiana-Monroe. The final win of the season came against co-champion ULL 30-8 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Co-Champions ULL and Arkansas State both finished with a 5-2 conference mark.
While the Jaguar were bowl eligible, and after the fans took to social media in an attempt to sway the bowl selection committees, USA was overlooked for a bowl invitation.
The entire breakdown of where the 11 Sun Belt Football teams were selected to finish is below.
- Louisiana-Lafayette (11 first place votes) 121 points
- Arkansas State 102
- South Alabama 98
- Troy 84
- Louisiana-Monroe 78
- Texas State 70
- Appalachian State 47
- Georgia Southern 44
- Idaho 29
- Georgia State 27
- New Mexico State 26