Official Football Signing Day List
Here is the list of signees that will be joining the Jaguar Nation. Their names were released today by head coach Joey Jones and his staff.
Dallas Davis is a 6’2″ 195-pound dual-threat quarterback from Panama City, Florida. He is rated as a two-star recruit by 247SportsComposite index and by the 247Sports rankings. He was an honorable mention selection to the All-State team and a first-team All-District last season after throwing for 3,765 yards and 40 touchdowns.
Jeremy Reaves is a 6’0″ 175-pound cornerback from Pensacola Catholic school in Pensacola, Florida. He is listed as running a 4.45 40 and received recruiting interest from Arizona, Florida Atlantic, Mississippi State or Missouri. He was selected as an honorable mention All-State player last season.
Corliss Waitman is listed as a 6’1″ 170-pound punter from Milton Florida. He is rated a three star recruit by 247Sports Composite rankings and is rated a two-star by 247 Sports. He was also offered by Alabama A&M and had interests from Maryland, Memphis and Middle Tennessee State. He was rated as the fifth best punter in the nation by 247Sports.
CJ Johnson is a 6’1″ 200-pound Safety/Outside Linebacker from Douglas, Georgia. He played at Colquitt County high school under Rush Propst. Defensive coordinator Travis Pearson came from Colquitt last year to coach linebackers under Kevin Sherrer and Pearson was one of his recruiters. Johnson is rated a three-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite rankings and a two-star by 247 Sports. Johnson is rated as a three-star recruit by ESPN.com at Safety. He was received offers from Arkansas, NC State, Ole Miss, UCF and well as being recruited by Georgia Tech and Mississippi State.
Malcolm Buggs is a 5’10” 183-pound safety from Opelika, Alabama. He is rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports Composite rankings and ESPN.com and as a two-start by 247Sports. He is listed as running a 4.4 40. He was offered by Georgia Tech and was also recruited by Auburn, Oregon State and Vanderbilt.
Claude Garrett is a 6’3″ 215-pound wide receiver from Wahpeton, North Dakota from the North Dakota State College of Science. He is rated as a two-star recruit by both the 247Sports Composite index and the 247Sports rankings. In addition to USA, he was also recruited by Arkansas State, BYU, Illinois and Kansas. Last season in route to be named to the First-Team All-Midwest Football Conference he hauled in 53 passes for 772 yards and four touchdowns.
Bryson Johnson is a 6’3″ 285-pound defensive tackle from Wahpeton, North Dakota from the North Dakota State College of Science. He is rated as a two-star recruit by both the 247Sports Composite and the 247Sports rankings. He was also offered by Texas State, Tennessee State, Northern Illinois and was recruited by Cincinnati. He was a second-team All-Midwest Conference selection as a sophomore with 59 total tackles.
Marice Fluellen is a 6′ 175-pound cornerback from Dothan, Alabama. He is rated as a two-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite and 247Sports ratings. Also Scout and Rivals both have him as two-star as well. He also received offers from Furman, Memphis and South Dakota State as well as recruiting interest from Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Purdue, Southern Miss, Tennessee and Texas State. He finished the season with 47 tackles and nine passes broken up while being rated as one of the top 100 recruits in the state by 247Sports.
Christopher Wilkerson is a 6’2″ 175-pound Safety from Bessemer City High School in Bessemer, Alabama. He is rated as a two-star recruit by 247Sports Composite and 247Sports rankings. In addition to USA, he had interest from Chattanooga, Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State. He is listed as running a 4.5 40. He was ranked among the top 75 recruits in the state by 247Sports.
Noah Fisher is a 6’5″ 245-pound offensive tackle from Decatur, Georgia. Fisher is rated as a two-star by both the 247Sports Composite and 247Sports rankings. He wasn named honorable mention for the All-State team, he was also first-team All-Region and All-County.
Caleb Butler is a 6’4″ 240-pound weak-side defensive end/inside linebacker from Enterprise, Alabama. Butler is a two-star 247Sports Composite index as well as the 247Sports ranking. In addition to USA, Bulter also received offers from Alabama State, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State and UAB. Butler recorded 108 tackles, 11 quarterback hurries and three forced fumbles in his senior season en route to being named to the First-Team All-State selection.
Chason Milner is a 6’4″ 220-pound outer linebacker from Spanish Fort, Alabama. He is rated as a two-star recruity by 247Sports Composite index ranking as well as a 247Sports. He was also offered by Old Dominion, Furman, Tulane and UAB. He also had interest from Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Auburn, Cincinnati, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Minnesota, Northern Illinois and Vanderbilt. Milner was primed for a big senior season before a knee injury sidelined him for most of the season. He helped lead the Toros to back-to-back 5A State championships.
Corbin Finlayson is a 6’4″ 300-pound offensive guard from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He is rated as a two-star recruit by 247Sports Composite index and 247Sports. He was also offered by James Madison.
Joshua Smith is a 6’3″ 200-pound tight end/athlete from Chiefland, Florida. He is rated as a two-star recruit by both 247Sports Composite index and the 247Sports rankings. In only one season at Cascade High School he was an All-Western Conference selection as both a quarterback and defensive back.
Nigel Green is a 6′ 185-pound safety from Flowood, Mississippi through Northest Rankin high school and Mississippi Gulf Coast. He is a two-start rating by Scout.com. He finished fourth on the team with 41 total tackles as he helped Mississippi Gulf Coast CC to a ninth place ranking in the final NJCAA rakings.
Carson Sharp is a long snapper from Gulf Breeze High School. Sharp will be a preferred walkon.
Curtis Williams is a 6’5″ 310-pound offensive tackle from Hialeah, Florida. He is not rated by the rating sites but the coaches speak very highly of him and he was kept very quiet until he was signed by the Jaguars. Led his team to a 9-1 record and a seventh place ranking in the final NJCAA rakings.
National Signing Day 2014 Is Here
National Signing Day 2014 is upon us. As the National Letter-of-Intents are faxed in today, Jaguar fans will notice that this class is focused on defense. Particularly they have focused on defensive linemen and defensive backs to fill needs. But they did not turn their backs on offensive players who could also help the team in the future.
The Jaguar offense will have eight starters back on offense, including offensive lineman Melvin Meggs who missed the entire season with a knee injury.
The South Alabama staff like where they stand with this class. They seems to have hit on some very good players, but just like other schools, they may have missed out on some players they were hoping to sign.
Quarterback Kilton Anderson, who verbally committed to the Jaguars a while back, has since flipped and is expected to sign with Fresno State instead. Defensive back Shaq Jones flipped to Louisville and coach Bobby Petrino though he is reportedly still talking to other schools including Georgia. Defensive lineman Jalen Harvey has verbally committed to Syracuse in the past few days.
Hopefully the only surprises that South Alabama has today are good ones by picking up some good student-athletes they may not have expected.
Look to our twitter account for updates throughout the day. This evening we will have a review all of the Jaguar signees that are announced this evening by the University.
Three Jaguars Named To Preseason All-SBC Softball Team
With the Softball season fast approaching, three South Alabama student-athletes were named to the 2014 Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team as the Jags were predicted to finish 2nd in the conference this season in selections made by Conference coaches.
Senior lefty Hannah Campbell was selected to the team for the second consecutive season at pitcher. Junior outfielder Blair Johnson was also selected for the second time while junior Kaitlyn Griffith was selected for the first time in her Jaguar career. Griffith is moving from second base to shortstop to fill the position vacated by former Jaguar standout Brittany Fowler.
This is the second straight year the Jags have had at least three selected to the list, which ties for the most this season with Western Kentucky.
Campbell was the first Jaguar to have ever been named an All-American last season. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association selected her after a 22-9 season with the second best ERA in the nation at 1.08. She also set a single-season record last year in saves with six and shutouts with 10 while tossing three no-hitters, including a perfect game against Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Mobile Regionals.
Johnson made the preseason list for the second time this season after helping to lead the Jaguars to back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Tournament championships. She led the team in hits (61) for the second straight season while recording 43 runs scored and 38 RBI. She was named to the All-SBC second team in her first collegiate season in 2012 and was named to the first-team last season.
Griffith finished second on the team in home runs with 10. She led the Jags past Troy in last year’s conference tournament. She had a .577 slugging percentage last year and had a .417 on-base percentage. She drew the second-most hit-by-pitches last season with 16 and recorded a .984 fielding percentage. She displayed her defensive prowess against #9 UCLA last season when filling in for an injursed Brittany Fowler, she had five-assists and a two put-outs from the shortstop position.
Griffith was a second-team selection last season and was named to the all-tournament team as well.
USA finished second to regular-season champion Western Kentucky with Louisiana-Lafayette finishing third. The Jags and ULL faced off in the conference tital game.
The #20 ranked Jaguars open the 2014 season on Thursday, February 6 against #21 ranks UAB at Jaguar Field to to begin the Mardi Gras Invitational.
2014 Sun Belt Conference Softball Preseason Poll (First Place Votes)
UL Lafayette (6)-62 pts
South Alabama (2) -57 pts
WKU (0) -47 pts
Texas State (0) -33 pts
Georgia State (0) -30 pts
Troy (0) -27 pts
UT Arlington (0) -21 pts
UL Monroe (0) -11 pts
USA Falls To Hot Shooting Georgia State In Atlanta
Jaguar seniors Antoine Allen and Augustine Rubit scored 19 and 16 points on Monday night in Atlanta against Georgia State, but was not enough to overcome the hot shooting Panthers 85-65.
The win extended the Panthers school record winning streak to 13 games and improves them to 16-6 overall and a perfect 9-0 in Sun Belt play. The Jags fell to 7-15 overall and only 1-8 in Conference play.
The numbers do not lie, Georgia State converted 65.2% from the floor in the first half and over 72% from outside the arc. Their top three scorers combined to go 10-of-15 from three-point range.
GSU jumped out to a 17 point lead on a 15-2 run midway through the first half. Manny Atkins opened the run with a three in the first of six consecutive possessions with a score for the Panthers. Ryan Harrow scored seven of the 15 points during that run including the final two points.
The Jags kept chipping away at the lead in the second half and held the Panthers without a field goal for 4:39 as Rubit and Allen combined for 14 of the Jaguars 19 points during to begin the half.
A three by Allen would trim the lead down to 57-46 with 9:05 left in the game, but GSU would score eight of the next 10 points and 14 of the next 19 points to take a 20 point lead on USA with 5:26 left in the game.
Allen led the Jags with 19 points as he went 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from from three-point range. Rubit added 16 points and six rebounds. Ken Williams was the only other Jag to reach double-digits scoring with 10. Barrington Stevens III had a team high five assists to go with his five points.
R.J. Hunter led all scorers with 24 points as he went 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from long range. Ryan Harrow and Manny Atkins both added 20 points each. Curtis Washington was the only other Panther in double-digits with 10 points.
“Tonight we had a gameplan of not letting certain guys shoot 3s and laying off a couple of others, but unfortunately they were 8-for-11 from the 3s and the Harrow kid, who normally shoots 26 percent from 3, made three out of four and got them in a really good rhythm,” Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said after the game. “They’re very talented offensively and once they get going they’re hard to stop.”
“I felt like in the second half, we made a nice adjustment defensively and made it tough in that first 10-to-12 minutes,” Graves said. “We kept them off balance and kept attacking, but with a team like this at home, you can only take so many punches. They kept making big shots and big 3-pointers. When a team shoots 63 percent on you, you’re asking for a long night.”
“Our two seniors did what seniors are supposed to do on the road and it was good that they stepped up and shot a good percentage,” Graves stated. “When Antoine takes good shots, he’s more than capable of making them and if he plays within the offense, he can really do some positive things for us.”
“I did think we did a better job of getting Augustine and Mychal (Ammons) the ball down inside. I know it doesn’t show in Mychal’s numbers per se but he got more touches than he normally does and Aug was able to get free early. In the first half he had three turnovers so he has to understand once we get him the ball he’s got to be strong with it and continue to take it up towards the basket.”
“I was really encouraged offensively. We had 14 assists on 26 field goals, which is moving in the right direction, like we did in the last game,” Graves continued. “We had nine turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 12, so we did a better job of taking care of the ball. I’m hoping we’re starting to build some positive momentum on the offensive end of the floor as we move into our game on Thursday.”
South Alabama will travel to Troy on Thursday to face their in-state rival. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30pm and can be heard on 105.5 WNSP and WNSP.com.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Football
As National Signing Day approaches on Wednesday, head coach Joey Jones announced that Travis Pearson will be promoted to the defensive coordinator position that was vacated by Kevin Sherrer after he left to take a position at the University of Georgia under defensive coordinator and longtime friend Jeremy Pruitt.
“Travis is a great football coach and a great person,” Jones said. “He was here with us last season and part of a defense I like running, so I think the carryover with his knowledge of our system will be very helpful in maintaining what we’ve done through the next few years. I’m real excited about having him in this role.”
“He’s in the same boat that Kevin Sherrer was in,” Jones continued. “Kevin hadn’t been a defensive coordinator at the collegiate level, he hadn’t “coached” in college, but I knew he was a great football coach. And I know Travis Pearson is a great football coach. The players love him, they have a high level of respect for Coach Pearson and so do I.”
In his first season as part of the USA defensive staff, Pearson helped the Jaguar defense finish second in the Sun Belt Conference in passing yards (224.6 ypg), total defense (384.3 ypg) and scoring defense (25.2 ppg). While coaching the linebackers, he helped Enrique Williams earn second-team all-conference honors after the senior led the team with 105 total tackles, with 7.5 of them being tackles for loss. He also helped Maleki Harris post a career-high 63 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss and seven passes broken up.
The Jags look to improve on their 6-6 overall record and 4-3 record in Sun Belt play last season. They lost five games by seven points or less, four of them came by a total of five points.
Coach Jones has three positions to fill on his staff: a defensive assistant to potentially coach the secondary if Pearson continues his work with the linebackers, a quarterbacks coach to fill Bryant Vincent’s position as he left for the offensive coordinator position at UAB, and a wide receivers coach to fill Jerry Mack’s position who left the staff for a head coaching position at North Carolina Central University.
Men’s Basketball
South Alabama rallied from a deficit of as much as 12 points to take the lead late in the game against Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday. But it was not enough to get the win as the Jags fell 62-58.
Early in the second half, the Jags were down 32-22 before a three-pointer by Ken Williams which was followed by a three-pointer by Augustine Rubit after a Trojan turnover would cut the lead to four points with 16:44 left in the game.
A short time later Antoine Allen and Ken Williams would combine for back-to-back three-pointers cutting the lead to 38-36. A layup by Josh Hagins would seperate the two 3-pointers from another by Antoine Allen that would further cut the Trojan lead to one point at 40-39 with 13:24 left.
USA would take their first lead of the game a short time later when Allen would sink both free throws with 12:51 left in the game.
The Jags would take a 54-51 with 3:18 left in the game on an Antoine Allen layup, but Hagins sparked a 6-0 rally to retake the lead over the Jaguars.
USA was forced to foul late in the game and would get within one-point on a Mychal Ammons dunk with 15.7 left in the game. UALR would make one of two at the free throw line to set up the Jaguars final possession of the game.
A floater by Allen in the lane would only hit the front of the rim, just short of it’s mark. Hagins would add on the final two points of the game with 0.9 seconds left for the final score 62-58.
Antoine Allen and Augustine Rubit both scored 14 points to lead the Jaguars in scoring. Rubit would finish just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Ken Williams was the only other Jaguar in double figures scoring with 10.
With the loss, the Jags fall to 7-14 overall and 1-7 in conference play. UALR speeps the season series as they improved to 12-10 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
The Jags travel to Atlanta to play Georgia State in a game that was rescheduled from Thursday due to weather.
Currently the Jags are in the basement of the Sun Belt Conference standings at 10th place. The Sun Belt Conference Tournament will feature the top 8 teams, which is still within the Jaguars grasp. Texas State, currently the 8th place team, is 6-15 overall and 2-6 in Conference play. Troy is in 9th place with an overall record of 7-14 and a conference record of 2-7.
Women’s Basketball
The lady Jaguars held on the defeat UALR 61-56 on Saturday. Meghan Dunn scored eight of the final 12 points for the Jaguars to hold on for the win.
Dunn finished with 17 points and her eighth double-figure game of the season. She was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and 5-of-12 from the floor while also adding four assists.
Breanna Hall led the Jags with 19 points as she finished just two points shy of tying her career high. She has hit double-figures in her last four games and hit 10-of-11 free throws.
The entire team went 22-of-26 from the free throw line.
The Lady Jaguars improved to 7-12 overall and 5-4 in Sun Belt play. UALR fell to 10-10 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
USA will travel to in-state rival Troy on Thursday for a 5:15pm tipoff.
Lady Jags Fall To Panthers On The Road
Thursday afternoon the Lady Jaguars were finally able to hit the floor against Georgia State after their 24-hour bus trip to Atlanta on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Unfortunately their second half rally fell short as they lost 62-55 to the Lady Panthers.
USA jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, but the offense went stone cold as they missed 14 of their next 15 shots before Meghan Dunn snapped the 11-conscutive missed shot streak with 9:43 left in the first half. An 18-2 run would put GSU up 20-10 with about six minutes left until halftime.
At the half, the Jags were only 6-of-31 from the field (19.4%) and had only made one three-pointer. GSU shot 45.2% with 22 of its 31 points coming in the paint.
In the second half the Jags finally found their shot as Dunn connected from long range to open the second half. But GSU went on a 13-1 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to take a 24 point lead on the Jaguars.
A Breanna Hall pass to Ronneka Robertson for an easy shot would spur a 13-2 run by the Jags over the next four-plus minutes. The Jags would cut the lead to 46-33 with less than 12 minutes to play.
Two baskets by the Panthers put them back up by 17 points, but the Jags continued to fight. Sharon Sanders would nail a 3-pointer with 4:01 left to cut the Panther lead to single digits at 54-46.
Later Dunn would bank in a three from the left wing and would follow that up with a baseline jumper with 1:46 left in the game to put the Jags within five points, 58-53.
But Kayla Nolan would hit a bucket and make her and-one to all but seal the game.
In the second half the Jags were 14-of-25 (56%) from the floor and 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
South Alabama fell to 6-12 overall and 4-4 in Conference play on the season with the loss. Meghan Dunn led the Jags with 17 points as she went 7-of-14 from the field and led the team with three 3-pointers and three steals. Jennifer Johnson added 11 points off the bench on 5-of-12 shooting. Breanna Hall came up just short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia State improved to 10-10 overall and 6-2 in conference play with its fifth consecutive win. Alisha Andrews led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting with five assists and three steals. Brittany Logan earned her third-consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
THe Lady Jaguars will face Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday. An “Old-timers” game is set for former players at 11am with the Lady Jags facing the Trojans at 2:05pm with the men facing the Trojans at 4:05pm.
USA Softball Ranked In Another Poll; Hannah Campbell Named To Watch List
Hannah Campbell was selected to the Top-50 Watch List for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award. | usajaguars.com
The Jaguar softball team received two more honors as the season quickly approaches.
Hannah Campbell was selected to the Top-50 “Watch List” for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award as announced by the Amateur Softball Association of America and USA Softball.
This is the 13th year the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be given by the National Governing Body for softball in the United States. It is designed to recognize the outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.
Campbell is a native of Satsuma, Alabama and finished last season with a 22-9 record and had the nation’s second-best ERA of 1.08. She was selected as a Second-Team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, the program’s first-ever All-American.
She was named the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player for the second year in a row after leading the Jaguars to back-to-back conference tournament titles. She recorded six saves and 10 shutouts last year, both single-season records for USA.
She throw three no-hitters, including a perfect game against Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Mobile Regional hosted by South Alabama.
The preseason watch list includes 24 seniors, 20 juniors and six sophomores. Freshmen are ineligible.
Also, the Jags were ranked 22nd in the preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top-25 poll. The announcement came from the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) and USA Softball.
Last week they were ranked 20th in the USA Today/National Fastpick Coaches Association Division I Preseason Top-25 Poll.
Both are firsts for the program.
The same six opponents that were ranked last week were also ranked in this poll. UAB was 21, Georgia was 23, Baylor was 18, Lousiana-Lafayette was 13 and LSU was 17.
Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky received votes but were not ranked.
USA Women’s Basketball Team Has Trip To Remember In Atlanta
The South Alabama women’s basketball team had a trip to remember and will have a story to tell for the rest of their lives.
The Lady Jaguars left out Tuesday morning en route to Atlanta ahead of their game against Georgia State on Wednesday. However the routine trip ended up taking them 24 hours.
They left campus at 9:30am on Tuesday just as the winter storm was starting to hit the southeast. But they did not arrive at their Atlanta hotel until 9:30am on Wednesday after spending the night on the bus and walking the final mile or so on foot.
The team started to encounter snow when they reached Greenville, Alabama and it continued as they made their way to Montgomery. They had planned to stop in Montgomery for lunch, but as they looked for restaurants they found that most of the places were closed. However they found a Chick-fil-A that was just about to close and they agreed to allow the team to eat inside.
As they passed the Georgia line they started to see flurries then when thy got to Peachtree, which is about 40 miles from Atlanta, they started to see snow on the roads. At this time traffic was still moving.
It wasn’t until they got downtown did the traffic start to congest. When they were looking for Georgia 400 exit is when the traffic halted.
Head coach Terry Fowler told AL.com, “There are signs everywhere (warning of icy conditions) and because it’s an overpass, (Georgia 400) is iced up pretty bad. We see all these trucks and such, but none are going over Georgia 400. No trucks, no buses are trying, only cars and that’s sporadically. So we’re not going to get on Georgia 400, we’re going to take the next exit down and circle back to the hotel. But by now it’s just total gridlock. It is just stopped.
Quarterbacks Coach Bryant Vincent To Be Named Offensive Coordinator At UAB
Quarterbacks coach Bryant Vincent during preseason camp in 2012. Vincent accepted the offensive coordinator position at UAB under head coach Bill Clark, formerly the USA defensive coordinator.
South Alabama takes another hit to the coaching staff as AL.com reports that quarterbacks coach Bryant Vincent has accepted the offensive coordinator position at UAB under head coach Bill Clark.
Vincent has served as an assistant coach for the Jaguars for the last three seasons and has been coaching the quarterbacks for the last two seasons. Prior to USA he was the head coach at Spanish Fort high school for four seasons where he won the 2010 Class 5A state championship. He coached one season at Greenville prior to that and has a 49-16 record as a head coach in the high school ranks. He was also n assistant coach at Charles Henderson, Spain Park and Hart County (KY) high schools.
Senior quarterback Ross Metheny completed 62% of his passes last season for 2,622 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions under Vincent’s tutelage.
This is the third assistant lost this offseason from head coach Joey Jones’ staff. Wide receivers coach Jerry Mack was named the head coach at North Carolina Central University, defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer left to be a defensive assistant coach under longtime friend and University of Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.
His loss comes as a very tough time for the Jaguars as it is just over a week from National Signing Day and the staff is now down three recruiters in a key period.
Duwan Walker and Chuck Dunn, who both coached at South Alabama at some point, are expected to join him at UAB to further deepen the ties between the two schools.
“First of all, he’s a great man and a great coach and he did an excellent job at South Alabama these last three years,” South Alabama head coach Joey Jones told AL.com. “We wish him the best. He deserves to call plays and I think that’s what he wanted to do and they’ve got a good one in him.”
Sun Belt Conference Finishes First Among Non-AQ In Revenue
In the final year of the BCS era, the Sun Belt Conference finished first among the Non-AQ conferences in revenue.
The Mid-American Conference just missed out on a BCS bowl and that cost them $6 million, which would have put them ahead of the pack.
The Sun Belt led the Non-AQ conferences such as Conference USA, MAC and the Mountain West, with $4 million in BCS revenue. The MAC missed out on coming out on top with the undefeated Northern Illinois lost in the MAC championship game to miss out on an almost certain BCS birth. Then the conference went 0-5 in bowl games.
The revenue from the Non-AQ conferences were: Sun Belt $4 Million, Mountain West $3.4 Million, Conference USA $2.8 Million and the MAC with $2.28 Million.
Performance-Based revenue totally $6 millin was divided by shares. By finishing first, the Sun Belt got four shares and the Mountain West got three, and so forth.
The big five power conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC and SEC) will split 71.5% of the approximately $400 million in revenue in the first year of the college playoff’s 12-year deal.
The American Athletic Conference will drop down to the Non-AQ status and will split approximately $86.5 million in revenue from the new playoff’s. That is up from the maximum $28 million in the BCS.
As such, the Sun Belt will see a 10-fold increase in revenue which will mean an increase from about $100,000 per team to $1 million per team.
Beginning next season the highest ranked of those 59 schools, as decided by the selection committee, will receive an automatic berth in one of the four playoff bowls below the two national semifinals.
Revenue standings were kept by averaging the rank of each of the schools in the six BCS computers. The Sun Belt was first with an average team rank of 77.39. The top team was Louisiana-Lafayette which averaged 52.5 in the computers, up from 66th after defeating Tulane in the New Orleans Bowl. Co-champion Arkansas State finished 55.66 after jumping from 73 in the average computer ranking with their win over Ball State in the GoDaddy Bowl.
Next season the Sun Belt Conference membership changes significantly. Western Kentucky will move the Conference USA while former FCS powerhouses Georgia Southern and Appalachian State join the Sun Belt along with independents Idaho and New Mexico State.
While the two Sun Belt teams were not the highest ranked teams in the BCS computers, the conference’s overall ranking was higher than the other conferences. The top five from the non-BCS conferences were: Fresno State 32.2, Northern Illinois 36.5, East Carolina 46.2, Rice 47.3 and Utah State 50.2.