NEW ORLEANS — For the first time since it began sponsoring football in 2001, the Sun Belt Conference boasts a pair of ranked teams in the preseason editions of both the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 Poll.
Coastal Carolina, which completed the first undefeated regular season in program history in 2020, earned a No. 24 ranking in the Coaches Poll and the No. 22 spot in the AP Poll. Louisiana was listed at No. 23 in both polls.
Coming off a 2020 season in which it had two teams listed in the final College Football Playoff rankings for the first time in conference history, the Sun Belt is the lone Group of Five conference with multiple teams ranked in the preseason.