Super Bowl Update

Georgia State accepts the Sun Belt's invitation / John McElwain on twitter

The Sun Belt now officially has a new member with Georgia State, beginning in July 2013. Georgia State will be a transitional football member in 2013, playing a conference schedule, but GSU as of now won't be eligible for postseason play until 2014.

You can read the GSU announcement HERE. A media twitter follow is @ajcgsu.


The Sun Belt is having a teleconference at 3 p.m. CST, so if anything else is said, I'll get it updated on here.

***From commissioner Karl Benson - "This announcement is a strong declaration of the Sun Belt's commitment to get better. When conferences add schools to get bigger, they do it to get better. This shows the Sun Belt is in a position to move forward to be stronger in the future." Also said he expects more addition in the next 90-120 days.

***Georgia State was eager to join so it could play FBS football. Benson said he'd push for GSU to be eligible for a conference championship in 2013, but obviously they couldn't be eligible for a bowl until 2014 since the football program, coached by Bill Curry, is only two years old.

***Benson mentioned the tremendous facility plans GSU is undertaking, said GSU is like many other Sun Belt schools in their aggressive plan and vision for the future.

***Certainly was important to get the Sun Belt footprint in the state of Georgia, and that the SEC is a conference they'd like to follow in terms of model and hope to have some scheduling partnerships, etc.

***There are 11 conference teams and "if our goal is to get to 12" then the Sun Belt needs one more on the football side. Benson said they couldn't lose sight of the balance with other sports, especially with UALR not being a football school. Benson didn't mention any other schools they are targeting, but reports in the past have mentioned Charlotte and Texas-San Antonio.