Coastal Carolina to join Sun Belt Conference in 2017, Eligible for Bowl Games in 2018

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The Sun Belt Conference is making a push to join the ranks of other FBS alignments with a championship game by 2018. On Tuesday the Sun Belt Conference announced the inclusion of Coastal Carolina into their current group of 11 by 2017 on the gridiron.

The Chanticleers will have already been knocking heads with other Sun Belt schools in all sports but football by the 2016-2017 season. In 2017 Coastal Carolina will play football against SBC schools but will not be eligible for post-season play until the 2018 season.

CCU is currently a FCS program in the Big South Conference. The Chanticleers made it to the FCS quarterfinals a year ago before being put out by North Dakota State (39-32). CCU finished the season 12-2.

The South Carolina school will give the Sun Belt Conference 12 teams joining Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, South Alabama, Texas State, and Troy.

Once the alignment is in place, the only conference without a post-season conference championship game will be the Big 12. The Big 12 has held pat with 10 conference members even after their exclusion in the first ever college football playoffs with both TCU and Baylor being bypassed in favor of Ohio State despite having better credentials at the end of the season.

Photo credit: Bruce Crummy; Coastal Carolina QB Alex Ross drops back to pass against North Dakota State in the FCS quarterfinals.