From an article on The Athletic, Sun Belt likely to keep divisions:
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt was one of the last conferences to make realignment additions last year, but it was the first to actually acquire them. Marshall, Southern Miss, Old Dominion and James Madison have already joined for the 2022 season,
after a bit of a legal fight, taking the conference from 10 teams to 14.
Southern Miss will play in the West division, while the other three additions will play in the East. Troy is moving from the East to the West. A major factor in the SBC’s expansion decisions was geography. New or rekindled rivalries like ODU-JMU, App State-Marshall and Southern Miss-South Alabama will now be divisional games. The East division in particular has several schools near each other. Eliminating divisions could remove some of those games, which were a point in favor of expansion.
“Some of the realignment decisions we made were to create regional rivalries,” Gill said. “Once you decide you’re going to schedule (those) in divisions, it makes some sense to make a path to the championship in divisions.”
Though the East division has been and could continue to be loaded compared to the West, Gill doesn’t foresee divisions playing a role in the SBC’s ability to reach a New Year’s Six game or an expanded playoff. At least not yet. App State, Louisiana and Coastal Carolina have all reached the Top 25 over the past two years.
“We don’t think it’s going to impact our access in that regard,” Gill said. “In some conferences, it could, and we understand that. But for us, we don’t know, as we analyze it right now, that it’s going to have an impact. If it’s not, then standard divisions make sense.”
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