As reported by ESPN's Brett McMurphy on Friday and confirmed by Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, both MTSU and FAU will go ahead and take the out given to them by the Sun Belt to leave for Conference USA during the 2013 season rather than the 2014 season.
This news comes as little surprise to the Sun Belt with the biggest concern coming over the $1 million buyout to per school to leave in 2013. It has not been reported if the Sun Belt will enforce the buyout or let both schools leave for a smaller buyout.
The biggest issue for the Sun Belt regarding this realignment is the late notice for the remaining Sun Belt teams to come up with a 5th non-conference game. The 2013 Sun Belt currently works out to be Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State and Western Kentucky.
Currently FBS members Wake Forest, Duke, Syracuse, Missouri, BYU, Marshall, and Tulane all still have open dates they need to fill. While not all 7 teams will match up perfectly with the 7 FBS teams needing to fill an open date, expect several of these teams to take advantage of the Sun Belt teams desperate to fill the recently created open date. With Tulane already having two Sun Belt teams on the 2013 schedule, Tulane will most likely go the FBS route with the final non-conference game. Duke, Wake Forest, and Missouri all have previously scheduled games with FBS opponents and look to be desperate to snatch up a Sun Belt foe for the open date.
Current Sun Belt Non-Conference Schedules:
ASU--Arkansas-Pine Bluff, @Auburn, @Memphis, Idaho
Georgia State--UT Chattanooga, @West Virginia, Jacksonville State, @Alabama
South Alabama--@Tulane, @Tennessee, Kent State, @Navy
Troy--UAB, @Mississippi State, @Ole Miss, Alcorn State
Louisiana--@Arkansas, @Kansas State, Nicholls State, @Akron
Louisiana-Monroe--@Oklahoma, Grambling, Tulane, @Baylor
Western Kentucky--Kentucky, @Tennessee, Navy, @Army
Texas State--@Southern Miss, @Texas Tech, Wyoming, Prairie View A&M
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