List of Sun Belt Conference football champions explained

This is a list of yearly Sun Belt Conference football champions. Co-champions are listed in alphabetical order. From 2001 to 2017, there had not been a tie breaker for conference champions. Since 2018, an outright conference champion is determined by the Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game.

Schools are listed by their current athletic branding, not necessarily what they used in a given season.

Champions by year

Pre-championship game era (2001–2017)

Year	Champions	Conference record	Overall record	Bowl result
2001	Middle Tennessee	5–1	8–3
	North Texas	5–1	5–7	L New Orleans Bowl 20–45 vs. Colorado State
2002	North Texas	6–0	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 25–19 vs. Cincinnati
2003	North Texas	7–0	9–4	L New Orleans Bowl 17–27 vs. Memphis
2004	North Texas	7–0	7–5	L New Orleans Bowl 10–31 vs. Southern Miss
2005	Arkansas State	5–2	6–6	L New Orleans Bowl 19–31 vs. Southern Miss
	Louisiana	5–2	6–5
	Louisiana-Monroe	5–2	5–6
2006	Middle Tennessee	6–1	7–6
	Troy	6–1	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 41–17 vs. Rice
2007	Florida Atlantic	6–1	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 44–27 vs. Memphis
	Troy	6–1	8–4
2008	Troy	6–1	8–5	L New Orleans Bowl 27–30 vs. Southern Miss
2009	Troy	8–0	9–4	L GMAC Bowl 41–44 vs. Central Michigan
2010	FIU	6–2	7–6	W Little Caesars Pizza Bowl 34–32 vs. Toledo
	Troy	6–2	8–5	W New Orleans Bowl 48–21 vs. Ohio
2011	Arkansas State	8–0	10–3	L GoDaddy.com Bowl 20–38 vs. Northern Illinois
2012	Arkansas State	7–1	10–3	W GoDaddy.com Bowl 17–13 vs. Kent State
2013	Arkansas State	5–2	7–5	W GoDaddy Bowl 23–20 vs. Ball State
		5–2	8–4	W New Orleans Bowl 24–21 vs. Tulane
2014		8–0	9–3
2015	Arkansas State	8–0	9–3	L New Orleans Bowl 28–47 vs. Louisiana Tech
2016	Appalachian State	7–1	9–3	W Camellia Bowl 31–28 vs. Toledo
	Arkansas State	7–1	8–5	W Cure Bowl 31–13 vs. UCF
2017	Troy	7–1	10–2	W New Orleans Bowl 50–30 vs. North Texas
	Appalachian State	7–1	8–4	W Dollar General Bowl 34–0 vs. Toledo

Sun Belt Conference Championship Game (2018–present)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sun Belt Conference Championship Football Game Canceled . sunbeltsports.org . 24 December 2020 . en.