In its final season without a conference championship, the Sun Belt has four football teams tied for the lead in the standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
The path was clear for Arkansas State University to win its first outright conference title since 2015, but the Red Wolves' 24-19 loss to South Alabama on Saturday placed them even with Appalachian State, Georgia State and Troy.
Texas State at Arkansas State
WHEN 2 p.m. Saturday
WHERE Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro
RECORDS Arkansas State 5-3, 4-1 Sun Belt Conference; Texas State 2-8, 1-5
INTERNET ESPN3
Of those three, ASU plays only Troy, which will be in Jonesboro on Dec. 2.
Appalachian State and Georgia State got back into the title race after surrendering their conference leads in previous losses.
Appalachian State had a bye week on Saturday, and Mountaineers Coach Scott Satterfield watched South Alabama give ASU its first conference loss of the season.
"I've said it all year," he said Monday. "Any team in this conference can beat anybody else. It just depends on who shows up that day, or which team makes the most mistakes. So, we're excited we're back in this position now."
It's a situation that has occurred in almost half of the seasons since the Sun Belt was formed in 2011.
Seven seasons have ended with teams tied atop the Sun Belt standings, and the conference title has been shared five times -- including last season when ASU and Appalachian State shared the title, each with a 7-1 conference record. Neither team played each other during the regular season.
That's part of the reason the Sun Belt announced in 2016 that it would launch a conference championship game for the 2018 season.
For now, the Sun Belt is the only FBS conference without a championship game, and its teams are proving why the move was necessary.
"I think it's absolutely proof last year and this year that if you have this many teams, and you can't play them all, it's hard [to have an outright champion]," Satterfield said. "So having it come down to the end and having a championship game so you have an outright champion, that's going to be great for the fans, and it's going to be a great game for those particular schools that'll be there."
"I think the championship is a great deal," Coastal Carolina interim coach Jamey Chadwell said. "Obviously, you can see where some of these teams are tied at first and they're not playing each other. So, I guess you're going to have a chance at two guys sharing. There's nothing wrong with sharing, you teach your children about sharing all the time. But it's nice to have your own, so I think it's great for our league and the fans we have to be able to see some of these games played out."
The format, which would split the conference into two divisions, would also set the Sun Belt closer to the goal Commissioner Karl Benson laid out in July: earning the automatic spot in the New Year's Six Bowl that is awarded to the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion.
Sun Belt members would still play across divisions, which leaves open the possibility of losing in the title game to a team that had already been beaten, but it guarantees another high-quality opponent on the schedule.
In a season like this, where every member has at least two losses, the format wouldn't likely help a Sun Belt team reach the highest ranking necessary for a New Year's Six Bowl.
Outside a New Year's Six Bowl, an outright conference title doesn't necessarily give a member postseason prestige in terms of bowl-game placement.
The Sun Belt's bowl ties with the New Orleans Bowl, Dollar General Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Cure Bowl and Arizona Bowl have matchups that are determined by ordered selection, like a draft, where other conferences send teams to certain bowls based on standings.
The ultimate reward, ASU Coach Anderson said, is simple: that team is the best team in the conference.
"A conference title is a conference title," ASU Coach Blake Anderson said. "We'll take it however we can get it. They're hard to come by. There's only a handful of teams that get to win them."
Sports on 11/15/2017