Tech is in the Sun Belt! Or at least we will be. So where does our relationship stand with the other 13 schools in the conference? Here’s one Tech fan’s gut reaction to each school in our new home.
Sun Belt East
Appalachian State
App State seems to have a beautiful campus and a level of support that’s enviable and admirable. I don’t know that I have anything really bad to say about them, other than that some of their fans were talking shit about adding Tech.
Maybe someday they’ll have an All American or a first round draft pick or a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Coastal Carolina
One dude asked us if we liked LSU, we said “hell no”, he said “good enough for me, welcome to the Belt”.
They seem chill. Can’t wait for baseball season.
James Madison
JMU started their program as Tech was dominating the DII ranks in the early 1970s. I have no real qualms with them at all. Dukes vs. Dogs sounds like a weird British pub game or something.
Marshall
If you asked me 6 weeks ago what I thought of Marshall, I would’ve said: “Historic program, nice folks.” I had no animosity towards them from our time in CUSA together. I also have fond memories of being handed a Miller Light on the way into Joan Edwards Stadium before our 2019 game. The Bulldogs were on a tear that year and if it weren’t for J’Mar hitting 4:20 a little too hard (allegedly), I think we come out on top in that game.
But man, how quickly tides can turn. Ever since Tech has been in the national spotlight as the potential replacement for Texas State, Marshall fans have shown who they are: completely irrational (and stupid) haters. I’ll be honest, Marshall being the ringleader of the “Tech sucks” parade was NOT something I expected. ULL? Sure. USM? Absolutely. But Marshall?
It’s not even like their taeks made any sense! People are out there acting like 1) the Sun Belt is God’s gift to Earth and that any team (including LSU/Tulane) would be a better add than LA Tech… and acting like those schools might actually join! 2) That Tech is the worst athletics program in the history of college sports. Even when presented with direct proof otherwise (like being statistically better in almost every category of football history), Marshall fans double down on stupidity. I guess that’s what you get when your acceptance rate is 96.5%! Yikes!
Old Dominion
Does Old Dominion even have any fans? They were by far the least active fanbase on Twitter back in their CUSA days, and to be honest I haven’t seen anyone from their fanbase during this Twitter melee, either.
ODU sucks, plain and simple. People kept saying “What value does LA Tech bring”… bitch, what value does ODU bring????? Y’all took them in 2022, what were the positives then? It sure isn’t rivalries, history, or geographic footprint!
Georgia Southern
I have nothing to say other than that they spanked us in the COVID bowl game. That’s the only meeting between us, and they made sure to beat the living shit out of us. Respect.
Georgia State
It’s not right to pick on a program that’s only existed for 15 years. Especially not one that sucks as bad as they do.
Sun Belt West
Arkansas State
Honestly I don’t know much about the Red Wolves. I know Kenneth Dixon completely demolished them in the 2015 New Orleans Bowl. And apparently there was a big brawl in a game in 1989?
Apparently they hate us, but we hold a 26-12 record over them in football.
Southern Miss
Ahhhhh! The good ol’ Mustard Buzzards. We love to hate ‘em. My favorite Tech sports moment came against them – the two elimination game walk-off wins in the baseball tournament in 2021. Just absolutely incredible stuff. Funny enough… one of my least favorite Tech moments came against them later that year, when Frank Gore Jr. beat us while playing wildcat QB.
Being in the same conference as these bastards feels absolutely right. I can’t wait to beef with them again.
Troy
Troy is a program I don’t think a lot about. In fact, I was shocked a few years back when some random Troy account was spouting off about us on Twitter. What beef do we have with Troy?
We’ve never played in football, and there’s no animosity that I’m aware of in other sports. Hell, I don’t even know what part of Alabama Troy is in.
South Alabama
USA! USA! USA!
Wait, no… wrong chant. The only reason I know anything about South Alabama is because my wife’s sisters went there. It seems like an okay place. When I went to see Tech beat them in 2017, their stadium was a dump. But now they have a new stadium. Mobile’s okay, but don’t get them started about how they supposedly started Mardi Gras.
ULL
Tech’s history of hatred with Louisiana-Lafayette is well documented. If you’re new to this rivalry, let’s put it this way. ULL thinks they’re hot shit. They always have, and they probably always will. There’s no way to get through to them – not through legislation, not through utter domination on the field. Frankly, their commitment to sheer stupidity is sort of admirable, in an “aww that’s cute, hon” kind of way. We’ve written about their name shenanigans before… and rest assured we will continue this crusade. Even though they were bros and helped us get in the conference.
Tech hasn’t lost a football game to ULL since the 1990s. They were so confident in 2014 that they famously invited Tech commits to watch the game as their guests. Tech won 48-20, including a 99 yard Kenneth Dixon rushing touchdown that still gets me fired up.
ULM
The Warhawks are right down the road from Ruston. Listen. For 20+ years, Tech fans have acted holier than thou with the Sun Belt. We rocked the boat when we left the conference in 2001 (we were members except for football, we were Independent in football) to join the WAC. Claiming superiority and “separation” between us and the other UL system schools was our favorite thing to do.
And dammit we were right. I mean just look at ULM and that’s all you need to know. They’re terrible. At everything! It’s not just one sport here or another sport there. It’s ALL the sports. Except for the Water Ski team. They’ve got a damn fine water ski team.
While that separation has narrowed in recent years – in large part due to the conference realignment gods choosing “market size” as the only meaningful metric in creating conferences… One thing will always be true. ULM <<<<<<<< LA Tech.