The Sun Belt announced its 2014 conference schedule on Saturday. While it's obviously a big day for the conference, it's also notable across the college football landscape as today's news completes the entire 2014 FBS schedule; the Sun Belt was the 10th of 10 FBS leagues to unveil its 2014 slate.
Here are the highlights, plucked from the conference's official release:
- Appalachian State will be making its first trip to Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., since 2007 when the Mountaineers won a 34-32 game over the No. 5-ranked Wolverines. The Mountaineers, ranked No. 1 in the FCS at the time, blocked a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds to secure the historic win at Michigan.
- Breakdown of matchups by conference: AAC (1), ACC (4), Big 10 (2), Big 12 (0), C-USA (4), MAC (3), MWC (5) PAC 12 (1), SEC (10)
- UL Monroe hosts Wake Forest in a rematch of last season's matchup in Winston-Salem, N.C., where the Warhawks held on for a 21-19 victory.
- Georgia State and Georgia Southern, rivals in many other sports, will play the first football game in series history on Oct. 25. The Eagles will make the three-hour drive up the interstate to begin the football rivalry with the Panthers at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. Georgia Southern will also travel to Atlanta to take on another in-state foe, Georgia Tech, on Sept. 13 for the first football game in that series.
As a reminder, Western Kentucky has departed the Sun Belt for Conference USA, while former independents Idaho and New Mexico State and FCS immigrants Georgia Southern and Appalachian State have joined the conference.
The schedule opens Wednesday, August 27 with the first game of the FBS season - Abilene Christian at Georgia State - and closes with five games on November 29.