Conference USA will not stand in the way of Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall joining the Sun Belt Conference this fall, the league office announced Tuesday.
In a joint statement with the three schools, Conference USA announced it has “reached a resolution” to allow the three long-time members to leave at the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall had previously announced plans to leave their current league — and were included in the Sun Belt Conference’s 2022 football schedule — but CUSA was fighting the move on contractual grounds.
The departure of Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall leaves Conference USA as an 11-member conference for 2022-23, though six schools — UAB, Rice, Texas-San Antonio, North Texas, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic — will depart for the American Athletic Conference in 2023-24. Four schools — FBS independents Liberty and New Mexico State and FCS members Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State — will join Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, UTEP and Florida International to form a 9-member CUSA beginning that same year.
Here’s the full CUSA statement:
In addition to Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall, James Madison will move up from the FCS level to join the Sun Belt — which includes South Alabama and Troy, among others — this fall. JMU will be a transitional program in football, and will not be eligible for a bowl game or the conference championship in 2022.
Southern Miss will be a member of the Sun Belt West Division along with South Alabama, Troy, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe and Texas State. The Sun Belt East will be comprised of James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern and Georgia State.
Little Rock and UT Arlington — neither of which play football — will leave the Sun Belt after the current academic year, with Little Rock heading to the Ohio Valley Conference and UTA to the Western Athletic Conference.