Sun Belt Changes Brings In Louisiana Tech as Texas State Departs
The Sun Belt Conference will look different when the 2026-27 athletic year begins, but the most immediate change for Arkansas State will come much closer to home.
Texas State is leaving the Sun Belt for the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference, while Louisiana Tech is moving from Conference USA into the Sun Belt. The exchange keeps the Sun Belt at 14 members and preserves its seven-team East and West divisions in football.
Louisiana Tech will join Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Southern Mississippi and Troy in the West Division.
The East will remain composed of Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Marshall and Old Dominion.
For Arkansas State, the change replaces a conference opponent in San Marcos, Texas, with one in Ruston, Louisiana, strengthening the Sun Belt’s regional footprint and restoring another familiar matchup for the Red Wolves.
Texas State officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-12 beginning July 1, ending a Sun Belt membership that began in 2013. The Bobcats will enter the conference alongside Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah State and Washington State.
The move gives Texas State a new group of mostly western opponents and removes the Sun Belt’s only remaining full-time member in Texas.
Louisiana Tech will begin competing in the Sun Belt on July 1 after spending more than a decade in Conference USA.
The Bulldogs bring a long football history, established men’s and women’s basketball programs and a baseball program located within the Sun Belt’s existing geographic footprint.
The addition also renews several regional rivalries involving Louisiana Tech, Louisiana, ULM, Southern Miss and Arkansas State.
Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill said when the invitation was announced that Louisiana Tech’s location and history made the university a natural fit for a conference that has emphasized regional competition.
“The Sun Belt has remained steadfast in its commitment to regional rivalries, geographic alignment and competitive excellence,” Gill said when Louisiana Tech’s addition was announced.
Louisiana Tech President Jim Henderson said the move would create more regular competition against regional opponents while providing a more manageable experience for athletes, coaches and fans.
That geographic fit could benefit Arkansas State.
The trip from Jonesboro to Ruston is considerably more regional than a trip to San Marcos, placing another divisional opponent within the lower Mississippi River region. That could reduce some travel demands for teams, support stronger visiting attendance and provide another conference matchup with schools recruiting many of the same areas.
The move also places Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech in direct competition for athletes throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and the broader Mid-South.
Both programs have historically recruited heavily in those areas. Sharing a conference and division means their recruiting battles could become more visible, particularly when the schools begin meeting regularly with division standings and postseason opportunities at stake.
The football impact will be immediate.
Arkansas State is scheduled to visit Louisiana Tech on Nov. 21 during the 2026 season. The game will be the Red Wolves’ next-to-last regular-season contest and could carry significant implications in the West Division race.
The meeting will be the first between the programs since Louisiana Tech defeated Arkansas State 47-28 in the 2015 New Orleans Bowl.
The schools have a much longer history than that bowl matchup. Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech began playing in football in 1956 and were once regular opponents before conference realignment separated them.
Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series, while Arkansas State will enter the renewed matchup attempting to end a three-game losing streak against the Bulldogs.
The Red Wolves’ eight-game Sun Belt football schedule includes six games against West Division opponents and two crossover games against teams from the East.
Arkansas State will play conference road games against Louisiana, Southern Miss, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana Tech. The Red Wolves will host South Alabama, Georgia State, ULM and Troy at Centennial Bank Stadium.
The Louisiana Tech game replaces Texas State on the divisional rotation and adds another difficult road assignment late in the season.
Louisiana Tech’s first Sun Belt schedule includes home games against Louisiana, Old Dominion, Southern Miss and Arkansas State. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play conference road games at ULM, South Alabama, Troy and Georgia Southern.
Although the programs have not met regularly in recent years, the matchup has the potential to develop quickly because of proximity, shared recruiting territory and the importance of divisional competition.
Arkansas State’s annual games against Louisiana, ULM and Louisiana Tech will give the Red Wolves three West Division opponents located in Louisiana. That creates a concentrated regional section of the conference schedule and could lead to greater familiarity among the programs.
The change will extend beyond football.
Louisiana Tech will join the Sun Belt in conference-sponsored sports, meaning Arkansas State could face the Bulldogs regularly in basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer and other sports depending on the league’s scheduling formats.
Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech already have experience competing against one another outside conference play. Becoming league opponents will turn some of those occasional meetings into games that affect conference standings, tournament seeding and championship races.
Louisiana Tech’s arrival could be particularly significant in baseball and basketball, sports in which the Bulldogs have established histories and strong regional followings.
For Arkansas State, that adds another recognizable opponent to conference schedules and another potential attraction for home events in Jonesboro.
The departure of Texas State, however, represents a competitive loss for the Sun Belt.
Texas State developed into one of the conference’s stronger overall athletic departments before leaving. The Bobcats won multiple Sun Belt all-sports awards and fielded competitive teams across several sports.
Their departure also removes the Sun Belt from one of the country’s largest states and from the fast-growing Central Texas market around San Marcos, Austin and San Antonio.
Louisiana Tech does not replace that market presence, but it gives the Sun Belt a school more closely connected to most of the league geographically.
That reflects the conference’s broader approach to realignment. Rather than expanding far outside its existing territory, the Sun Belt has built around institutions with regional connections, manageable travel and existing rivalries.
The league’s current footprint stretches from Arkansas and Louisiana through Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and north along the East Coast into Virginia and West Virginia.
For Arkansas State, the conference’s basic structure remains stable.
The Red Wolves will still compete in a seven-team West Division, play for a place in the Sun Belt championship game and maintain annual football matchups with the same core group of regional opponents.
The primary difference is the identity of one of those opponents.
Texas State offered access to Central Texas and had become an increasingly competitive football program. Louisiana Tech offers closer proximity, a longer history with Arkansas State and connections to schools already located in the western half of the conference.
The change could also help fan interest.
Ruston is close enough for a more realistic road trip for Arkansas State supporters than San Marcos, and Louisiana Tech fans could have similar opportunities to travel to Jonesboro when the Bulldogs visit Arkansas State.
Conference realignment has frequently resulted in schools traveling farther and competing against institutions with limited history between them. The Sun Belt’s latest change moves in the opposite direction by replacing a departing member with a school already surrounded by conference opponents.
Louisiana Tech will enter a West Division that has remained competitive and unpredictable.
Arkansas State finished among the division’s leading teams in 2025, but the addition of the Bulldogs introduces another program capable of affecting the race. Louisiana Tech will have to adjust to new opponents and scheduling formats, while existing Sun Belt members will have to prepare for a team they have not faced regularly.
The move does not dramatically alter Arkansas State’s path to a conference championship. The Red Wolves will still need to navigate an eight-game league schedule and finish ahead of six divisional opponents to reach the title game.
It does, however, change the character of that path.
Instead of traveling to Texas for a divisional matchup against the Bobcats, Arkansas State will renew a regional series against Louisiana Tech — one with decades of history, overlapping recruiting territory and the potential to become an important late-season rivalry.