The big 2014 Sun Belt football previews, from the new guys to the favorite

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Getting dumped is scary and scarring, even for athletic directors. If someone ditches you for a bigger school and more money, you might take the wrong lessons and decide the likelihood of your next coach leaving is a more important criterion than it should be.

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Twenty-four years after leaving his post as the receivers coach for his alma mater, Auburn ... about 21 years after he took the fall for allegedly funneling money to former Auburn defensive back Eric Ramsey ... 13 years after leading Troy to FBS, having already won 76 games in 10 seasons at the FCS level and reached the FCS playoffs seven times ... 10 years after beating Missouri ... seven years after beating Oklahoma State ... Larry Blakeney and his Troy football program are still chugging along.

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When I was preparing Monday’s Texas State preview, I came across this Signing Day quote from TXST head coach Franchione. To rephrase: When we go out to recruit, we want guys who look like that.

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The middle of the F/+ rankings give us a look at the most average of average in college football -- the decent BCS teams in a conference full of better-than-decent squads, the successful mid-majors who separated themselves from the scrap heap, etc. You’ve got Minnesota, Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State, and Illinois from the Big Ten, all between 55th and 71st. You’ve got Ball State, Northern Illinois, and Toledo from the MAC, all between 57th and 62nd. You’ve got Pittsburgh, Maryland and Boston College from the ACC, and you’ve got Rice, Tulane, and UTSA from Conference USA. Major-conference teams hovering around .500 and mid-majors hovering around eight wins -- that’s what you’d expect from the pudgy middle of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

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From September 2012 to August 2013, I spent a lot of time talking about UL-Monroe. From the amazing intro video to the underdog masterpiece to the two-quarterback formation to the first bowl bid in school history, Todd Berry’s Warhawks did plenty to generate attention for themselves, considering their status as the most low-budget, no-history team in FBS.

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Taking over a rebuilding (or simply building) project, you know a few things in advance. You know you’re probably inheriting a bad team. Perhaps that means a total lack of talent across the board, or maybe you’re lucky and it only means one of two units stinks. Maybe your recruiting base is limited. Maybe fan or administration support is tepid.

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I guess it fits the stereotype that a Petrino doesn’t have a lot of patience.

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I didn’t try to put much of a positive spin on Georgia State’s prospects in the Panthers’ 2013 season preview. There was just not much of a chance that a team that had gone 1-10 in FCS in 2012 was going to jump to the Sun Belt and do much of anything, even if it had made a seemingly solid head coaching hire in drawing something-out-of-nothing-maker Trent Miles from Indiana State.

Right?

In Georgia Southern’s final game as an FCS team, the Eagles beat one of the proudest, most consistently strong programs at the FBS level, and they had done so by playing their game. Passes? Who needs ‘em? McKinnon went zero-for-three; instead, GS won with a relentless option game that racked up 429 yards.

... it’s another to stick the landing.

Technically, any school can build a winning FBS football program. No matter where you start, you can keep climbing, winning games, climbing further, and winning more until you reach, at worst, the highest rungs of the mid-major FBS ladder. And once there, with perfect timing and perhaps quite a few great seasons, you might be able to sneak into the upper echelon at some point. The obstacle course you are required to pass to get there is pretty incredible, but you can still get there.