It looks like the SunBelt teams most of us are familiar with didn't do so well this past weekend, with Ga Southern looking bad against Auburn, App State disappointing against Georgia, and Ga State losing to FCS Tennessee State.
IMO the SunBelt is waaayyyyy closer to the SoCon than they are to the Power 5. In fact, I'd say the conference would make a rather mediocre showing in the FCS. Are there stats to prove this? Recent records against P5 for comparison? FUBear??
While Jackal's Opinion is generally more widely accepted, below is Jeff Sagarin's current version of his Conference Rankings, including all FBS & FCS Conferences...
CONFERENCE CENTRAL MEAN SIMPLE AVERAGE TEAMS WIN50%1 SEC-WEST (A) = 86.04 87.10 ( 1) 7 86.60 ( 1)
2 BIG TEN-EAST (A) = 80.01 79.72 ( 2) 7 79.96 ( 2)
3 PAC-12(NORTH) (A) = 79.82 79.43 ( 3) 6 79.62 ( 3)
4 PAC-12(SOUTH) (A) = 79.04 78.88 ( 4) 6 78.90 ( 4)
5 ACC-ATLANTIC (A) = 77.72 78.41 ( 5) 7 78.08 ( 5)
6 SEC-EAST (A) = 76.94 76.90 ( 6) 7 76.90 ( 6)
7 ACC-COASTAL (A) = 76.83 76.81 ( 7) 7 76.81 ( 7)
8 BIG 12 (A) = 76.32 76.60 ( 8) 10 76.49 ( 8)
9 BIG TEN-WEST (A) = 75.44 75.13 ( 9) 7 75.18 ( 9)
10 AAC WEST (A) = 68.56 68.36 ( 10) 6 68.41 ( 10)
11 I-A INDEPENDENTS (A) = 68.17 68.06 ( 11) 4 68.19 ( 11)
12 MWC-MOUNTAIN (A) = 66.39 66.88 ( 12) 6 66.71 ( 12)
13 AAC EAST (A) = 65.63 65.56 ( 13) 6 65.59 ( 13)
14 MAC-WEST (A) = 62.51 62.96 ( 14) 6 62.77 ( 14)
15 MWC-WEST (A) = 58.12 58.66 ( 15) 6 58.41 ( 15)
16 MISSOURI VALLEY (AA)= 58.07 57.77 ( 16) 10 57.92 ( 16)
17 CONFERENCE USA-EAST (A) = 57.12 56.70 ( 18) 7 56.77 ( 18)
18 SUN BELT (A) = 57.02 57.01 ( 17) 12 56.98 ( 17)
19 CONFERENCE USA-WEST (A) = 56.04 56.32 ( 19) 7 56.20 ( 19)
20 MAC-EAST (A) = 55.50 55.88 ( 20) 6 55.78 ( 20)
21 SOUTHERN (AA)= 47.81 47.24 ( 22) 9 47.64 ( 21)
22 COLONIAL (AA)= 47.08 47.54 ( 21) 12 47.25 ( 22)
23 BIG SKY (AA)= 46.76 46.37 ( 23) 13 46.50 ( 23)
24 OHIO VALLEY (AA)= 43.86 44.35 ( 24) 9 44.09 ( 24)
25 BIG SOUTH (AA)= 43.11 42.88 ( 25) 6 42.95 ( 25)
26 PATRIOT (AA)= 40.05 39.60 ( 26) 7 39.81 ( 26)
27 SOUTHLAND (AA)= 39.17 39.45 ( 27) 11 39.22 ( 27)
28 IVY LEAGUE (AA)= 38.41 38.42 ( 28) 8 38.43 ( 28)
29 NORTHEAST (AA)= 35.43 35.74 ( 29) 7 35.67 ( 29)
30 MID-EASTERN (AA)= 28.61 28.69 ( 30) 11 28.62 ( 30)
31 SWAC-WEST (AA)= 26.68 25.97 ( 31) 5 26.54 ( 31)
32 SWAC-EAST (AA)= 20.75 20.58 ( 32) 5 20.68 ( 32)
33 PIONEER (AA)= 19.66 19.52 ( 33) 11 19.62 ( 33)
Mr. Sagarin does rank the Sun Belt above the SoCon, but he does have the Missouri Valley Football Conference (FCS) rated higher than the Sun Belt and Conference USA (East & West). He does agree with your assessment that the Sun Belt is a whole lot closer to the SoCon than it is to P5, as the Sun Belt is about 20 points below the lowest ranked P5 and <10 points above the SoCon.
Here's how he ranks the Teams within the Sun Belt & the SoCon and seeing them 'combined'...
71 Appalachian State A = 68.75
85 Troy A = 64.37
86 Arkansas State A = 64.29
96 Wofford AA = 62.02 105 Louisiana-Lafayette A = 59.24
107 Georgia Southern A = 58.94
109 South Alabama A = 58.83
117 Idaho A = 58.01
123 Samford AA = 56.54
128 The Citadel AA = 55.87
132 Louisiana-Monroe A = 53.26
138 Coastal Carolina A = 52.32
139 Chattanooga AA = 52.22
145 New Mexico State A = 50.76
157 Georgia State A = 48.47
158 Mercer AA = 48.21
168 Texas State A = 46.86
176 Furman AA = 44.52
179 Western Carolina AA = 43.55
219 East Tennessee State AA = 31.65
222 VMI AA = 30.61
Sagarin is NOT Gospel (Jackal IS)...but this data is something to chew over...
