5 Step Drop: Sun Belt Conference Football 2010

The Sun Belt Conference usually gets relegated to the bottom of the college football totem pole. While that might have been true several years ago, play in the Sun Belt Conference is picking up as it completes its first decade of competition this year. Here are five questions to quickly look at the conference as we head into the 2010 season.

1. Who will win the conference? Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. MTSU will end Troy's four year run at the top. Troy lost quarterback Levi Brown to graduation, while Dwight Dasher returns for MTSU. All of this is assuming that Dasher returns quickly from his suspension.

2. Who is the top returning player? Dwight Dasher, Middle Tennessee State. The electrifying, dual-threat quarterback exploded in 2009 and passed for 2,783 yards and ran for 1,154 yards. He also accounted for 36 touchdowns (23 passing, 13 rushing). Dasher's production led MTSU to its most successful season ever at the FBS level.

3. Which team will be the most improved? Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers faced a lot of challenges last year. This year they should reap some of the benefits. WKU should improve greatly against the run with linebackers Thomas Majors and Mike Gothard returning. Free safety Mark Santoro will help WKU improve against the pass. Offensively, quarterback Kawaun Jakes was a freshman last year. With his year of experience and maturity, in addition to the return of leading rusher Bobby Rainey, the offense will be much improved.

4. What will be the biggest surprise? I think that just happened last night with the news of Dwight Dasher's suspension. Hard to imagine anything more surprising happening. I was planning to say that a Sun Belt team would crack the national rankings, but Dasher's suspension throws that into question as well. Rather than take the easy way out, I will proffer that the biggest surprise, once the season starts, is that the Sun Belt will have 5 bowl eligible teams. The Sun Belt has never had more than four bowl eligible teams.

5. Which coach is on the hottest seat? Todd Dodge, North Texas. Dodge is 5-31 in his three years on the job, and North Texas has never won more than two games in his tenure. North Texas was 7-5 and won the conference in 2004. Unless Dodge gets North Texas closer to those results, he will not be around in 2011.

COACHING: COACHES ON THE HOT SEAT

With the temperatures sinking across the country, this is the time of year that the heat is turning up on some college football coaches. Memphis (2-7) and Western Kentucky (0-9) have already fired their coaches. Who else can we expect to join the unemployment ranks within the next month?

1. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame: He barely survived last year. Supposedly he has the talent on the roster that should have resulted in a BCS birth. Now, the Fighting Irish have three losses and no hope for the BCS.
2. Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville: When he took over Louisville had just entered elite territory with an Orange Bowl win. The last three years Louisville has won a total of 14 games. Rumor is that his relationship off the field with school administration is not any better.
3. Mike Locksley, New Mexico: The Lobos are win less and to make matters worse he has some anger management issues. It does not matter that it is his first year, the program cannot maintain dignity by retaining Locksley for another year.
4. Dan Hawkins, Colorado: He predicted 10 wins at the beginning of the year. For most of the year they have been the laughing stock of the Big 12. He hasn’t helped himself by having his son start at quarterback. The tricky part of this one is that the Colorado Athletic Department is so strapped for cash right now that it might be impossible to buy out Hawkins’ contract, so he might have a job for one more year.
5. Al Groh, Virginia: Virginia has wallowed in mediocrity for the last five years, with the exception of 2007. The embarrassing start to this year coupled with the current three game losing streak have made this firing almost a foregone conclusion.
6. Paul Wulff, Washington State: Has any team in college football been as bad as Washington State over the last two years? The Cougars only won two games last year against win less Washington and FCS Portland State. This year a lone overtime win is the only time Washington State has walked of the field victorious. I don’t see any signs that this program is ready to make a turn in the right direction.
7. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan: Although the Wolverines have already improved their win total from 3 to 5 with two games to go. The problem is that Michigan does not stand much of a chance to win those games, and that all 5 of Michigan’s losses this year have come to Big 10 teams. In Ann Arbor the faithful expect to be the best in the Big 10 and Michigan isn’t winning conference games.

Hopefully, the coach of your favorite team is not listed above. Who else do you think should be on the list?