Sun Belt and MAC relatively equal, but expect the SB to rank higher by the end of this year. Sun Belt has nearly every program moving on up, which is far from the case with the MAC. That makes it meaningful that Troy has 8 players on the first team preseason all-conference team (5 defense, 3 offense). MAC doesn't appear to have a preseason all-conference team but VanDalay Sports (MAC-centric web site) has two Bowling Green players on their first team. Steele has [U]zero[/U] Bowling Green players in his [U]first two [/U]MAC teams and every Troy specialist as either first team or second team all-conference (I didn't notice if any Troy specialists were on their All-Conference team).
Troy has 5 guys on the Lombardi watch list, only Florida and Oklahoma have more. Troy has a coach that's been there for 20 years while Bowling Green's new coach has horrendous as offensive coordinator at Tennessee last year in his first year ever with any involvement on the 1-A level. Troy has a bunch of NFL prospects and guys who would be in the SEC but for grades/trouble/whatever. Bowling Green offensive lineman quoted saying that they have to do "more than just pass block" under their new coach, suggesting they had much to learn. Troy's Blakeney quoted saying that he has a "lot of playmakers on offense" while BG has only 4 defenders returning to play for co-defensive coordinators who were at Hofstra and Marshall last year. Talent, speed, coaching continuity, etc. all favor Troy.
