Updated September 2, 2026
With mid-week games to look forward to and plenty of high-scoring offenses, there is a reason that the Sun Belt Conference is commonly referred to as the Fun Belt. This season, James Madison will look to repeat as champions, while the rest of the conference aims to catch them. Here, we look at the Sun Belt futures markets in college football and make our prediction in the Fun Belt for this year.
While there isn't enough money in the Polymarket for Sun Belt championship futures for pricing to mean much, the James Madison Dukes are the favorites to win this conference this season. The Dukes went undefeated in Sun Belt play a season ago en route to the league title and are expected to be one of the last teams standing in this year's race for the Sun Belt as well.
What is so impressive about James Madison's run in this conference is the fact that they've pulled it off even after losing head coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana. Cignetti went onto win a national championship immediately with the Hoosiers, but the culture he helped build at James Madison has helped the team remain relevant without him.
Old Dominion is also considered one of the favorites to win the Sun Belt this season. The Monarchs finished second to James Madison in the Sun Belt's East Division last year and it is entirely possible that the winner of that division will be the favorite in this year's Sun Belt title game.
The question for Old Dominion this year will be whether or not they can avoid another slow start in conference play. ODU dropped two early league games last season before going on a tear late in the year. It will be interesting to see if they can build on last season's late hot streak to contend for a conference championship.
Early in the season, the list of other contenders in the chase for the Sun Belt championship is a long one. We won't find out who is actually poised to live up to expectations in this conference until conference play begins, as so many non-conference games in this league are against either FCS opponents at a lower level, or power conference teams at a much higher level than the teams in this league.
Louisiana, Troy, and Marshall are all solid choices as other contenders to win this league. They all have recent experience playing for the conference championship and are priced in a way that suggests they could absolutely overtake the Monarchs and Dukes.
James Madison is my pick to win the Sun Belt championship. The Dukes averaged an impressive 37 points per game a season ago. And even with some expected regression on that side of the ball this year, the Dukes should remain in title contention long enough for hedging possibilities to open up with other teams late in the year.
