Ga Southern and App State Taking The Plunge To Sun Belt...??? (UPDATED)

Looks that way...

Sources close to one end of the situation in Statesboro tell OSG Sports and social media from the Winston-Salem Journal newspaper have both schools, rivals in the Southern Conference, pursuing the same in the Sun Belt Conference.

Tommy Bowman, sports beat writer for the Journal sent out the following from his Twitter: @AppTrailWSJ

Appalachian State will accept an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference this week, probably on Wednesday, according to a source at ASU

Georgia Southern, while currently not addressing anything resembling gossip, rumor, or innuendo, is moving on up- "sources" tell SB Nation's Steven Godfrey. Godfrey reports GSU will make the full move in 2015, with a transitional season in 2014 and no change to its 2013 schedule.

With FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee, and North Texas moving to Conference USA, the new dynamic of the 10-team conference would be: App State, Arkansas State, Ga Southern, Ga State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, and Western Kentucky.

This would also fall in line with the announcement being made introducing Brian Bohannon as Kennesaw State's new football coach for their fledgling program tomorrow morning on campus north of Atlanta. The SoCon is looking for members if the move of two of their heavy hitters is to happen and Kennesaw keeps their Atlanta footprint.

Here's how Southern ended their season...
((HT: EaglesGATA))


Southern voted for a fee increase to fund any kind of upgrade, so it was a matter of time...

1600 UPDATE: Matt Yogus at the Statesboro Herald is confirming from sources on his end as well...

2100 UPDATE: Dennis Dodd over at CBS Sports adds that former WAC members Idaho and New Mexico State will be added in 2014 as well. This will give the new Sun Belt 12 teams and will allow for a two-division, playoff structure.

With the new playoff set-up, if the Sun Belt champ finishes as the highest rated team among the Group of Five conferences (the Sun Belt, Conference USA, the new Big East, Mountain West and MAC) it will get a berth in one of the new playoff bowls when the new post-season look starts.