Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Sun Belt Conference

College football season is upon us, and to celebrate, we're going to get back into tiny tidbit mode and present four things you didn't know about each major conference. This is our final college preview before we start running down all of the Little League World Series finalists. Or, the NFL. One of those. Today: The Sun Belt Conference.

• 1. Are We Not Men? Sunday Morning Quarterback has a Sun Belt Conference preview up, which includes the graph: "Someone must stand up for the Sun Belt. Is it not a conference? If you buy a ticket, do its teams not play? Does its champion not attend a bowl?"

• 2. Overdue For Some Good News. The conference is certainly snakebit, or something. Not only is the Sun Belt's one bowl affiliation the New Orleans Bowl (Sun Belt champion vs. an agreed-upon school from Conference USA), but the conference headquarters is located in downtown New Orleans. At least we think it still is. Due to damage from Hurricane Katrina to the Louisiana Superdome, where the game is usually played, the 2005 New Orleans Bowl was played on December 20 in Lafayette, Louisiana at Cajun Field on the campus of University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The game returns to the Superdome on December 22, 2006.

• 3. Look Out For ULL. This past season was Louisiana-Lafayette's first winning season since Brandon Stokley's dad Nelson was coach in 1995, the year after Jake Delhomme led the team to a pair of Big West titles. (Thanks to Sunday Morning Quarterback).

• 4. I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do. Florida Atlantic has taken more hits in the 2006 preseason than Fort Sumpter. Tight end Mike Wilds had season-ending knee surgery, offensive lineman Antes Perkins suffered a knee sprain and awaits an MRI, and sophomore wide receiver Frantz Simeon has a possible strained knee. The Owls had already lost top receiver Casey McGahee for at least the first month of the season. Pinnaclesports.com has FAU as a 34-point underdog in its season opener at Clemson Sept. 2.