LA Tech set to join SBC

Conference USA announced on Monday afternoon that Louisiana Tech and the conference have reached an agreement for the Bulldogs to leave and join the Sun Belt Conference for the 2026 season. The announcement comes after a disagreement where both C-USA and the Sun Belt included the school in their football schedules for the 2026 season.

Following the swift exit of Texas State for the new PAC-12 last July, the Sun Belt made a safe and calculated move to formally invite the Bulldogs to replace Texas State in the West. This move was made to keep regionality and rivalries alive in the new age of Sun Belt athletics.

Louisiana Tech being added to the West Division means every season it will face the Trojans either in Veterans Memorial Stadium or in Tech’s own Joe Aillet Stadium. Louisiana Tech sits in Ruston, Louisiana, which is a 2-hour and 55-minute drive to Lafayette, Louisiana, and an even closer 34 minutes to Monroe, Louisiana.

With the Bulldogs entering the Sun Belt, this upcoming season will be the first time the Trojans and Bulldogs will meet on the football field. In the previous season, Tech went 8-5, its first winning record under head coach Sonny Cumbie, and placed in the top four for the Conference USA.  Since joining Conference USA in 2013, the Bulldogs have never won it outright in the conference championship game but have won their division twice.

For men’s basketball, the Bulldogs have only faced the Trojans once, which was a matchup on a neutral site, and led to the Bulldogs clobbering the Trojans 70-46 in 2012. Louisiana Tech men’s basketball has won the CUSA regular season title three times and has never won the CUSA conference tournament.

Women’s basketball, known as the Lady Techsters, has only won one CUSA regular-season title. In baseball, the Bulldogs won the CUSA regular season title in 2024 and the conference tournament in 2022. In softball, the Lady Techsters have never won the conference.

This is a hard-fought team that sits comfortably in the Sun Belt footprint and has proven to be a menace to Troy before. The Trojans look to give the Bulldogs a rude welcome to the Sun Belt at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium on Nov. 7.