2023 Sun Belt Conference football season

The 2023 Sun Belt Conference football season was the 23rd season of college football play for the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The season began on August 31, 2023 and ended with its conference championship game on December 2, 2023. It was part of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The conference consists of 14 member schools split into two divisions. The conference released its full season schedule on February 24, 2023.

Previous season
During the 2022 Sun Belt Conference football season, Coastal Carolina won the east division, while Troy won the west division. In the conference championship game, Troy defeated Coastal Carolina by a score of 45–26. Troy advanced to the Cure Bowl where they defeated UTSA. Coastal Carolina advanced to the Birmingham Bowl, where they lost to East Carolina.

Preseason Media Poll
The SBC released its preseason poll on July 24. James Madison was named the favorite to win the East Division, while Troy was named the favorite to win the West Division.

Preseason All-Conference teams

 * Offensive Player of the Year: Grayson McCall (Redshirt Senior, Coastal Carolina quarterback)
 * Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Henderson, (Junior, Old Dominion linebacker)

Head Coaches

 * On November 27, 2022, Texas State announced that it had fired head coach Jake Spavital. Spavital had posted a record of 13–35 over four years at the school. On December 7, 2022, Texas State announced Incarnate Word's head coach G. J. Kinne would take over as the new head coach for the 2023 season.
 * On December 4, 2022, Jamey Chadwell announced that he was leaving Coastal Carolina to take over the head coaching position at Liberty. Later on December 4, Coastal announced NC State offensive coordinator Tim Beck as the new head coach beginning in 2023.

Postseason changes

 * On November 26, Louisiana–Monroe announced that it had fired head coach Terry Bowden after 3 seasons with the team. On December 5, the school announced that former UAB head coach Bryant Vincent would take over as the new head coach for 2024.
 * On November 30, James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti announced that he would leave the school to take the head coach position at Indiana for the 2024 season. Assistant head coach and offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski was named the acting head coach for James Madison's bowl game. On December 7, the school announced that Bob Chesney would become the new head coach for 2024. Chesney had previously been head coach at Holy Cross.
 * On December 8, Troy head coach Jon Sumrall was announced as the new head coach of Tulane in the American Athletic Conference for the 2024 season. The school's defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato was named the interim head coach. On December 18, Troy announced Gerad Parker as the new head coach for 2024. Parker was previously the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

Schedule
The 2023 schedule was released on February 24, 2023.

Bowl Games
Rankings are from Final CFP rankings. All times Central Time Zone.

Selection of teams

 * Bowl eligible (12): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy
 * Bowl ineligible (2): Louisiana–Monroe, Southern Miss

Sun Belt records vs other conferences
2023–2024 records against non-conference foes:

Postseason

Sun Belt vs Power 5 matchups
This is a list of games the Sun Belt has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Sun Belt vs Group of Five matchups
The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, or Mountain West.

Sun Belt vs FBS independents matchups
The following games include Sun Belt teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, UConn, or UMass.

Home game attendance
Bold – At or Exceeded capacity †Season High

Sun Belt individual awards
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Sun Belt Conference football coaches at the end of the season.

All-Conference teams
The following players were selected as part of the Sun Belt's All-Conference Teams.

All-Americans
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. College Football All-American consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

NFL draft
The NFL draft will be held at Campus Martius Park in Detroit. The following list includes all Sun Belt players in the draft.