It took a year, the creation of two separate schedules for one team, and an undisclosed dollar amount—but Louisiana Tech is finally free to join the Sun Belt this season.
Monday evening, the Bulldogs and Conference USA formally announced a resolution in their dispute over the timing of Louisiana Tech’s impending conference move.
“Conference USA is pleased to have reached a positive resolution with Louisiana Tech that fully acknowledges our governing documents,” the conference said in a statement. “We look forward to continued success and impact in the national landscape, driven by the collective strength and shared vision of our 10 member institutions.”
The resolution brings yet another strange conference realignment-related legal fight to a close.
How Louisiana Tech and Conference USA got here
The Bulldogs left the WAC for Conference USA after the 2012 season, fleeing a league perceived to have lost most of its football muscle to the Mountain West. In its final WAC season, in fact, Louisiana Tech went a strong 9–3 yet did not receive a bowl information.
Conference USA has mostly been good to the Bulldogs on the gridiron, but the quality of teams around them has degraded, thanks to the insatiable appetites of rival mid-major leagues like the American and Sun Belt. Accordingly, reports in July indicated that Louisiana Tech would jump ship to the Sun Belt.
Almost immediately, the date of the Bulldogs’ departure came into dispute, with the Bulldogs favoring an immediate exit and Conference USA seeking to hold Louisiana Tech to its initial 2027 departure date. The University of Louisiana System took Conference USA to court, and from that lawsuit emerged Tuesday’s settlement.
Louisiana Tech’s saga follows a similarly charged March fight between Utah Valley and the WAC
Conference realignment is as old as college athletics itself, and the nitty-gritty of such moves has often taken on political dimensions, but the 2020s have been a particularly nasty decade for conference-related litigation.
News of a settlement between the Bulldogs and Conference USA follows the March plight of Utah Valley, who the WAC loudly accused of shirking its exit fee in bolting for the Big West. To punish the Wolverines, the conference briefly took their basketball teams quasi-hostage, demanding $1 million from Utah Valley by a set deadline on pain of disqualification from the WAC tournaments. The university deposited money in an escrow account, and the Wolverines were able to play.
Now, Louisiana Tech won’t have to play 20 games
What? Let us explain.
In March, when it was unclear whether the Bulldogs would move in 2026 or ’27, Conference USA released a schedule for the ’26 season. The Sun Belt also released a schedule for the ’26 season. Both of these schedules, hilariously, included Louisiana Tech. FBSchedules.com did fans the solid of posting a schedule depicting the Bulldogs with 20 schedule games, including multiple double-bookings.
Double-bookings are not completely unprecedented in college football’s long history—check out Michigan beating Albion and Mount Union on the same day in 1929. Twenty-game schedules are also not unheard of in football; the World Football League played one in 1974 (don’t give the NFL any ideas). However, this is the 21st century, football is faster and more demanding, and Louisiana Tech fans were wise enough to know this was a temporary arrangement. Thanks to the resolution, the Bulldogs can gear up for the usual 12 games in `26, including rivalry games against Louisiana and Louisiana-Monroe.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Louisiana Tech Settles Conference Drama After Contentious Split From CUSA.
