In 1987, the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved a proposal made by two
Division II conferences that allowed any conference with 12 football members to split into divisions and stage a championship game between the divisional winners, with that game not counting against NCAA limits on regular-season contests. However, the rule would not see its first use until 1992, when the
Southeastern Conference, which had added
Arkansas and
South Carolina the previous year, launched its
title game. In early 2016, NCAA legislation was passed that largely deregulated
FBS conference championship games, allowing a conference with fewer than 12 teams to stage a championship game that featured either (1) the top two teams at the end of a full
round-robin conference schedule, or (2) the winners of each of two divisions, with each team playing a full round-robin schedule within its division. Several months later, the Sun Belt Conference announced that they would be introducing a football championship game starting in the
2018 season. In 2017, the conference announced the two divisions that teams would compete in, with division winners qualifying for the championship game. As the conference would have 10 teams competing in football in the 2018 season, East and West divisions were created with five teams each, with the championship game to be played at the home stadium of the team with the best
College Football Playoff ranking. If no teams are ranked in the CFP selection committee, the conference will determine home field using a formula based on six computer ratings that were used in the old
Bowl Championship Series standings. Unlike the conference's sports of baseball and volleyball, which are also divided into divisions, the
Jaguars of
South Alabama competed in the West division rather than the East. In 2018,
Appalachian State qualified as the East division team, as they had defeated
Troy head-to-head, with both teams finishing the regular season with 7–1 conference records.
Louisiana qualified as the West division team, as they had defeated
Arkansas State head-to-head, with both teams finishing the regular season with 5–3 conference records. was canceled due to
COVID-19 pandemic effects within the Coastal Carolina program. As a result, the teams were declared co-champions for the 2020 season. The 2021 game saw
Louisiana and
Appalachian State in the title game for the third time; however, unlike their prior two championship meetings at
Kidd Brewer Stadium, Louisiana won over Appalachian State 24–16 at
Cajun Field for their first outright Sun Belt Conference title. With the addition of four new members in 2022—
James Madison,
Marshall,
Old Dominion, and
Southern Miss—the SBC adopted a new alignment for all divisional sports, with the new dividing line being the Alabama–Georgia border. Accordingly, James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion joined the East Division, with Southern Miss joining the West Division. Troy moved from the East to the West. Since the 2024 season, the SBC has been the only FBS conference to use a divisional alignment in football. The other three conferences that had a divisional alignment in the 2023 season—the
Big Ten,
MAC, and
SEC—eliminated their divisions after that season. ==Results by year==