NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana Tech’s football team is currently on both the Sun Belt and Conference USA schedules as the Bulldogs’ fierce race to leave Conference USA continues.
The Sun Belt expanded its membership to Louisiana Tech last July, and the school accepted the school’s invitation, citing, among other reasons, the logic of joining a conference that includes two potential in-state rivals, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe, as well as other Gulf South programs including Southern Mississippi State and South Alabama.
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All of these schools are on Louisiana Tech’s 2026 football schedule released Friday.
But Conference USA also released its full conference slate this week, which includes games for Louisiana Tech against conference members Middle Tennessee State, Florida International State, Missouri State, Liberty State, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State.
When Louisiana Tech announced its move to the Sunbelt, the school said the move would occur no later than July 1, 2027, but there is no doubt the school would prefer to move during the 2026-27 school year.
Tech and Conference USA have since been unable to agree on a financial settlement aimed at compensating the Bulldogs for leaving the league.
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Last week, the University of Louisiana System, which includes Louisiana Tech, filed a lawsuit asking a judge to force the American Conference to allow Louisiana Tech to withdraw from the league when the academic year ends on June 30.
The lawsuit alleges that despite Louisiana Tech’s “good-faith efforts over an eight-month period to amicably resolve this matter…CUSA has refused to engage in a meaningful resolution and instead placed Louisiana Tech on its 2026-27 athletic schedule, ignoring Tech’s clear and repeated written notices that it would not compete in Conference USA competition beginning on July 1, 2026.”
Louisiana Tech has been a member of Conference USA since 2014.
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