Today at noon, Florida International announced their departure from the Sun Belt conference after the 2012 season. The Panthers will be joining Conference USA. C-USA lost 4 schools recently: Central Florida, SMU, Houston and Memphis all to the Big East. FIU has been a member of the Sun Belt Conference since 1998.

C-USA is looking to become a 14-team conference by adding FIU, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte, and Old Dominion. Charlotte and Old Dominion football programs will not start until the 2013 season. Once the all the realignment is complete, the conference will be split in half, with East and West divisions. FIU will be a member of the East a long with  East Carolina, Marshall, Southern Miss, UAB, Charlotte, and ODU.

Great move for the Panthers!