The Sun Belt coaches tabbed Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe as their conference's preseason favorites, the league announced at its annual media day on Monday.
ULL and ULM both received 57 points in the combined voting of the eight conference coaches. However, the Cajuns received four first-place votes while the Warhawks had two.
Two-time defending champ Arkansas State was third with 45 points while picking up the other two first-place votes.
Here's a breakdown of the vote:
School, Points (First-place Votes)
T-1. Louisiana-Lafayette, 57 (4)
T-1. Louisiana-Monroe, 57 (2)
3. Arkansas State, 45 (2)
4. Western Kentucky, 44
5. Troy, 35
6. Texas State, 23
7. South Alabama, 19
8. Georgia State, 8
The league also selected its all-Sun Belt preseason team, led by quarterback Kolton Browning of ULM.
2013 Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
As voted on by the league’s eight head coaches and eight selected media members.
Offense
Kolton Browning (Louisiana-Monroe, Sr., QB)
David Oku (Arkansas State, Sr., RB)
Antonio Andrews (WKU, Sr., RB)
J.D. McKissic (Arkansas State, So., WR)
Je'Ron Hamm (ULM, Sr., WR)
Eric Thomas (Troy, Sr. WR)
Wes Saxton (South Alabama, Jr., TE)
Bryce Giddens (Arkansas State, So., OL)
Andre Huval (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., OL)
Josh Allen (Louisiana-Monroe, Sr., OL)
Terrence Jones (Troy, Jr., OL)
Sean Conway (WKU, Sr., OL)
Defense
Ryan Carrethers (Arkansas State, Sr., DL)
Christian Ringo (Louisiana-Lafayette, Jr., DL)
Kentarius Caldwell (Louisiana-Monroe, Sr., DL)
Alex Page (South Alabama, Sr., DL)
Qushaun Lee (Arkansas State, Jr., LB)
Justin Anderson (Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., LB)
Andrew Jackson (WKU, Jr., LB)
Sterling Young (Arkansas State, Jr., DB)
Isaiah Newsome (Louisiana-Monroe, Sr., DB)
Tyrell Pearson (South Alabama, Sr., DB)
Jonathan Dowling (WKU, Sr., DB)
Special Teams
Brian Davis (Arkansas State, Sr., K)
Will Scott (Troy, Sr., P)
Antonio Andrews (WKU, Sr., Return Specialist)
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Kolton Browning (Louisiana-Monroe, Sr., QB)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Andrew Jackson (WKU, Jr., LB)