The one exception is a very early conference showdown between two of the league’s top teams.

North Texas at Florida International

North Texas and FIU open up the 2011 season on Thursday night.

The Golden Panthers are the defending SBC co-champions and Little Caesars Pizza Bowl champions, and are the preseason pick to win the 2011 title.

However, the Mean Green will begin the Dan McCarney era and look to win its first SBC championship since 2004. McCarney has more than 30 years of college coaching experience and will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year.

As for the players on the field, the SBC preseason co-offensive players of the year will face off, Mean Green running back Lance Dunbar and Golden Panther wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. Last season Dunbar led the SBC and was fourth in the nation in all-purpose yards with 1,885. He was also the second-leading rusher in the conference with 1,553.

As for Hilton, he was the 2010 Mr. Everything in the SBC. He earned 2010 SBC Conference Player of the Year and was the Most Valuable Player in the bowl game. Hilton was tied for 12^th in the nation in all-purpose yards with 156.58 per game.

The rest of the Sun Belt action features games between the conference teams and BCS schools.

Western Kentucky will host in-state rival Kentucky in Nashville’s LP Field, home of the Titans, also on Thursday night.

“It’s against Kentucky-from our state,” WKU senior running back Bobby Rainey said during the team’s weekly press conference. “It’s a rivalry, and to have it televised in front of a nice crowd on a nice field is huge. Everybody is excited about the whole thing-television, Titans stadium, and big crowd. It’s all exciting.”

Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette will also debut their new coaches this Saturday. Huge Freeze leads the Red Wolves at Illinois, while Mark Hudspeth and his Ragin’ Cajuns head to No. 9 ranked Oklahoma State.

Two of the other SBC schools will open against teams from the ACC on Saturday. Louisiana-Monroe heads to No. 6 ranked Florida State, while Troy will take on Clemson.

Finally, FAU heads to the swamp on Saturday evening against the No. 22 ranked Gators. It will mark the beginning of the final season for legendary head coach Howard Schnellenberger. Schnellenberger is the only head coach in the Owls short history that started in 2001. He has won national championships with Miami (Fla) and as offensive coordinator with Alabama.