I don’t think it is a matter of more respect for the Sun Belt over the MAC. The best I can explain it is, a.) N. Texas is a more established FBS program, they did rejoin FBS 3 years before UB, b.) they are in Texas and c.) they also routed Incarnate Word, which uses IW for their abbreviated name, and also have a logo almost identical to the university of Iowa, so despite the color being wrong, and the abbreviation, the lazy voters see a big win over a BIG. At least that is how I can explain it.